Wills & Trusts

Unfortunately, many people end up dying or becoming incapacitated without legal wills to guide their families through a difficult time. Besides the emotional difficulty of estate planning, having a lack of resources to allocate is also a factor that stops many people from creating a will.

However, estate planning isn’t only for wealthy people.
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Though they are often lumped in with the things handled in an estate plan, you do not need an estate plan to prepare healthcare proxies. Where an estate plan addresses how you want your financial affairs handled after your death, a healthcare proxy (also known as an advance healthcare directive) provides instructions for medical providers while you are still alive.

Regardless of your age or current well-being, advance healthcare directives help your family and doctors provide you with the medical care you would prefer; moreover, they provide your loved ones with a sense of guidance, relieving them of the many pressures and conflicts that arise after a traumatic event.

The Purpose of Advance Healthcare Directives

In the state of California, advance healthcare directives serve several key purposes:

Appointing a Healthcare Agent

Advance healthcare directives include power of attorney, a grant of authority that gives your agent the power to make medical decisions on your behalf. That said, select your healthcare agent carefully, as doctors must act on their instructions.
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Medical emergencies are usually the last thing that people want to think about in everyday life. But having a plan for any situation can provide you with invaluable protection and peace of mind. Writing out your wishes also makes it easier for your loved ones to care for you, even if you are unable to make decisions on your own. 

When it comes to Read more . . .

Family and community are among life’s greatest joys, and everyone wants to ensure that the people they care about are protected after their death. While it can be intimidating and even painful to think of your loved ones’ lives without you, drafting a will that includes them is the best way to guarantee their future well-being.

Life can be unpredictable.

When you think about putting property in a trust, you may not think about placing your house in a trust. However, your personal situation and circumstances will help you to determine whether it is the best decision for you. Here are the top three reasons to consider doing so.

1. You Can Avoid Probate

One of the biggest reasons that anyone puts assets into a trust is that it helps you to avoid the probate process.
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Creating a trust is a great way to find peace of mind for both you and your loved ones, ensuring that they are taken care of. However, in order for the trust that you’ve established to be able to help in the way you’ve intended, it’s really important that it’s funded.

When a trust isn’t funded it often requires probate court if you become incapacitated or pass away.
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Minors in California (those under 18) may not directly own assets. However, they can own them through a guardian. For example, a minor’s name can be on a bank account so long as it is also opened in the joint name of their adult guardian.

Another way in which minors can indirectly own assets is by being the beneficiary of a Trust. In fact, most people create Read more . . .

When a loved one has special needs, it's important to ensure that they are protected even after you are gone. Many parents, wanting to care for their children with special needs, will leave their children with disabilities a large inheritance.

However, while ensuring that a loved one who has special needs receives enough financial resources to meet their long-term care needs, it’s also important not to risk losing the eligibility for them to receive governmental aid, such as California’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid program, Medi-Cal.
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While it’s always in your best interest to begin estate planning sooner rather than later, sometimes it doesn’t always happen. So what happens if you have a loved one who lacks a Will or a Trust but is currently diagnosed with dementia?

In order to create an estate-planning document of any kind, it’s required that the individual doing so have the necessary mental capacity. When someone has dementia, it qualifies as a mental defect that could diminish his or her legal capacity.
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While we generally create trusts to hold assets for our heirs to receive at a certain point, sometimes we want the opportunity to change the trust during our lifetime. Many things can change in life and sometimes these changes are enough to want to alter your trust. You can do so, but only with a “revocable trust.”

While we know that the decision of what to name a child is extremely important, most people are unaware of the importance of naming your trust. Unlike other legal entities, such as corporations and LLCs, there are no laws when it comes to naming your trust. This is because your trust is not registered with the government.
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