Estate Planning Mistakes - Not Making Use Of A Living Trust

This is part four of the 7 part Forbes Estate Planning Mistakes.

Forbes: Estate Planning Mistakes Series - Part 4 , Not Making Use Of A Living Trust

Anymore, there are very few exceptions why somebody would not need a living trust.  With a trust, your assets are held under your control (generally, if revocable), for your benefit during your lifetime, and upon death, transfer to your beneficiaries without Court involvement.  Should you be eligible and need long-term care paid for by Medi-Cal, a living trust also protects your assets from Medi-Cal recovery.

There is no downside to having a living trust.  For a more in depth discussion, contact me anytime.     

Estate Planning Mistakes - Not Avoid Probate

This is part three of the 7 part Forbes Estate Planning Mistakes.

Forbes: Estate Planning Mistakes Series - Part , Not Avoiding Probate

If you're making a plan, your primary objective is usually to avoid the probate process ... which I refer to as HELL (Hassle, Expensive, Lengthy, Litigation).  It's no where you want your family to be following your death.

While there may be instances probate is a good thing, those instances are few and far between. 

If you want your family to avoid HELL, or the probate process, please contact me. 

Estate Planning Mistakes - The Power of Attorney

This is part two of a series of articles Forbes ran about the 7 top estate planning mistakes.  

Forbes: Estate Planning Mistakes Series - Part 2, The Power of Attorney

I have found this to be true - people overestimate what a power of attorney allows an agent to do.  Worse yet, even if the agent is fully authorized to act on your behalf, many financial institutions simply will not honor the power of attorney unless it's their own document.  It can be very frustrating.   

If you're looking for solutions, I can help.