San Diego Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

In past blogs we have discussed the need to have an experienced estate planning lawyer draft your trust. In California, a case has recently been filed against Legal Zoom, an online site that markets wills and trusts without the need to meet with an attorney. The case involves a man with a terminal condition who used Legal Zoom to draft a trust and pour over will. The documents were signed but the trust was never funded because financial institutions that held the man's money refused to recognize the validity of the documents. The man died without getting the trust funded.

It remains to be seen what the outcome of the case will be but it does highlight the importance of getting a lawyer to draft your revocable trust and companion documents. In most cases, a face to face meeting will elicit important facts so that your trust and other documents accurately reflect what you want to happen after your death.

Some circumstances that dictate hiring an attorney to create an estate plan are the following:
1. You are in a second marriage with children of other relationships
2. You own real estate in more than one state.
3. You want to benefit a charity in some way
4. You own a business and want to provide for someone to take over the business after your death
5. You have a taxable estate.
6. You have substantial assets in 401(k)s or IRAs
7. You have a beneficiary who is disabled
8. You have minor children and want to provide for distributions to them at intervals or for specific purposes.
9. Your children have drug or alcohol problems and need a trust that will take that into consideration
10. You want to have someone you can call when you have questions or want to make changes in your documents.

The experienced estate planning lawyers at Roy M. Doppelt & Associates can assist you with your estate plan and will be around when you need to call with a questions or want to amend your documents. Our initial consultation is always complimentary.

Once your revocable living trust has been created, you need to "fund" the trust with your assets. A trust that is not funded is useless as a vehicle to avoid probate. If you have gone to the time and expense of preparing a trust, you certainly don't want your heirs to have to go through probate so it is very important that you "fund" your trust.

"Funding" your trust means that you transfer ownership of your assets into the name of your trust. In the case of real property, this means executing a new deed transferring the property from your name as an individual to your name as the trustee of your trust.

In the case of bank accounts, brokerage accounts, stocks, and bonds, you need to show the institution that your trust exists and you want the accounts to be in the name of your trust. Your estate planning attorney should have included a Certificate of Trust in your revocable living trust package, which is a simplified document showing the existence of the trust, the powers of the trustee, and other information about your trust without revealing the dispositive provisions.

Personal property is usually transferred into your trust by a document called an Assignment of Personal Effects or a General Assignment.

We see many clients who contact our office to amend their trust and we discover in the process that they have acquired assets since the creation of their trust which they have neglected or forgotten to title in the name of the trust. In other words, the trust was initially "funded" but later acquired asserts have not put into the trust.

Not all assets that you have as part of your estate are titled in the name of your trust. Cars, for example, are not usually put in the name of the trust because you are always purchasing different ones and they are easily transferred after death through the DMV. IRA's, pension plans, 401(k)s, and other qualifed retirement plans should have named beneficiaries. You can make your trust the secondary or contingent beneficiaries after individuals, depending on your situation.

It is important that after you create your trust, you have it reviewed periodically to see that it still relects your wishes and that everything that should be titled in the name of the trust, has in fact been transferred. We can help you create a trust or review your existing trust to be sure it is up to date. Call Roy M. Doppelt & Associates for a complimentary consultation.

Often trusts provide for the distribution of assets at different intervals. This is a common occurrence where parents want to provide for their children during their minority and then spread out the distributions during adulthood. A typical trust might leave a certain percentage to a beneficiary at age 21, 25, and 30. Other parents may want to provide for distributions at age 25, 30, and the remainder at 35. In the years between the distributions the trustee has the discretion to make distributions for "health, education, support, and maintenance."

The IRS in Section 2041of the Internal Revenue Code sets out ascertainable standards for "health, education, support, and maintenance." The Treasury Regulations provide some assistance in knowing what these terms mean. "Health" for example includes "medical, dental, hospital, and nursing expenses" as well as "health maintenance and comfort." The trustee can probably make distributions that are not strictly medical in nature, maybe food supplements or a item of comfort.

"Education" is more narrowly defined to include college and professional education. Thus if the Trustor wants to expand on that definition to include such things as trade school, art school, travel expenses to and from school, etc., those items should be specifically set out in the trust.

The terms " support" and "maintenance" are synonymous. They include "support in reasonable comfort" and "support in the accustomed manner of living."

