Category Archives: Estate Planning
California Property of Deceased Overseas Owner Affected by Probate Code of Foreign Country
As a melting-pot state with many ties to Asia and Latin America, it is a fairly common for property in California to be owned by a foreign company or individual. If a deceased citizen of another country owned property in … Continue reading
Posted in Estate Planning, Overseas Assets, Probate, Trusts & Estates
Tagged avoiding probate, California Probate Code, Community Property, declaration of death, Estate Planning, intestate estate, Intestate Succession Act, Living Trust, Probate Code, Probate Code France, Probate Code India, Probate Code Indiana, Probate Code Italy, Probate Code Singapore, Probate Code Taiwan, probate laws, spousal petition, surviving spouse, time of death
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Should a CPA be an Estate Trustee for a Client?
We recently encountered a situation in which a successful businessman, who had accumulated significant wealth during his career, felt he was a danger to himself, because he was an alcoholic and he had a couple of car crashes while driving … Continue reading
Posted in Asset Protection, California Trust Law, Estate Planning, Trust Administration, Trusts & Estates
Tagged asset management, beneficiary, certified public accountant, conflict of interest, CPA, estate trustee, fiduciary, irrevocable trust, lose wealth, power of attorney, protect estate, prudent investor, wealth management
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Trust Administration: Gifts and Personal Possessions, Internal Family Litigation, Elder Abuse
Family dynamics can be difficult to manage in the best of times. When the assets of an inherited estate are at stake, they can be even more problematic, especially when a complex family structure that includes children from multiple marriages … Continue reading
Posted in Estate Planning, Family Law, Trust Administration, Trusts & Estates
Tagged Trust Administration, inheritance, estate plan, Elder Abuse, family litigation, blended family, trustees duty, insurance claim, camera, video camera, cash gifts, gift lender letter, tax organizer, addendum to estate plan, lifetime gift, fiduciary responsibilities, reasonable compensation, conservator, special needs
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Tax Planning for Next Year; Digital Assets; Loan Modification & Deed-in-Lieu Programs; Trusts & Trustees
As the dust of this year’s tax season settles, our thoughts have already started to drift toward preparing next year’s returns. It is never too early to consider how to pay less taxes (or to be better prepared for next … Continue reading
Posted in Asset Protection, Filing Your Tax Return, Loan Modification, Tax Return Preparation
Tagged Android, Apple, back taxes, back-up system, beneficiaries, benefit deductions, borrower, call-in show, Deed-in-Lieu, digital files, distressed properties, estate plan, file tax returns electronically, fireproof container, foreclosure, HAFA, Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives, IRS audit, IRS2Go, lender, liens, Living Trust, loan modifications, maximize deductions, minimize taxes, mobile device, paper receipts, pay less taxes, paycheck stubs, payroll deductions, podcast, probate minimum, professional relationship, receipts, record-keeping, Scan, short sale, social site account, status of your refund, tax deductions, Tax Preparer, tax professional, tax refund, transfer real estate, Trustees, underwater real estate
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Digital Assets in Estate Planning; Mortgage Crisis Scams; Loan Modification and Other Mortgage Workouts
One of the more-frequent situations that estate planners have to deal with, along with executors to wills, is the existence and growing popularity of digital accounts and other online assets, such as email, social networking sites like Facebook and its … Continue reading
Posted in Asset Protection, Distressed Property, Estate Planning, Loan Modification, Residential Real Estate, Short Sale, Strategic Foreclosure
Tagged account usernames, advertising, database, digital assets, executor of an estate, Facebook, iCloud, Instagram, real estate, scam, social networking sites
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Gifts For Your Children: Selling or Transferring Property To Your Kids (Plus a Few Tax-Time Tips)
At this time of the year, we feel compelled to remind our followers of a couple of tax-time tips, all of which we have discussed several times in recent months: Recent changes to the law have forced financial institutions that … Continue reading
Posted in Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Radio Show: Wealth Preservation and You, Residential Real Estate, Tax Law, Trusts & Estates
Tagged Brokerage Accounts, estate plan, Estate Tax, fair market value, inheritance, inheritance tax, irs office, licensed real estate broker, Offshore Assets, real estate, tax time tips
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Trust Provisions: A-B Trust vs. A Trust; College Planning: How to Fund Higher Education
We frequently mention that trusts are a good way to avoid the probate process, which takes time, costs money, and has an unknown outcome. The A Trust and the A-B Trust are two popular types of trusts to help married … Continue reading
Posted in College / Higher Education, Estate Planning, Family Law, Radio Show: Wealth Preservation and You, Trusts & Estates
Tagged 529 college savings plan, A-B Trust, Campus Pathway, charitable organization, College Planning, death tax legislation, estate plan, estate tax exemption, generation-skipping, home equity line of credit, inheritance tax, irrevocable trust, Jeffrey Morrison, life insurance policy, marital deduction, married couple, Probate, registered financial adviser, student loan, Trust Provisions, UCLA, USC
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The Probate Court Process; What Constitutes a Proper Will; Contested Wills
The most important message we like to communicate about probate court is that it should be avoided at all costs – under most circumstances. We recently discussed this issue on our weekly radio and web broadcast on KDOW 1220 AM, … Continue reading
Posted in California Trust Law, Estate Planning, Probate, Radio Show: Wealth Preservation and You, Trusts & Estates
Tagged Bay area, beneficiaries, California Estate Planning Attorney, California Probate Code, complex family structure, conflict of interest, Connie Yi, Contested Will, designated beneficiaries, disinterested parties, estate planner, executor of the estate, Financial accounts, fireproof lockbox, IRA, jurisdiction, KDOW, liquid assets, Mark Morris, no contest clause, own handwriting, Pleasanton, Probate, probate court, Proper Will, public notice, safety deposit box, San Francisco, San Jose, San Mateo, state of mind, testamentary intent, trustee, undue influence
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Whitney Houston Update; IRS Publishes “Fresh Start” for Struggling Taxpayers; California Residency
We are in the heart of tax season, so naturally we have recently been addressing many related issues. We wish we had time to discuss them all on our weekly radio and web broadcast on KDOW 1220 AM, and then … Continue reading
Posted in Asset Protection, California Trust Law, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Law, Filing Your Tax Return, Income Tax, Probate, Radio Show: Wealth Preservation and You, Tax Law, Trust Administration, Trusts & Estates
Tagged Bay area, California Franchise Tax Board, California resident, California state income tax, Connie Yi, Estate Planning, estate planning attorney, estate taxes, executor, Facebook IPO, family law, federal law, Fresh Start, Income Tax, inter vivos trust, Internal Revenue Service, IRS initiative, IRS.gov, KDOW, legal residency, Living Trust, LLC, MP3, Nevada, Pleasanton, podcast, Probate, probate court, probated will, professional tax adviser, San Francisco, San Jose, San Mateo, settlor, Silicon Valley, social networking, struggling taxpayers, tax season, telecommuter, testamentary trust, W-2, What Ifs, Whitney Houston, will trust
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