Newspapers and magazines are already commenting that Michael Jackson’s estate will be a real nightmare. No one seems to know at this point whether Jackson had a will or a trust. Some people think there is no way he would have failed to provide for his children. In the absence…
Part of our estate planning caseload at Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation are cases in which a will or a trust is being questioned or challenged. Typical factual scenarios are where an heir or a beneficiary has been disinherited or their share reduced because of “death…
Many parents and grandparents don’t realize that a child, grandchild, or other beneficiary with a disability complicates an estate plan. If you have such a loved one you want to provide for in your estate plan, you need an appropriate trust even more so than someone without a disabled beneficiary…
If you have a will and not a trust, when you die your estate will have to go through probate. In general this means that all the property that the deceased owned at the time of death such as real property, personal property, bank accounts, investment accounts, etc. will be…
We frequently get calls from prospective clients wanting to know if creating a trust will protect their assets from creditors or lawsuits. Unfortunately, they do not. A revocable living trust is a legal arrangement whereby you hold your assets in trust to be used and managed until your death when…
At Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation we see trusts everyday that are drafted by other estate planning lawyers in San Diego or even by our own firm that cause some concern. Once your trust is drafted, it is intended to be reviewed periodically and also there…
What is the meaning of the term “capacity” in California? Many people, particularly estate planning lawyers toss the term “capacity” out as though everyone knows what the term means. Often you hear people talk about someone “losing capacity” in the sense of not being able to make a will or…
We know that many Americans procrastinate about getting a will or a trust done. Especially in this economy where people have a lot of challenges, an estate plan, even if desired, sometimes doesn’t work itself up to the top of one’s To Do List. What happens if you procrastinate about…
Have you ever wondered whether someone who murders another person can inherit from their estate? In years past, there have been several California cases where children have murdered their parents, sometimes for money, as was alleged in the famous Menendez case in Los Angeles. Two brothers, Eric and Lyle Menendez,…
Accidental disinheritance is a growing problem, not only in San Diego, but across the country. We have seen it in the cases of Anna Nicole Smith and Heath Ledger. Failure to update estate planning documents or beneficiary designations can cause unintended disinheritance or unequal distributions that may not have been…