Estate Planning

What is an Estate?

Almost everyone has an estate. An estate is everything you own including all real property, personal possessions, financial interests, and even your pets. Your estate is everything that makes up your net worth. No matter how big or small, everyone should plan for what happens when they are incapacitated or when they pass away.

What is Estate Planning?

According to Harold Lasswell, politics is “who get what, when, how.” Estate planning is the who get what, who does what when, and how you’re going to get things to those people. Estate planning is the preparation of tasks necessary to ensure that everything runs smoothly, when you can longer do. Estate planning is not just the process of ensuring that your wishes are carried out when, not if, you become incapacitated or pass away.

Estate planning is about bringing peace of mind to you and your loved ones.

Estate Planning Packages

My firm offers great rates on four (4) Estate Plan Packages to ensure that all your documents work together to fulfill your wishes. If you are not interested in a package deal, we also offer individual documents.

Estate Plan with a Will for an Individual ($1000.00)

As part of this package you’ll get the following documents:

Will
Power of Attorney
Advance Health Care Directives
Final Disposition Instructions
HIPPA Waiver

Estate Plan with a Will for a Couple ($1500.00)

As part of this package you’ll get the following documents:

Two Wills
Two Powers of Attorney
Two Advance Health Care Directives
Two Final Disposition Instructions
Two HIPPA Waivers

Estate Plan with a Trust for an Individual ($2000.00)

As part of this package you’ll get the following documents:

Living Trust
Pour-Over Will
Certificate of Trust
Power of Attorney
Advance Health Care Directives
Final Disposition Instructions
HIPPA Waiver
Deed(s)
Transfer Document(s)

Estate Plan with a Trust for a Couple ($3000.00)

As part of this package you’ll get the following documents:

Living Trust
Two Pour-Over Will
Certificate of Trust
Two Powers of Attorney
Two Advance Health Care Directives
Two Final Disposition Instructions
HIPPA Waivers
Deed(s)
Transfer Document(s)

Estate Planning Documents

Wills

What is a will?

A will is a document that lays out your wishes regarding the who-gets-what. It is the distribution of your assets, your real, and perhaps imaginary, property and all your personal stuff. This who-gets-what also includes information for the care of any minor children.

Why should I get a will?

If you pass away without a will, your family may not carry out your wishes. In fact, the state of California may not even carry out your wishes. Without a will, you are leaving your estate completely in the hands of an elected legislature that has decided what will happen to your stuff. Your heirs may then be obligated to spend additional time, money, and emotional energy figuring out your estate after you become incapacitated or pass away.

This is called settling your affairs and you probably don’t want the state of California settling your estate for you.

Wills can vary in their effectiveness, depending on the type, and no document can resolve every issue that arises after your death. But without a will, you are leaving all decisions up to the government.

Do I really need a will?

Some people think only the wealthy or those with complicated assets (useful or valuable things) need wills. However, there are very good reasons to have a will.

By having a will, you can be clear about the who-where-what-when-why for your assets. You can keep your assets out of the hands of people you don't want to have them (like an estranged relative). You can identify who should care for your children.

Without a will, the court decides everything. With a will, your heirs will have a faster and easier time getting access to your assets, you can plan to save your estate money on taxes, and you can give gifts and charitable donations.

Instead ask yourself, why shouldn’t I get a will?

Learn more / FAQs

Trusts

What is a trust?

A trust is an estate planning tool if you're concerned with providing for one or more beneficiaries for an extended time, such as minor children, someone with special needs, or even someone who is just not very responsible with money so you don't want them to receive a windfall all at once.

What is a beneficiary?

A beneficiary is a person or entity that benefits or derives an advantage from something, such as a trust, a will, or a life insurance policy. A beneficiary can be your wife, your kids, your sister, your friend next door, or even your favor charity. There is almost no end to who can be your beneficiary.

So, what is a trust again?

There are actually many different types of trusts and there is no one-size fits all.

The Living Trust.

The Living Trust, sometimes called inter vivos (living), is a category of trusts that are created during the life of the settlor. A settlor is also known as a trustor, grantor, or donor. The settlor gives a trustee, which can be an individual or legal entity, the power to hold and administer property and assets for the benefit of a beneficiary.

A trustee is an individual or legal entity, entrusted with the power to hold and administer property and assets for the benefit of a beneficiary.

A living trust is designed to allow for the easy transfer of the settlor's assets while bypassing the often complex and expensive legal process of probate.

What is probate?

Probate is the court-supervised process of “authenticating” your will after you have passed away. It involves the court and attorneys and it can be expensive. Everyone should avoid probate if possible.

