Imagine this scenario: your cousin, David, dies without an estate plan here in California. He had no children or further descendants. He has no living siblings, parents, grandparents, or aunts or uncles, but he does have you, his first cousin on his dad’s side. His only first cousin that you are aware of. You petition the court to open a…
Estate planning is not just for seniors. Ideally, as soon as you turn eighteen you should have some version of an estate plan because your parents are no longer automatically able to make decisions or act on your behalf. There are several reasons to create a power of attorney for finances once you turn eighteen. For example, the military helps…
There are many issues that need to be addressed fairly quickly after someone passes away. The decedent’s body is usually the first issue that needs to be addressed. The immediate question when someone passes away is: Are they an organ donor? And if the answer is yes, then the follow up questions are: Donating what organs? To whom? And for…
Eligibility requirements relating to assets This is another installment in our series on Medi-Cal planning. We have been discussing Medi-Cal eligibility from the standpoint of income. In this blog post we will discuss eligibility requirements relating to assets. In analyzing our client’s situation we have to consider assets. If the client’s assets are of a value greater than what Medi-Cal…
There’s a reason why more and more funeral organizations are offering green burials. The byproducts of a traditional funeral and interment are becoming a significant environmental problem. According to the Green Burial Council, each year, traditional burials in America put the following in the ground: 20 million feet of wood 17,000 tons of copper and bronze 6 million tons of…