Legal agreements governing medical and nursing home care are an often overlooked estate planning issue. If you have a relative that requires 24-hour nursing care, you need to be aware of how certain actions may affect his or her legal rights. For example, many nursing homes insist their residents sign…
There is an important distinction in estate planning between a power of attorney for financial affairs and an advance directive, also known as a power of attorney for health care. Both documents fulfill a similar purpose – appointing an agent to act on your behalf when you are incapable of…
For previous generations, disposing of your property at death meant dealing with physical assets and intangible wealth such as cash or stocks. Today we also need to think about digital assets as part of our estate planning. Just think about how much of your life is kept online, from your…
If you die without a will, California’s intestacy law dictates how your estate must be distributed. For example, if you are married at the time of your death, your spouse is entitled to a certain share of your property under intestacy. But if you are legally separated when you die,…
A person is free to dispose of property as he or she wishes by making a will. There are cases in which a person may enter into a written contract to make certain provisions in their will in exchange for certain considerations. For example, a father may promise to make…
Living in southern California gets more expensive every year. For many elderly San Diego residents on a fixed income, just paying monthly bills can be a struggle. This is one reason “reverse mortgages” have become popular in recent years. How Reverse Mortgages Work Most of us have taken out a…
There are many kinds of trusts used in estate planning. One you may not have heard about before is a special needs trust. This is a trust designed to provide for a person who is receiving certain types of government benefits, such as Medi-Cal or Supplemental Security Income. Because these…
Many people do not bother to plan for their own funerals. They just assume their family will take care of the arrangements when the time comes. If there is disagreement among family members, however, a funeral can quickly turn into a financial and legal battleground. This is why it is…
One of the main benefits of a living trust is that it can make it easier to administer property you own in multiple states. Probate is handled at the state level, so if you own a house in California and a rental property in Arizona, your probate estate would need…
Following a divorce there are a number of collateral issues you need to deal with. Among other matters, you may need to reconsider your estate planning situation. For example, if you and your former spouse created a living trust, you will probably want to revoke that trust and create a…