Formal accountings can take up a lot of your time. When we say “formal accounting” we are referring to a Trust accounting that is prepared according to the format rules of the Probate Code (section 1060) and filed with the court to court approval. Why do formal accountings take so long to resolve? First, it […]
When you hire a lawyer on contingency, that means that you are paying the lawyer a percentage of whatever is recovered. You essentially are making that lawyer a partner with you in your case. It’s no different in a lot of ways from having a business partner. Except now your business partner is a lawyer […]
It’s not very often that people talk about philosophies of attorneys. But if you look at a spectrum of attorneys, you’re going to find that different attorneys have different philosophies in terms of how they approach cases. They have different viewpoints. They have different ideas on how a case should be managed, the strategy that […]
How does a trustee resign? That depends on the terms stated in the trust document. Most trusts will have a provision that describes how a Trustee may resign from acting as Trustee. In most cases, the Trustee will give written notice of their resignation to the Trust beneficiaries and to the successor Trustees. Whatever the […]
When the time comes to distribute assets to Trust beneficiaries, there are a number of ways to do so. When a Trust consists solely of cash, then the distribution is easy. The Trustee can write a few checks, make the Trust distribution, and end the Trust administration. How to Distribute Trust Assets to Beneficiaries Outright […]
If you ask any Trust beneficiary, they will tell you that closing a Trust administration is easy. The Trustee gives the beneficiaries all the assets, and they all live happily ever after. But Trustees often see the end of the Trust with far more reservation because of their potential future liability. You see, Trustees don’t want […]
One of the most common questions we receive from clients is: “how do we freeze the Trust assets?” After all, when you file a Trust contest, aren’t all the Trust assets frozen until the case is resolved? The answer is no. That rarely occurs. It sounds surprising, we know, but let us explain a bit […]
In California, a printed Will (that is any will that comes out of a printer) must be signed by the person creating it, and by two witnesses. If the Will is not signed by two witnesses, then it is invalid. Many people think they can have the Will notarized, but notarization does nothing to validate […]
If you were to crack open a copy of the California Probate Code and start reading from Section 16000 onward, you would find pages of rules discussing the duties of a California Trustee. The first duty, listed at Section 16000, is one of the most important: do what the Trust document tells you to do. […]
There are many assets that pass to children using a beneficiary designation form. A beneficiary designation is any form where beneficiaries are listed. For example, life insurance passes to the beneficiary listed on the life insurance policy. Individual retirement accounts and 401(k)’s pass to the people listed as beneficiaries on the account forms. Even certain […]
