To be honest I have lost track of how we refer to different generations. I know baby-boomers and generation X, I’ve heard tell of generation Y, but I’m lost after that. So let’s just call everyone under age 21 as of now “generation X-Box.” How do you deal with the transfer of wealth to generation
Estate Planning
Domestic Asset Protection Trusts: Improving financial longevity
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I will admit that I am not the biggest proponent of asset protection devices. Primarily because there seems to be a lot of schemes and scams sold under the guise of “asset protection.” But not every asset protection device is bad. In fact, there are some very good, and legitimate (and, yes, legal), asset protection …
The Empty Will: Why a California Will or Trust May Not Control Your Assets after Death.
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You may think that a California Will or Trust controls the distribution of all your assets after your death. You may be surprised to learn just how meaningless a Will or Trust can be depending on how your assets are titled.
When a person is alive, his assets are viewed as belonging to him. When…
Give a Little After You’re Gone: The benefit of charitable giving at death.
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Most of us are not capable of giving billions to charity, like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates But charities, to be successful, don’t need billions (they’d love to have billions, I’m sure, but most operate on far less than that).
Most people make modest charitable gifts to their favorite charity, university or church during their lifetime. …
Joint Tenancy Bank Accounts: The pitfalls of using joint tenancy in California estate planning
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The Backdoor Beneficiary: How Your New Spouse is Automatically a Beneficiary of Your Estate in California
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Love and marriage may go together (like a horse and carriage…), but marriage and estate planning may be another story.
If a person creates a Will or a Trust in California and then subsequently marries, that person’s new spouse automatically becomes a beneficiary of the Will and Trust by operation of law. Many times people…
Tired of the Retirement Mess: How Failing to Plan for Retirement Accounts = Planning For Litigation in Your Estate
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If your goal is to help keep lawyers employed (and that’s an excellent thing to do in my opinion), then do not change your beneficiary forms on your retirement accounts when you do your estate planning.
By retirement accounts, I mean things like 401(k), 403(b), Pension, and IRA type accounts to name a few. These…
Coping with Incapacity: How Trust Planning Is Life Planning
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How does your trust help you while you’re alive? Many people think of trusts as death planning instruments–the type of thing that only operates upon your death.
But trusts have a critically important role to play while you are alive in the event you lose capacity. People are living longer and the likelihood of being…
Would You Pass a Legal Checkup?
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Here is another business law offering that I published in our local Corona Business Monthly. We come across many business issues in our Trust and Will litigation practice, so it never hurts to discuss business law concerns.
Stress can affect wellness. And legal problems can bring the kind of stress most people would rather avoid. …
Marital Rights Without Marriage — How Nonmarital Partners May Receive a Share of a Deceased Partner’s Estate Based Upon an Oral Promise Before Death
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One of my first litigation cases was against attorney Thomas W. Dominick in San Bernardino County Probate Court. Tom is one of the best estate and trust litigators in California. To say the least, I was scared. The issue in that case revolved around whether my client had a right to his girlfriend’s real property after…