If a friend or family member has asked you to serve as trustee for their trust upon their death, you should feel honored—this means they consider you among the most honest, reliable, and responsible people they know. However, being a trustee is not only a great honor,...
Newport Beach Estate Law Blog
The 5 essential documents of estate planning
There are five essential documents you need to have in place to ensure that your family and assets are taken care of if you become incapacitated or when you pass. They are the means to making your intentions clear and to ease the process of how your family will receive your assets. By having these five documents in place, you will have peace of mind knowing you’ve taken the right steps to plan for tomorrow.
Estate planning for doctors
Doctors work hard, they work long hours, and they have a fairly selfless job in which they take on challenges and even risks to help others when they need it most. The upside, naturally, is that they are fairly well compensated for it. The statistics from 2018 show...
Advantages you get with a multi-generational business
A multi-generational business is a family business in which members of two (or, in some cases, three) generations all work together. For instance, a man may start a construction company in his 30s and then bring his son on to run it with him in his 50s. Doing this...
Chronic illness can influence estate planning
Do you suffer from a chronic illness? Whether it is severe or mild, you want to consider it carefully when you do your estate planning. It can have a big impact on the type of planning that you do.Many people assume that chronic illnesses are not that common, but it's...
When should you update an estate plan?
Creating an estate plan is a big step toward making sure your family members are taken care of after you pass away. While some people don't like having to make these plans, they do need to take the step anyway. Failing to do so can leave their family members without...
Bringing children into your company can be difficult
Conventional wisdom says that business succession planning should start with bringing a child into your company and working alongside them. This gives them first-hand experience and you can actively teach them how to run the business well, rather than just leaving it...
With grandchildren, money left may be money spent
All of your life, you've worked hard to save your assets and put money aside. Now that you're writing out your estate plan, you want to leave some of that money to your grandchildren.You have some big plans for them. For instance, maybe you know about the crippling...
Estate planning for a child with special needs
If your adult child has special needs, he or she may be eligible for some government assistance programs. Three common examples of these programs are food stamps, Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income payments.While doing your estate planning to leave your wealth...
Questions to ask when passing a business to your family
Your company has thrived over the course of your life, and you want to leave it to your family. You want your children to have the financial security that it provides. You're also just proud of what you built, and you don't want to shut it all down just because it's...