ESTATE PLANNING

A properly drafted and executed Estate Plan can save you and your heirs time and money when the time comes for the disposition of your hard earned assets. How can you be sure your assets will be distributed in the manner you select, to your family, to charity, to whom ever you personally choose? By creating an individual Estate Plan, your wishes can usually be carried out without the need to go through a lengthy and expensive Court procedure. 

Through the use of Revocable Living Trusts your personal objectives can be expressed, expensive probate court administration can usually be avoided and in many situations, federal estate taxes may be eliminated or substantially reduced.

In addition to the Revocable Living Trust, an estate plan usually also includes a Pour-Over Will which not only affirms your wishes to administer your estate under the terms of your Revocable Living Trust, it most importantly, sets forth your wishes for the guardianship of your minor children.  In the event of your incapacity, rather than death, the estate plan also includes both a Durable Power of Attorney for the administration of your assets as well as an Advance Health Care Directive which sets forth your wishes for your health care if you can no longer make decisions for yourself.

TRUST ADMINISTRATION

A properly executed Estate Plan can usually allow your heirs to administer your estate without involvement or administration by the probate court.  However, your Trust still must go through a process known as Trust Administration through witch your estate shall be analyzed by your named Successor Trustee.  That Trustee, usually along with an attorney and accountant shall accumulate all of your assets, determine and pay outstanding debts, file the required tax returns, and finally distribute the remaining assets either to the beneficiaries outright, or through sub-trust funding.  

PROBATE

When a death occurs, if that person has not created and funded an individualized estate plan which includes a Revocable Living Trust, then their estate will require administration through the probate court.  Probate is the legal process of transferring one's property at death to either beneficiaries named in a Will, or to the heirs provided for under state law. Through a court appointed administrator, sometimes named in a Will as the Executor, the probate court determines whether a decedent’s Will is legally valid, confirms that their debts and taxes are paid and oversees the distribution of the remaining assets according to the desires expressed in the Will. If a person dies without a Will or other testamentary document, the probate laws of the State of California decide how the assets are distributed, and the court confirms the distribution accordingly.                                                                                                                

Unfortunately, due to over crowding in the court system, the probate process can often take many months and becomes expensive between court and legal fees.  As an example, an estate that total $500,000 may take more than one year to administer, plus legal fees alone, which are determined by state law, will be $13,000.

TAXATION

This section is still under construction.

FEDERAL AND CALIFORNIA INCOME, GIFT, ESTATE AND
BUSINESS TAX AUDITS AND LITIGATION

CORPORATE, PARTNERSHIP AND BUSINESS LAW