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Power of

Attorney

A power of attorney (POA) is a document that allows you to appoint an agent to transact business on your behalf. The agent is also referred to as your attorney-in-fact, but you agent does not actually have to be an attorney. Your agent can be a friend, relative, or other associate. The individual who grants the POA and appoints the agent is referred to in legal terms as the principal.

Learn more / FAQs

Advance Health

Care Directives

You have the right to give instructions about your own health. You also have the right to name someone else to make healthcare decisions for you. This is where Advance Health Care Directives come into play. Every adult should have Advance Health Care Directives. What will your end-of-life care be? Will a Health Care Agent make decisions for you? What will be the final disposition of your remains after you pass?

Learn more / FAQs

Additional Estate Planning Documents

Final Disposition Instructions

Final Disposition Instructions provide for instructions on what to do after you pass away. Do you want to be cremated or buried. How ashes should be handled vs. remains interred. Will arrangements be made for any services. Who has authority to carry out wishes.

HIPPA Waiver

Health care powers of attorney generally authorize the agent to contract for health care services, have access to medical records and consent to their disclosure. However, medical providers may be unwilling to share medical information with an agent in the absence of a medical release or designation of the health care agent as the personal representative that specifically complies with HIPAA regulations. To ensure that a health care agent can readily access medical records and can authorize their disclosure to others, health care powers of attorney should specifically incorporate the HIPAA release provisions and identify the agent as the personal representative for purposes of HIPAA regulations.

Reciprocal Trusts

If you and your spouse have significant differences in dispositive plans or want different successor trustees (especially if you do not want each other to be the sole successor trustee and/or agent), then it is recommended that you have separate estate plans using the Individual option rather than the Married Couple option. You can still provide for each other and can still select each other as successor trustee but there will be more options available to you to tailor the plans for each person.

Amendment to Trust

A trust amendment is a legal document that changes specific provisions of a revocable living trust but leaves all of the other provisions unchanged. If you already have a trust and you just want to make minor changes, this is what you need.

Restated Amendment (Super Amendment)

A Trust Restatement is a super amendment to your living trust. A typical trust amendment allows the Trustee to make minor changes to the trust provisions. Sometimes, however, it is better to prepare an entirely new trust document. When it is time to update your living trust, A Trust Restatement allows you to change anything and everything you want to change in your trust. The only thing that does not change when you restate your trust is the name of your trust. The name of your trust will stay the same, even though you may change everything else about the provisions and content in the trust. People who restate their trust typically want to change their successor trustees, beneficiaries or other substantive aspects of their living trust.

Certificate of Trust (Optional Trust Document)

A certification of trust is a document that is used to certify that a trust was established. It provides important information, like the name of the trust, the trustees, and the date it was formed. It is also referred to as an abstract or memorandum of trust. It provides substantiation that property is being held in the trust.

Declaration of Trust (Optional Trust Document)

The Declaration confirms your intent that all assets (other than IRA/qualified plans) are to be included in the trust. It can be used as basis for a court petition to transfer assets to the trust after death if ever necessary.

Assignment of Personal Property (Optional Trust Document)

This Assignment of Personal Effects is generally prepared at the same time as the Trust and it assigns all of your personal property when ever acquired and where ever located to the trust.

Personal Property Distribution Form (Optional Trust Document)

This Personal Effects Instruction form can be prepared at the same time as the Trust. It is a blank form so you can make the specific gifts of personal property. You will later have the option to designate how the remaining, non-specified personal property (or all of the personal property if there are no instructions) shall be distributed.

Marital Property Agreement

This document either acknowledges that all assets in the trust are community property or, if there is separate property, provides for a simple agreement that all assets are community property except the separate property listed on the schedule(s). The separate property agreement should only be used when there are limited separate property assets and no dispute as to ownership (e.g., a parcel of real estate inherited by one spouse which has always been in the name of that spouse and on which no mortgage has existed).

Realty Trust

A Realty Trust (also referred to as a Land Trust) is a short form trust agreement to hold only real property; generally the sole beneficiary of the trust is a pour-over to your primary living trust. It can be used in those states where the trust agreement must be recorded in each county in which there is real property.

IRA Beneficiary Trust

An IRA Beneficiary Trust can be the primary or contingent beneficiary of an IRA account (or accounts). It can be created as a conduit trust or an accumulation trust but the Trust Protector can elect to switch the type of trust for each sub-trust.

NFA Firearms Trust

This is a stand-alone NFA Firearms Trust along with the Certificate of Trust, Appointment of Co-Trustees, Instruction for the Distribution of Personal Property, a Bill of Sale and a Bank Account Letter. This specialized trust allows you as trustee to own firearms which require registration on a federal and/or state level without having to meet the same restrictive procedures as would an individual owner.