What’s your legacy plan? How do you plan to support yourself in retirement but also pass on assets to loved ones or beneficiaries? There are lots of options available to help you with your plan and to give you the roadmap you need to move forward with your personalized legacy plan. When thinking about your… Read More »
Blog Posts Page 4
Can I Lower My California Estate Tax?
It is a common question for many people just starting the asset protection planning or estate planning process in California: how can I decrease my estate tax responsibilities in California? There are many ways to lower your tax obligations while also protecting assets for your family members and heirs. Make sure that you have a… Read More »
What Are the Most Common Objectives for Long Term Care Planning?
Creating a will or an estate plan is not the same thing as planning for Medicaid or for long term care. This is because most basic estate plans fail to include considerations about wealth or family assets and your legacy and wealth can both be quickly decimated by the costs of long term care. Long… Read More »
When Is a Will Not the Right Choice for Passing on Your Assets?
Families today face increasingly complex dynamics, meaning that you might need to bring some of this complexity over into your conversations with your estate planning lawyer about the tools and strategies to use. Some of the most common factors affecting families with estate planning today include second and third marriages, children that happen outside of… Read More »
Can I Use a Trust to Reduce Estate Taxes?
In 2021, the federal estate tax exemption is $11.58 million. This means that the vast majority of American families won’t trigger this tax upon their death. However, state estate tax exemptions could still apply to depending on your primary state of residence. One of the most common reasons for people to explore the possibilities of… Read More »
Can Life Insurance Be Used to Fund a Trust?
A thorough estate plan requires that all of your property and assets are distributed according to your wishes after you pass away. Depending on your individual goals and intentions, there can be multiple ways to achieve these purposes. Many estate plans will include at a bare minimum a power of attorney and a will, but… Read More »
What Is an Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust?
Do you have questions around the process of picking a trust to use for estate planning or asset protection planning purposes? Our Pasadena estate law group can help you discuss the options and arrive at a decision around the right tools for you. An installment sale to an intentionally defective grantor trust sounds like a… Read More »
How Have Business Owners Approached Retirement Planning in the Midst of a Pandemic?
Does your business have a succession plan? Is this documented somewhere in your office and is there a clear plan of when other team members will be trained into their new leadership roles? Many different business and economic challenges were presented due to Covid-19, but a new study has found that many small business owners… Read More »
Fewer People Have Estate Plans in 2020 Than They Did In 2017
The annual Caring.com study is used to explore how many people have the necessary estate planning documents like a will in place. Despite the pandemic and many people having their attention brought around to the importance of proper estate planning, more people reported having a will in 2017 than those did in 2020. In 2020,… Read More »
Will Your Loved Ones Face a Tax Burden When Selling an Inherited Vacation Home?
Inheriting a vacation house is popular among beneficiaries. In fact, it can even prompt some estate planning conflict if you’ve named one family member and haven’t named another. However, it may not be practical for the beneficiary to keep this property particularly for tax reasons after the primary owner passes away. When inheriting a piece… Read More »
How Does Charitable Giving Fit into Your Estate Plan?
Many people consider that philanthropic and charitable giving are a component of estate and tax planning. But it is important to reframe, how you consider this. Charitable giving can actually be the catalyst. Charitable giving should not be viewed as a by-product of your overall estate plan. The impact of world-wide events such as; social… Read More »
Is Now the Right Time to Sell Your Family Business?
Do you have a business succession plan in place? Our Pasadena business succession planning lawyers can assist you with the structuring of a business succession plan or making alterations to a plan that might no longer fit your needs. A family business requires a lot of work and there’s often plenty of pride in putting… Read More »
Can a California Executor Receive Compensation?
It can be a very time consuming job to be appointed as someone’s executor of their estate. This role can last for longer than a year as the person has numerous different responsibilities in closing out the estate. Most states, including California enable a person appointed as a personal representative or executor to receive compensation… Read More »
How Does an Executor Make Distributions?
Heirs named in your estate plan may be eligible to receive distributions of assets after your appointed personal representative or executor has created an inventory and paid down any debts or taxes. Before making any distributions, it is the executor’s responsibility to verify that they have taken care of all of the other details in… Read More »
What Does It Mean to Take Inventory of An Estate?
Have you named an executor of your estate yet? If not, this is an important role that you need to appoint in your formal estate planning documents. This enables another party to step in and take care of the management and closing out of your formal estate after you pass away. This is known as… Read More »
What to Know About Executor Selection
The appointment of an executor in your estate is a crucial component of an ensuring that there will be someone there to handle estate administration tasks when something happens to you. It is equally important to understand this role within your individual state and the requirements aligned with it if you have been named as… Read More »
Does a Revocable Living Trust Avoid Taxes?
There are many different reasons to use a revocable living trust as a tool in your estate plan. It can be used to supplement existing documents and strategies, such as a living will. For example, imagine that you want to have additional privacy in your estate so that it does not become a matter of… Read More »
Estate Planning Basics: What Do I Really Need?
Have you overlooked an estate plan because you feel like you won’t need one? Here’s an important thing to remember: your estate plan is just as much about your beneficiaries as it is about you. Educating yourself about the core components of an estate plan is a good starting point in your research. However, your… Read More »
Don’t Have a Succession Plan Yet? Now Is the Time
2020 has been the year of change and challenge for business owners. What you might have intended for the year could have been turned upside down, and even your existing succession or business transfer plan might need an update. There is a lot of uncertainty in the world today which means that business owners have… Read More »
How to Recalibrate Your Financial Plan Before the End of the Year
The holidays are a great time to decompress and spend time with family even if the pandemic has greatly shifted what normal looks like in 2020. This means that if you haven’t already done it, now is a good time to think about evaluating your existing financial and estate plans. As we approach the end… Read More »
