Many people believe that everything automatically passes to their spouse upon their death, regardless of how property is titled or any estate planning documents prepared. In some cases, this may be true. However, there are several situations where this may not be the case, and the surviving spouse may either not receive the property or may experience difficulty gaining access…
Over the past few months, we have discussed three very common scenarios where real estate is involved in a trust administration and where beneficiaries may not agree or have different ideas of what to do with the real estate. Part I of this series tackled the common issue of one sibling wanting to keep the home as an investment property…
If you’re someone who is serving in the role of trustee, executor, conservator, or guardian, acting as a personal representative for someone’s estate in California, did you know that the state has specific guidelines for probate accounting? According to section 16062, the California probate code requires representatives to provide an accounting at least once a year. The purpose is usually…
For this four-part series, we are discussing very common scenarios that we see in our trust administrations where real estate is involved. Real estate, particularly the family home, often has emotional and sentimental components that throw a wrench in trust administrations. Beneficiaries often have different ideas of what to do with the family home. We will continue using the same…
Real property is often the most complicated trust asset for trustees to manage. Trustees often want to do their best while also pleasing the beneficiaries, who are often their siblings or family members, and still follow the terms of the trust. This four-part series will discuss common scenarios in our trust administrations involving real estate. To begin this discussion, some…
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…
As estate planning and trust administration attorneys, we run into quite a few issues regularly with clients where the issue can be resolved by looking at specific documents. Often, the clients cannot find those documents, either because they are very old or because they do not appear to be very important. Here we will go through a list, although not…
In California, owning assets in a revocable trust enables your family to avoid probate, a court process used to transfer assets to beneficiaries of a will or the decedent’s heirs. One of the main reasons to create a trust is to avoid probate. Unfortunately, more often than we would like, when we assist clients with trust administration after the death…