August means school is back in session or just around the corner. This signals the return of new school supplies, homework, and pop quizzes. Try your hand at this estate planning pop quiz to see if your knowledge of estate planning makes the grade. Question #1: True...
Both an advance healthcare directive (also called a living will or healthcare proxy) and a POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) form are important documents to prepare ahead of time as they provide information about treatment wishes. However, they...
One of the main reasons estate planning is often placed on the back burner is that death is an easy topic to avoid. Thinking positive thoughts and hoping for a long and happy life makes us feel better in the moment. Of course, the uncomfortable truth is that we cannot...
A document called a Living Will can also bring peace of mind to both you and your loved ones because it provides instructions about your end-of-life medical care decisions. However, more comprehensive advance care planning is recommended. For example, if you were...
I get asked this question a lot: “If I have a trust, do I need a will?” The short answer is: “Yes, you do.” Of course, the next natural question is “why?” To understand the why, it’s helpful to first see the probate problem...
Many Californians own real estate in other states, whether it’s because they used to live elsewhere, they own vacation homes, rental investments, or received it as an inheritance. These properties provide a lot of benefit during life, but what problems might be...
If you were to search the word “trusts” in your internet browser right now, you would find what we call the alphabet soup of trusts: a list of acronyms representing a number of trusts that might be helpful to you. But what do they mean? Which one works...
A Durable Power of Attorney is one of the essential legal documents that should be a part of everyone’s estate planning in order to best prepare for when life happens. Outside of how to create one, we often get asked the question of whether a Power of Attorney...
We get asked this question quit frequently and for good reason. The law can be confusing and the law is different in many states. In addition, the experiences your friends, family, or neighbors have had in the past might be the product of older laws or legal planning...
One of the biggest myths and most understood concepts that we come across when we talk to people about estate planning is that a trust will avoid probate. That is only partially true, but it’s not the whole story. Trusts by themselves cannot and do not avoid...
When it comes to refinancing a mortgage there are a lot of things to think about as well as documentation to organize for you lender and then sign. Most often everyone is in a rush – the lender to process the loan and you to just get the process over and done so...
When a California home or other real estate is sold or transferred to another person, with the exception of some limited circumstances, property taxes will increase due to triggering a reassessment of the Prop. 13 tax base. The good news is that these exemptions...
Dealing with the loss of a spouse is one of the most difficult situations a person can face. The grief alone can be crippling and adding to the stress is the need to deal with funeral arrangements and any other tasks that may have arisen during your spouse’s final...
The SECURE Act has a lot of benefits, but now for the bad news. Under the SECURE Act, younger beneficiaries can no longer “stretch” the IRA they inherit. This was a process by which a beneficiary would take small required minimum distributions over his or her...
Have you heard about the new SECURE Act (effective January 1, 2020). Do you know how it will affect your retirement accounts and impact your beneficiaries? Let us explain. In this short video, you learn important highlights about: What the law changed – both the...
A Cup of LoveFebruary 6, 2023
