SERVICES
Estate Planning
Estate planning is the process of planning for incapacity and the distribution of assets upon death. Each plan is different and depends on the personal and economic circumstances that are unique to each person and family.
Estate planning is not only for the wealthy. Individuals and families create estate plans to achieve numerous and diverse objectives, the most common being to avoid probate, to protect young or vulnerable family members, to name someone to make medical and financial decisions during incapacity, for tax planning, and to ensure that assets pass to the intended beneficiaries.
A “typical” estate plan usually consists of a revocable trust, will, durable power of attorney, advance health care directive, and often a trust transfer deed.
We begin every engagement with a brief call—free of charge—to ensure that our services will meet your needs.
Trust Administration
A trust administration is the process of administering the estate of another upon incapacity or death. We represent trustees and beneficiaries in all aspects of trust administration, except for litigation.
While there are some aspects of a trust administration that are intuitive to individuals named as trustees, there are many aspects that require proper counsel. Trustees will find they are required to send specific notices, retitle accounts into their names as trustee, complete and send in documents to county recorders and assessors, prepare accountings, file tax returns, communicate with beneficiaries, and hold and distribute assets according to the terms of the trust, the Probate Code, and state and federal law. We advise trustees about these rights and duties.
We will begin by reviewing the operative estate planning documents and list of assets, which will guide us through the administration. We will advise you throughout the process, and if we discover that assets were mistakenly left out of the trust, we will advise you about collecting the assets, possibly including a probate proceeding.
Probate
Probate is the court-supervised process of administering an estate. This process involves appointing a representative, marshaling assets, notifying those entitled to notice, settling creditor’s claims, accounting for all expenses, and distributing and closing out the estate. The purpose of probate is to allow creditors to come forward with claims, prevent fraud, ensure the proper parties have been notified and receive information, and finally to distribute the assets to the entitled beneficiaries or heirs.
In California, if an individual holds over a certain value of assets in his or her own name at death, and the assets do not pass by beneficiary designation or operation of law (such as joint tenancy or pay-on-death accounts), the estate must go through probate. This process takes a minimum of six months, but can take years to wrap up.
The representative of the estate and the attorney for the representative are each entitled to minimum fees based on statute. For example, the attorney and the representative each receive a fee of $13,000 for a $500,000 estate; $23,000 for a $1 million estate; and $33,000 for a $2 million estate.
Due to the time, expense, and public nature of probate proceedings, many residents of California prefer to create revocable trusts to hold their assets to avoid probate.