LEARNING CENTER
Estate Planning Learning Center
Plain-English answers to the questions I hear most from California families.
Getting Started
What an estate plan is, who needs one, and what working with an attorney involves.
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Do I Need an Estate Plan?
Who needs a plan in California and what happens to your family without one.
The Key Parts of a California Estate Plan
The trust, will, powers of attorney, and healthcare directive, and what each one does.
What Does an Estate Planning Lawyer Do?
How an attorney-designed plan differs from online forms, and when hiring one makes sense.
How Much Does an Estate Planning Lawyer Cost?
What a complete plan costs, what it includes, and what can make a plan more involved.
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Glossary of Estate Planning Terms
Plain-English definitions of the terms you will see in your documents.
How to Talk to Your Parents About Estate Planning
How to start the conversation and which documents matter most.
How to Update an Estate Plan in California
Marriage, divorce, a new child, a move, or new assets: when and how to update.
Why Year-End Is a Good Time to Review Your Plan
A short checklist of changes worth reviewing each year.
Why an attorney cannot vouch for documents someone else prepared.
Technology in Modern Estate Planning
How phone, email, and digital storage fit into the process.
Back Up Your Estate Planning Documents
Why signed documents should be scanned and stored safely.
Living Trusts
How a revocable living trust works, how to fund it, and who manages it.
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How Does a Trust Work?
The roles of trustee and beneficiary, and how a living trust holds your assets.
Creating a Trust but Never Funding It
Why an unfunded trust can still leave your family in probate.
Do I Need a Lawyer to Fund My Trust?
Which assets you can retitle yourself and where help matters most.
Signing, Notarizing, and Witnessing Your Documents
How to find a notary and qualified witnesses so your documents are valid.
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Living Trust vs. Will in California
What each one does, what each costs your family, and when a will alone is enough.
Should My Bank Accounts Be in My Trust?
Why retitling accounts to your trust can work better than payable-on-death alone.
How a living trust can hold LLC interests and what to check in the operating agreement.
Providing for a surviving spouse while protecting assets for your children.
How to Choose an Executor or Trustee
What to weigh when deciding who will carry out your wishes.
Your Home and Real Estate
Deeds, mortgages, and how to keep your home out of probate.
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Does Putting Your House in a Trust Avoid Probate?
How a trust keeps your home out of court, and the steps that make it work.
Putting a House With a Mortgage in a Trust
Why the transfer usually does not trigger the due-on-sale clause, and what to do next.
Transferring Real Estate to Your Trust
Why and how to deed California property into your living trust.
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One shows who owns the property, the other secures a loan. How to tell them apart.
Why Names Must Match on Your Deed
How spelling differences between records can cause title problems.
Joint Tenancy and Transfers to a Trust
How moving joint tenancy property into a trust can end survivorship rights for unmarried co-owners.
Putting a Vacation Home in a Trust
Deeds, out-of-state property, and what to check before recording.
Owning Property in More Than One State
How out-of-state real estate can mean a second probate, and how to avoid it.
Transfer on Death Deed vs. Living Trust
How a TOD deed passes a home, where it falls short, and when a trust fits better.
Wills, Probate, and After a Death
What probate is, why a will alone does not avoid it, and what to do when someone passes away.
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What Is Probate, and Why Avoid It?
How California probate works and why it is slow, public, and costly.
Do I Need a Probate Lawyer?
When an estate needs a probate attorney, and how a living trust avoids probate.
What Is a Pour-Over Will?
The safety net that catches assets left outside your trust.
Dying Without a Will in California
How state law decides who inherits when there is no will.
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Clearing Title After a Spouse Dies
Steps a surviving spouse takes so the home can later be sold or refinanced.
When a Joint Property Owner Dies
What a surviving co-owner needs to record after a death.
What a successor trustee does, from notices and inventory to final distribution.
How Much Does Probate Cost in California?
Statutory fees, court costs, and timing, and how a funded trust avoids them.
Taxes, Retirement, and Beneficiaries
Estate tax, step-up in basis, and accounts that pass by beneficiary designation.
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Does California Have an Estate Tax?
California has none. How the federal estate tax works and when it applies.
Do You Pay Taxes on Inherited Property or Money?
What heirs may owe, and how basis works for inherited assets.
The Double Step-Up in Basis
How community property in a revocable trust can receive a full step-up at the first death.
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Separate vs. Community Property Basis
Why the character of your property matters for step-up at death.
Beneficiary Designations and Your Plan
How retirement accounts, life insurance, and POD accounts fit with your trust.
What Happens to Your 401(k) When You Die?
Beneficiary designations, spousal rights, and the withdrawal rules heirs face.
Healthcare and Powers of Attorney
Who makes decisions for you if you cannot, and how to put your wishes in writing.
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What Is an Advance Healthcare Directive?
What it covers, who to name as your agent, and how it guides your care.
What Does Power of Attorney Mean?
Durable and limited powers, and how to choose an agent.
MORE QUESTIONS
How a do-not-resuscitate order differs from an advance healthcare directive.
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More about working with me
ESTATE PLANNING
Complete Estate Plan
Every document in a complete California plan, and how they work together.
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Start with a free design session
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