California Estate Planning And Probate Law Blog

Estate planning isn't just about who will get your assets when you die but the protections you need if you are alive and vulnerable. Many people will include plans for their future health care needs in a comprehensive estate plan. Creating an advance health care...

Parents who are caring for a child who has special needs might know that the child will need to rely heavily on needs-based programs like Medicaid throughout their life. This can make it difficult to set up an estate plan that takes care of the child when both parents...

Your life will change in a variety of ways as you age. For example, you may soon realize that you’re not able to get around nearly as well as you once did. As a result, you have concerns about your health, well-being and ability to keep up with your home. Elder care...

To some degree, you think that an incentive trust sounds like a great idea. You’re going to leave your wealth to your heirs anyway. Why not put it in a trust that gives them some goals, like advancing their career or getting a college education? It seems like a...

When you fell and got hurt, you were left with a serious head injury. You managed to recover, but after going through the situation and seeing the decisions that were made on your behalf, you decided to set up a health care directive. In the future, you want your best...

Have you ever bought a piece of flatpack furniture? The instructions look relatively simple, yet, nine hours later, you are on your knees in your Westlake Village home in a pile of parts that you cannot fit together. What’s worse, you argued with your wife when she...

Some parts of estate planning sound simple. You know that writing a will means listing your assets and assigning them to certain heirs, for instance. You may choose to do it on your own or to ask your heirs what they want or prefer. Either way, it seems...

A health care directive, also sometimes called an advance medical directive, is one of the most important documents in your estate plan or living will. Your advance medical directive will outline your medical wishes in the event that you can no longer clearly...

When you’re creating your estate plan, you have to think about more than just your will. These are several other components that can help to make your wishes known. One thing that most people don’t realize is that some parts of the estate plan are used before you pass...

When you make money, whether you earn it as a wage or as interest on an investment, you pay taxes on that income. You will also pay taxes on the interest it accrues or other income you derive from investing part of your earnings. If you save your wealth in order to...