When you establish a trust, one of the biggest decisions you make is who will serve as trustee if you become ill or pass away. You must be able to rely on your successor trustee to follow your instructions, manage trust assets as a reasonably prudent person, make appropriate distributions and avoid even a hint of self-dealing. In my experience, most successor trustees do just fine, especially when they are represented by a competent trust administration attorney. But what if your successor trustee isn’t up to the job? What if they go rogue when you’re not there to do something about it? That’s when using a trust protector can really give you tremendous peace of mind.

Clients and other attorneys regularly ask me who can be the trustee of a Special Needs Trust.  The quick answer is that it cannot be the person with a disability (i.e., the beneficiary) or their spouse.  The law effectively prohibits it.  If we were to make the beneficiary or their spouse trustee, the funds held [...]

You may have heard that 2010 is the year without an estate tax. It’s caused some people to suggest that if you have to pick a year to die, pick 2010.

Not so fast!

In the absence of the death tax this year, there is a substitute tax system that is likely to collect more money from more people upon their deaths. This one-year system will seriously impact the way they planned for their property to pass to their loved ones. To make things even more complicated, most living trusts aren’t equipped to deal with the 2010 rules.

Anyone who didn’t plan with an attorney who prepared for this year’s issues should have their trust reviewed and quite possibly restated.

A living trust is essential for nearly every Californian with more than $25,000 in real estate or $100,000 in other assets.
That’s because, unlike a simple will, your living trust can protect you if you become too ill to manage your financial affairs. It can also save your loved ones from the expensive hassle of a [...]

If you have a child with special needs, there are some things you absolutely must know about estate planning. First, failing to plan will jeopardize any needs-based government benefits your child receives. That’s because California law (i.e., the laws of “intestacy”) will determine how much your child gets from your estate. Think of everything you [...]

Together with one of our clients, I discussed special needs planning with radio host Jeffrey Callison this morning. We were featured on a segment of Insight on Capital Public Radio.
Many thanks to Jill Swett for helping me to raise awareness about this kind of planning, which is absolutely critical for parents of children with special [...]