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In San Diego, there are many probate cases. These are heard in the probate court houses located at the Madge Bradley Court House in San Diego and the North County Court House in Vista. Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP can assist you with any probate matter in San Diego. You can feel free to e mail our firm or call.

An illustration of a famous probate case, which is not in San Diego, is that of Heath Ledger. An article in the Herald Sun explains that his fortune will go to his infant daughter as opined by two legal experts. This is a much more complicated case since Heath Ledger has substantial assets in Australia as well as the United States.

Please feel free to call us to represent you in your pending probate matter in San Diego, California.

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In San Diego, California [as well as across the United States], April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day. In San Diego, with over 1,000,000 residents alone, this is a very important topic. In California, the Advance Health Care Directive is a form which is included in a living trust to insure that your wishes are carried out if you cannot make them for yourself due to incapacity or other factors.

A recent article in the San Diego North County Times highlights this issue. In this article, George Chamblin writes that a “new survey finds that most families, willing to hold meaningful discussions on other issues, are still hesitant to deal with death”. In our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP, we assist families in beginning the discussion on this topic. In addition, you can feel free to e mail to our firm for assistance in this discussion.

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In San Diego, many residents need skilled nursing home care. At our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP, we are pleased to offer a complimentary and confidential consultation for you or a loved one who needs skilled nursing care or long term care planning.

The Medicare website has many useful articles. One article on on paying for skilled nursing care. The costs are thousands of dollars per month and can strain even the most financially stable families. The laws of the State of California are very complicated as is the applicaition process. Please feel free to e mail our law firm if you need additional information.

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In San Diego, many residents have no estate plan. In our firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP, we offer a complimentary and confidential consultation to determine which estate plan is right for you. You can also feel free to e mail us. In San Diego, in the Probate Courts, the legal fee is 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the second $100,000 and then 2% of the remaining $100,000’s in incremental units. For example, if your house is valued at $500,000 and your debt on the house is $400,000, the legal fee is calculated from the gross fair market value and not the net.

A recent article highlights the problems with estate planning. This is not a problem unique to San Diego. In San Diego, a revocable living trust can have the effect of avoiding probate fees and costs if properly set up and properly funded. The article addresses persons who procrastinate due to their fear of facing their own death, do not properly fund the trust with property which causes the estate to be placed into probate or try and do it themselves with out of date forms and documents.

Do not let this happen to you and your family. Our firm can assist with an estate plan which is within your budget and will save your family money and legal fees in the future. Failure to have an estate plan or failure to properly fund your estate plan can have the same effect of having the estate in probate court.

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In San Diego, many residents are in the military. Also, in San Diego, many residents travel for business. There are many articles on this subject and they are easily searched in Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines with the key search terms for your own education. The AARP is a good source of information for seniors and non seniors alike and has an article regarding powers of attorney.

At our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP, we prepare individual estate plans based on individual needs. These can include a revocable living trust, durable power of attorney for finances, advanced health care directive and also other advanced estate planning strategies. Please feel free to e mail or call our office for any legal advice you need in this area.

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In San Diego, there are many residents who need long term care planning. These include San Diego residents who are both old and young. It is important to begin the planning as soon as possible since there are many options. Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP can assist with advising you of the law regarding long term care planning and assisting your family in this difficult time. Please feel free to e mail or call our office for a complimentary and confidential consulation.

The San Diego Union Tribune has an article which discusses long term care insurance. This can be part of an estate plan. Be sure, as in the article, to use a licensed and reputable agent. You can check on the California Department of Insurance website for credentials and current license status.

Target also has advice for long term care planning. This site has useful information and also discusses an advanced health care directive. This is essential in any estate plan.

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In San Diego, California, we have two probate courts: San Diego in the Madge Bradley Courthouse and in Vista at the North County Courthouse. For your convenience, included in this article is a link to the probate court page for the San Diego Superior Court website.

In Los Angeles, California, Britney Spears case was transferred from a Commissioner to a Judge due to an objection by one of the parties in a recent article. In San Diego, this is also the procedure and if one of the parties does not agree [stipulate] to the Commissioner hearing the case then it is transferred to a Judge. In San Diego, there is a form which is normally signed by all parties prior to the case proceeding.

Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP can assist you with your conservatorship, probate and estate planning needs. Please feel free to call or e mail our firm

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In San Diego, a large number of residents have multiple retirement accounts which may include deferred compensation, deferred benefit or other compensation plan for retirement. These can take the form or an IRA; KEOGH; 403 plan or many others. Many parents also have a 529 plan for education for their children. Our firm does not give financial advice and are not financial planners or CPA’s. Our firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation can assist in advanced estate planning strategies to protect your legal rights and to obtain your legal goals of eliminating probate fees and costs and to protect your privacy in the distribution.

A recent article in the San Diego Union Tribune on April 20, 2008 focused on the Fleischman family. The husband is 53 and wants to retire from his job as a high school teacher in 7 years when he is 60. At that time, his now 12 year old son will be entering college as a freshman and his daughter, now 15, may be graduating early from high school and graduating college at the same time. The wife is a registered ER nurse and plans to work another 10 to 15 years.

The article does not state whether the Fleishman’s have a revocable living trust or estate plan in any form. If both of them were to pass away without a revocable lliving trust or other estate plan, their estate would need to be probated prior to distribution. Given the assets in the article, the probate fees and costs would be significant and would deplete the resources of the family which could have better been used for the children’s education.

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In San Diego, there are many conservatorship cases. These are heard in the San Diego Probate Court. In the case of Britney Spears, since she lives in Los Angeles, her case is heard in the Los Angeles Probate Court. This case highlights the need for an experienced and competent attorney in the area of conservatorship. Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP, can assist with this. Please e mail or call us to set up a complimentary and confidential appointment.

In a recent article in People, the issue of attorney fees and costs was discussed. In addition, the conservatorship is reported until July 31, 2008. In Probate Court, there can be many hearings and necessary pleadings. The attorney fee and cost award was $58,000. In addition, the Court ordered a payment of $2,500 for the father of Britney Spears as the conservator and also that she cannot leave California without permission from the Court or her father.

Conservatorship cases can be very complicated and this case is an illustration of the costs, fees and powers which a Court has over a person who is declared unfit to care for themselves.

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In San Diego, California, there are many citizens, residents and visitors who enter the United States from Mexico. In San Diego County, there are two major border crossing facilities: San Ysidro and Otay Mesa. These are operated by the Department for Homeland Security. In order to enter the United States, you must prove that you are a United States Citizen, a United States Permanent Residence or a Legal Alien (visitor for any number of reasons) and there are many documents which can establish this.

In San Diego, many citizens travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean by land and sea. The State Department has recently begun accepting applications for the United States Passport Card. This will facilitate entry and expedite document processing at United States Ports of Entry. In San Diego, this is very applicable since many citizens take cruise ships and enter at the Port of San Diego.

This card will have the same validity period as a passport book: 5 years for children age 15 and younger and ten years for adults. The passport card will contain a vicinity-read radio frequency identification chip known as RFID. This will facilitate frequent border travelers. There are many technical rules and these are included on the website.

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