http://estateplanblog.com Estate planning, administration, and litigation in California Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:15:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A recent post discussed the problem created by estate plans that aren't updated to take advantange of recent changes in tax laws - or were never drafted with actual human beings in mind, just the tax code. Specifically, it's pretty common for a living trust for a married couple to mandate ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2007/03/28/what-if-you-dont-know-if-youll-want-to-fund-the-bypass-trust/ A recent California court decision illustrates the importance of reading carefully and paying attention, even when signing apparently harmless documents. In Hogan v. Country Villa Health Services, a California appellate court enforced an arbitration clause in admission documents for a skilled nursing facility, signed by an elderly woman's daughter upon ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2007/03/16/healthcare-power-of-attorney-form-can-create-unintended-consequences/ A common questionI encounter concerns the administration of a joint trust after the first spouse has died. In California, a typical living trust estate plan will take the form of a joint trust, which splits into two (or three) subtrusts when one of the spouses passes away. The typical model is ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2007/03/14/is-funding-the-bypass-trust-optional/ A California appellate court issued an opinion on February 22, 2007 in Young v. McCoy 2007 Cal App Lexis 224 which will provide encouragement and comfort to trust creators who seek to preserve assets for their beneficiaries. The court ruled that a creditor cannot force the trustee of a discretionary trust ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2007/03/12/california-court-upholds-asset-protection-for-trust-beneficiary/ (This guest post was written by James Hall, CLU, with assistance from John Upton and Dunham Sherer, Esq.) Are State (Prop 13) and Federal Estate Tax Laws limiting home inventories for sale, resulting in a permanent commitment to higher prices and unfair capital gains treatment between surviving spouses and senior couples ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2006/11/30/guest-post-capital-gains-inequities-among-seniors/ I guess my Amazon review - reproduced substantially as this morning's post - struck a nerve, as today I received a four page letter from Janet Dobrovolny, the attorney who created Suze Orman's Will & Trust Kit. The letter disagrees with several of my conclusions, and requests "a full detailed ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2006/11/29/followup-the-14-estate-plan/ Last month, I wrote briefly about Suze Orman's Will & Trust Kit. After writing that post, I decided perhaps I was unfair by commenting about the program without using it myself, so I ponied up $14 to get a first-hand opinion. As I mentioned before, the trust(s) created by the program ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2006/11/29/how-much-estate-planning-do-you-get-for-14/ The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has announced a new program called "TLC for Pets". The program provides a structured way to provide a loving home and continuing veterinary care for pets after the death of the pet's owner. Some pet owners choose to put together a comprehensive care plan ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2006/11/22/another-estate-planning-option-for-california-pet-owners/ Let's continue to consider the example described in the previous post - Mom and Dad buy their home for $100,000 in 1970. Given California's property tax scheme, as modified by Proposition 13, Mom and Dad will pay state and local property taxes of approximately 1.1% of the assessed value of ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2006/10/31/planning-for-property-tax-for-heirs/ It's tempting to compare one's assets to the exemption amounts for federal estate tax ($2 million in 2006, 2007, 2008) and conclude that there are no tax issues in planning one's estate (or failing to plan). Unfortunately, that's only part of the story. One often underappreciated aspect of estate planning is planning ... http://estateplanblog.com/index.php/2006/10/30/planning-for-income-tax-for-heirs/