Once you open a probate estate by filing (and having the court approve) your Petition for Probate, the work to administer the estate begins. The first step is to obtain certified copies of your Letters. The Court issues an order granting your petition for probate, but the order does not allow you to take any […]
You know those slow motion replays they do in football games? What if the entire game was played in slow motion? That’d be pretty boring and tedious to watch. Welcome to our court system. Nearly every court system in California has been hampered by the severe budget cuts that have occurred in the last two […]
Did you know that the number one reason for probate is to protect creditors? Yes, beneficiaries of the Will or estate are important too, but creditors always come first. Life can be hard for creditors of a decedent. There are a mess of rules and procedures that creditors must follow to keep their claims alive. […]
What is the single biggest threat to your assets leaving your family? I will give you a hint, it ‘s not estate taxes. Many people believe that estate taxes will take a lion’s share of their estate when they die, yet estate taxes apply to few estates. This year, the estate tax exclusion amount is […]
Can a debt be collected against me or my family after death? In California, a decedent’s family is not responsible for the debts of the decedent. There are times where a surviving spouse may be liable, but even that has its limitations. For example, if the decedent had a purely separate property debt, then the […]
What do you call a court filing that usually is a complete waste of time, but occasionally kills a lawsuit against you at the very outset of the case? Answer: a confusing morass??? No, the correct answer is a demurrer. Demurrers are funny things because they focus on a narrow issue of your lawsuit. In […]
Many times a Trustee wants the Trust beneficiaries to sign a waiver of accounting and release of liability before any Trust distributions are made. It is understandable (from the Trustee’s perspective) that he wants to prevent any future lawsuits before all the Trust money is distributed. But do waivers and releases really work? In a […]
In traditional nuclear families, the passing of assets from one parent to the other and then to the kids is a natural occurrence most of the time. But when you have a parent who marries a different spouse, a step-parent to you, then the passing of assets is not so simple; especially where the step-parent has children […]
Have you ever heard of law and equity? Nearly everyone has heard of law, in fact many people believe the law is a set thing that is easily applied with clear-cut rules (not true in most cases by the way). Equity, on the other hand, is a lesser-known concept, which is ironic since a huge […]
No-Contest applies to questioning the executor? If you are the beneficiary under a Will that has a no-contest clause, you might be concerned about questioning the actions of the Executor; or for that matter, seeking to remove the Executor for bad acts while in office. Fear not, no-contest clauses are nearly impossible to enforce under California law. […]
