History Heggstad petitions are named after the California court case, Estate of Heggstad. Mr. Heggstad created a living trust and identified the assets he wanted in the trust by filling out a schedule of assets attached to his trust. Unfortunately, Mr. Heggstad died before he could retitle those assets into the name of his trust. Wanting to avoid a full probate…
Welcome to 2023! It’s the start of a new year, a new month, and it’s time for new resolutions. Now, while anyone can set goals or make good old-fashioned New Year’s resolutions, seniors tend to struggle the most. Goal setting can seem irrelevant later in life, but research begs to differ. Instead, goal setting can be a factor in slowing…
In Part I of this series on taxes, we discussed federal taxes, and in Part II, we discussed state taxes. For Part III, we will discuss local taxes in California and generally. In California, local taxes are typically handled through the county tax assessor/collector. We will specifically discuss property taxes and taxes on the transfers of property. Local Taxes: Property…
In Part I of this series on taxes, we discussed federal taxes. For Part II, we will discuss state taxes. State Taxes: Income Taxes The first type of state tax that affects estate planning is individual income tax. Like federal income tax, state income tax can apply to individuals, married couples, and entities, including trusts. Income tax is a tax…
In a famous quote by Benjamin Franklin, “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Now taxes are not fun; however, they are certain, and there are many different kinds of taxes. In estate planning, we deal with several different types of taxes, and people often mix them up. Here we will lay out the different types…
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…
When completing any estate planning, including a trust, will, power of attorney, or health care directive, the person signing the documents must have what is called “capacity” in order to sign the documents. There are two kinds of capacity in estate planning: testamentary capacity and contractual capacity. Testamentary capacity is a lower form of capacity and is required by a…