Practical guidance on wills, trusts, and protecting your family — written for California families, not lawyers.
A revocable living trust is one of the most effective tools in California estate planning — but only if it's properly funded, coordinated, and maintained. Here's what most people miss after they sign.
Read the full post →Funding, coordination, and ongoing maintenance are what make a trust actually work. Here's what most people miss after they sign.
Read more →California-specific planning considerations — probate, Prop 19, Medi-Cal — and why now is the right time for local families to act.
Read more →It seems simple, but adding a child to your home's deed can trigger gift taxes, wipe out the step-up in basis, and expose your property to their creditors.
Read more →When a specifically gifted asset is sold by an agent under a Durable Power of Attorney — not by the testator — California law protects the beneficiary. Here's how.
Read more →In a pour-over will estate, serving as both executor and trustee doesn't mean you can skip notice to the trust's beneficiaries. California law requires it — here's why.
Read more →A recap of a USPTO panel featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a legal scholar, and a former IRS estate tax attorney — covering what celebrities and their advisors need to know about identity rights after death.
Read more →Both documents express your wishes — but only one keeps your family out of probate court. A plain-language explanation of how each one works.
Coming soonCalifornia law automatically fixes part of your estate plan after a divorce — but not all of it, and not at all after the loss of a spouse. Here's what to review.
Read more →It's my quintessential autumn watch, and every October the same detail catches my eye: the trademark question Kathleen Kelly implies but never quite says out loud.
Read more →A legal name change that isn't updated in your trust, will, and beneficiary designations can create serious problems. Here's what to do.
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