Blog Posts in July, 2011
Posted on Jul 29, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Recently, Michael Jackson's mother and other family members announced that they have planned a tribute concert in his honor to be held later this year. However, the executors of Michael ...
Continue reading "Michael Jackson Estate Saga Continues" »
Posted on Jul 28, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
I'm sure many of you have seen Hollywood movies, and some commercials for that matter, where everyone is gathered around to hear the reading of the Last Will and Testament of a deceased ...
Continue reading "Preventing Will Contests" »
Posted on Jul 27, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Unfortunately, when celebrities die, their controversies don't always go with them. Such is the current case involving the estate of Farrah Fawcett and her ex-boyfriend and father to her son, Ryan ...
Continue reading "Farrah Fawcett - An Important Lesson in Trust Funding" »
Posted on Jul 26, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
No matter how responsible that you may deem yourself to be, even the most responsible person cannot foresee a possible lawsuit looming over the horizon. Accidents happen, whether you meant for them to ...
Continue reading "Protecting Assets Through Estate Planning" »
Posted on Jul 25, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Part of the estate administration process includes determining whether property owned by the decedent is shared by any other individual as either a joint tenant or as tenants in common. A tenants in ...
Continue reading "Decedent's Tenants in Common Property" »
Posted on Jul 22, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
If you are the main income contributor in your family, your sudden death could suddenly leave your family in the middle of a seriously bad financial situation. It is not uncommon for your estate to be ...
Continue reading "Family Allowance While Estate in Probate" »
Posted on Jul 21, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
When tasked with the role of the executor, you may have to put on your hat and go into Indiana Jones mode. A full search of the decedent's real property may be required to discover if the decedent ...
Continue reading "Locate and List - Hidden Assets" »
Posted on Jul 20, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Another responsibility of the executor or estate administrator may be to prepare an inventory of the decedent's household and personal items. This is necessary in order to assign value to the ...
Continue reading "Locate and List - Household and Personal Items" »
Posted on Jul 19, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
As the executor it may become your duty to ascertain whether or not the decedent had any ownership in a business. If so, you are going to need to determine the value of that business. This can be done ...
Continue reading "Locate and List - Business Relationships" »
Posted on Jul 18, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
As part of the estate administration process you’re going to need to begin locating and listing all of the decedent’s assets. A good place to begin is with the larger assets like real ...
Continue reading "Locate and List - Large Assets" »
Posted on Jul 15, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Once you've got your Living Trust set-up, hopefully using a knowledgeable Estate Planning Attorney , you are going to start funding that trust. Funding is when you transfer assets such as, real ...
Continue reading "Funding The Trust" »
Posted on Jul 14, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
You might have asked yourself the question, 'Are there any of my assets that could transfer automatically to my heirs upon my death?' The answer is, yes. Asset accounts you own can be titled ...
Continue reading "Automatic Asset Transfers to Beneficiaries" »
Posted on Jul 13, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Probate. Something that surely nobody actually wants to do. And something that most anyone would want to altogether avoid. A simple way to avoid some of that probate pain may be through the use of ...
Continue reading "Using Beneficiary Designations Wisely" »
Posted on Jul 12, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
When making payments from a trust it is important to make sure those payments are being made properly from either the trust principal or the trust income. The property that the trust owns is called ...
Continue reading "Must Know - Trust Principal vs. Trust Income" »
Posted on Jul 11, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
If you want to have an accurate measure of the value of your estate, you should make sure to obtain an appraisal of the current value of your assets. The most common items for which an appraisal ...
Continue reading "Appraising Your Trust Assets" »
Posted on Jul 8, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
In New York, there has been a 5 year ongoing guardianship battle between Mr. and Mrs. Gary Harvey of Horeseheads, NY and the Chemung County of which they reside. This battle stems from a 2006 incident ...
Continue reading "The Case of Mr. Gary Harvey" »
Posted on Jul 7, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Despite how it may sound, a Holographic Will, is not a will forged out of some kind of space age technology from Star Trek. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. A holographic will is defined as, the ...
Continue reading "What Is A Holographic Will?" »
Posted on Jul 6, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
If you want to make major changes to your Revocable Trust that cannot be achieved through a series of amendments, then you may be considering revoking the entire trust. If you've set up your ...
Continue reading "Revoking vs. Restating a Trust" »
Posted on Jul 5, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
There may be several reasons as to why you would want to make changes, or amendments , to your trust. From the time you created your trust, you may get divorced and remarried. You may have more ...
Continue reading "Amending A Trust" »
Posted on Jul 1, 2011 By Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
Managing your estate is an ongoing process and knowing when to update your estate is essential. The following checklist outlines some of the most common reasons when an updated estate plan may be ...
Continue reading "Updating Your Estate Plan - Checklist" »