Living Trust Tag

Looking for the best Living Trust attorneys in the Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, or Calabasas, California area? Please consider our CunninghamLegal office in Westlake Village, headed by two popular and proven estate attorneys, Jeff Rosen and Janice Lee Shen. Jeff and Janice work with people throughout the Conejo Valley as they create Living Trusts, Wills, Powers-of-Attorney,...

Fix Your Outdated Living Trust Now! By Tasha Jahn, Attorney-at-Law Remember that Living Trust you created five or ten years ago? I’m sorry to tell you it was just the beginning. Since then, your family probably changed, your assets certainly changed, and believe me, the tax laws changed a lot. That means the Estate Plan that’s been sitting quietly in your drawer all this time has likely...

A California Living Trust Attorney Discusses Asset Protection Strategies & Trusts by Jeffrey Rosen, Attorney at Law Here’s a disaster I see all too often in my practice, and it breaks my heart: An inheritance which required a lifetime to accumulate is taken in an instant by a predator, creditor, or divorce after it transfers to a loved one. Lawsuits are at an all-time high. Divorce hits at...

Eight Steps for New Trustees by James L. Cunningham Jr., Attorney at Law I realize that you have just faced the difficult truth of a loved one passing away. Unfortunately, I must tell you that another difficult truth awaits: If you were named as the Trustee of an estate, it can be more than a little stressful going through a loved one’s things, finding their financials and deeds, paying their...

Are you looking for a local Pasadena estate attorney to help create your California Living Trust? I hope you’ll consider our Pasadena Estate Planning office, headed by superb attorneys Conner Clemons and Liz Seitz, and serving clients throughout the San Gabriel Valley. It’s not easy choosing a Living Trust attorney—or at least, it shouldn’t be. You Really Do Need a Specialist Estate planning...

Do you care if your beneficiaries screw up their lives after you are gone? What if your legacy enables them to screw up their lives? Earlier I explained that in the absence of other arrangements in a properly constructed trust, a child will fully inherit their portion of your estate at age eighteen in most states. I mentioned how that might not be such a great idea (see Mistake #10). Let me...

My wife has told me very clearly, “Now listen, when I die, I don’t want to be eaten by bugs. So, I want you to cremate me. I want you to put my ashes in a box and then into a columbarium where the family can come visit me.” I am glad she has told me this—and I take her words very seriously. It’s not easy to talk to your husband, much less your child about your possible illness and death....

Any significant asset can be threatened by creditors, predators, and major relationship shifts like divorce. A good trust will take into account the highly specific dangers faced by your circumstances—both during your life, and when you’ve passed that asset on to your heirs. Suppose you own an apartment building and you have hired somebody to manage it. When you die, you pass the apartment...

If you read through Mistake #10, you now understand how a mere “last will and testament” does not provide the vital mechanisms offered by a living trust. A will can be partly disregarded by a judge or indefinitely delayed by probate. A living trust offers you the chance to bypass many of the frustrations of the probate, conservatorship, and guardianship systems. Do not, however, be tempted...

Much of the rest of this book will be about constructing a good living trust. But what is a living trust, exactly? As I explained briefly earlier in the book, you can think of a living trust as a kind of vessel, a bucket which you create, and into which you place your stuff. Some things, like IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities and life insurance do not go into the trust, (See Mistake #5). Basically,...