Selecting the proper Trustee for your California Trust is critical is you want your estate to stay out of the Court system. Over half of the Trust litigation we work on everyday invokes a bad Trustee doing bad things. In this video partner Keith A. Davidson discusses some considerations you should keep in mind in
The Mystery Amendment…Powers of Appointment
Did you know that amending a California Trust is not the only way to “amend” a Trust? Sounds like a riddle, but it’s actually a concept known as a “power of appointment.”
A Trust amendment is a simple way to change a California revocable Trust. And an amendment can change any part of the Trust
The Lives Behind the Words: How California Trust and Will Lawsuits Affect our lives.
We should never forget when reading a written decision by any Court that there are people—real, live, breathing people—behind the words laid down in the Court’s opinion. I was recently reminded of this fact when I received a call from Tom Giraldin, son of William A. Giraldin, whose estate I discussed in an earlier blog
The Childish Balancing Act-How to Plan for Children in Your Trust.
Children are a big part of Trust planning, and a big part of Trust litigation (lawsuits) when the planning falls apart (or is not done properly to begin with). There are many factors that affect planning for children, including age, marital status, health, legal or creditor issues, and level of responsibility (or rather perceived level
Never Hurts to Have a Little Protection…For Your California Trust
Protecting your California Trust with a Trust Protector.
Continue Reading Never Hurts to Have a Little Protection…For Your California Trust
May The Best Contestant Win…Contesting A California Trust vs. A California Will
Listen to Keith A. Davidson summarize his blog post on the difference in contesting a California Trust and a California Will.
Which is better—A Trust or Will if a fight takes place for your assets after your death? One of the primary reasons people create Living Trusts (also called Revocable Trusts and Revocable Living Trusts)
The Expansion of Estate of Heggstad (at least for non-real property assets)
Here’s a situation we see often: Sally dutifully creates a California Trust, and at the same time signs a “general property assignment” to the Trust, which states in effect, “I, Sally, hereby assign, transfer and convey to myself as trustee of my trust, all my right, title and interest in all property owned by me
Fraud — A Basis For Overturning A California Will
It doesn’t happen often, but the existence of fraud can cause a Will to be invalid. Fraud is simply a lie (called a misstatement of a material fact in legal parlance). Thus, if someone lies to a person creating a Will (called the testator) and that lie causes a different disposition under the Will than