Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, and Advance Health Care Directives all appoint persons to act in a fiduciary (legal representative) capacity. What do such appointments mean to the person(s) named to act? What happens if such persons fail or decline to act? Can the planning appoint alternative representatives? A will nominates someone to act […]
posted on: July 28, 2022
Read MoreProtecting and preserving assets in a decedent’s estate may require important actions to be taken soon after the decedent’s death and before a general probate administration commences. For example, if the decedent’s estate includes investment or business assets were owned by the decedent individually, and not jointly or inside a trust and/or business entity, e.g., […]
posted on: June 29, 2022
Read MoreAdministration of a decedent’s probate or trust estate may include sizable financial investment assets (e.g., brokerage accounts) and/or cash assets (e.g., bank accounts). Brokerage account values change constantly and may include assets too risky and inappropriate given the administration. The administration will need to determine how much cash is needed to pay debts of decedent, […]
posted on: June 9, 2022
Read MoreAppraisals are often an important and expensive part of administering a decedent’s estate, whether it is a probate or a trust administration. Appraisals provide the date of death asset values used to compute probate administration fees (for the administrator and his/her attorney) and to prepare federal and state income and estate tax returns, when […]
posted on: May 26, 2022
Read MoreA person may have multiple trusts. A married person may establish a joint trust with their spouse, to control the couple’s community property assets acquired while married, but also establish a separate property trust to control their separate property assets. Generally speaking, however, most married couples use a single joint trust. The joint trust consists […]
posted on: May 12, 2022
Read MoreSettling a deceased spouse’s estate involves assets and debts belonging to one or both spouses. Debts can be secured (e.g., a mortgage debt), unsecured (e.g., credit card debt), or partially secured and unsecured. In California debts and assets are characterized as community property (jointly owned) or as separate property (separately owned). Generally, a married […]
posted on: April 28, 2022
Read MoreWhen a person acts in a representative capacity as a Trustee of another person’s estate or as the court appointed Personal Representative of a Decedent’s probate estate they become a Fiduciary. A fiduciary needs to obtain an Employer Identification Number (“EIN”) from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). The EIN is needed by a fiduciary […]
posted on: April 15, 2022
Read MoreTwo years into the 2020 SECURE Act (“SECURE”), the IRS has issued its proposed regulations. These regulations contain important changes to the Required Minimum Distributions (“RMD”) rules for beneficiaries of retirement plans. Distributions received from a retirement plan are taxed as ordinary income. Under SECURE, a plan participant (owner) must receive RMD’s starting April 1 […]
posted on: March 31, 2022
Read MoreLiquidity, in simple terms, is, “the ease with which an asset, or security, can be converted into ready cash without affecting its market price.” Liquidity can become a major issue when a person is considering their estate planning and later on when a decedent’s estate is being administered. Let’s discuss the issues. Why is […]
posted on: March 18, 2022
Read MoreAn attorney owes the duties of competence, communication, confidentiality, loyalty and non-discrimination to a client. These duties require special attention and care by the attorney when representing client with diminished capacity. Recently the California State Bar issued formal Opinion No. 2021-207 (the “Opinion”) to examine four ethics issues when an attorney represents a client with […]
posted on: February 24, 2022
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