Though these ascertainable standards are helpful, the Trustee is still left with making often difficult decisions. Does the beneficiary need a sports car for transportation to work and college or would a used car do? Does the beneficiary have to go to an expensive university to get his education? What kinds of expenses would qualify as for health?

The way you can help your trustee is to create a trust while you are alive that clearly specifies some guidelines as to what distributions would be acceptable for health, education, support, and maintenance. The more specific you are in your trust document as to what your wishes are and what the perameters are for distribution, the easier it will be for the trustee to decide what are the permissible reasons to make a distribution to your beneficiaries.

Roy M. Dopplet & Associates can help you create a trust which will be comprehensive and tailored to include specific definitions of what is an appropriate distribution to a beneficiary. Call us for a complimentary consultation.

A trustee is the person who handles the distributions to the beneficiaries according to the terms of the trust document. Some trusts can go on for years if there are distributions to be made for the benefit of minors or for other reasons. There may be some circumstances where a trustee may wish to resign from his duties as a trustee of a trust before the trust is completely administered. There are basically 4 ways.

1. As Provided in the Instrument. Most trusts by their express provisions allow a current trustee to resign with written notice and an accounting. For example, suppose you are the successor trustee of your parent's trust and find that you must take a job abroad. If the trust names an alternate successor trustee and specifies that a currently serving trustee may resign by giving written notice to the beneficiaries, it is easy for you to resign. Some trusts also provide that when trustees resign, the resigning trustee must account for the transactions and dispursements he made while acting as Trustee.

2. With a Revocable Living Trust With the Consent of the Trustor. Suppose you are the
Co-Trustee of your father's trust and you want to resign. If your father consents, you can resign and your father can appoint another Co-Trustee if he wishes. It is a good idea to put the consent and resignation in writing. There is no requirement that you give notice to the beneficiaries.

3. With an Irrevocable Trust, With the Consent of All Beneficiaries. If you are the Trustee of an Irrevocable Trust, you need the consent of all adult beneficiaries who (1) are receiving income; (2) are entitled to receive income; or (3) are entitled to receive a distribution of principal if the trust were terminated.

4. A Court Order. If there is no provision in the trust and there is no successor Trustee able or willing to serve, you may have to petition the Court to appoint a Trustee. Nominations of the beneficiaries will be given consideration.

For issues with Trust Administration or questions about your duties as the Trustee, contact us at Roy M. Dopppelt & Associates.

The Illinois Supreme Court recently held that a Jewish couple's wish to disinherit any of their grandchildren that married outside their faith was lawful. The particular will had provided that upon the death of the surviving Trustor, if any grandchild had married outside the Jewish faith, their non-Jewish spouse had a year to convert to Judaism. If they did not, the gift would lapse. The Illinois Supreme Court held that the clause was valid as long as the method of disinheritance did not encourage divorce. One of the Justices wrote that the Trustors were "free to distribute their bounty as they saw fit and to favor those grandchildren whose life choices they approved of."

Restraints on marriage contained in wills or trusts are generally held by the Courts to be void as against public policy. In California, Civil Code section 710 provides that conditions imposing restraints on marriage.... are void. Althought there doesn't seem to be as yet a case in California involving a clause such as in the Illinois case, it seems logical that the California courts would rule similarly and uphold a clause that provided for disinheritance of a beneficiary who married outside of a particular faith.

Including a provision to disinherit a particular beneficiary because of religion, or on grounds of substance abuse or other conditions, is a tricky area of estate planning. You should consult an experienced estate planning lawyer if you want to create such provisions. At Roy Doppelt & Associates, we can help you create an estate plan that will contain such provisions. Call us to schedule a complimentary consultation.

There are many reasons why a will or a trust may be challenged and set aside as invalid. Here are some of the more common grounds to contest someone's will or trust.

1. Coercion - If someone coerces the testator (the person creating the will or trust) to make changes in a will or a trust or forces them either physically or emotionally to do something that is not what they truly wish to do, the document can be challenged on the basis of coercion.

2. Duress - If someone exerts pressure upon he testator to change their will or trust or make dispositions they don't want to do, the document could be held invalid on the basis of duress.

3. Undue Influence - This is very similar to duress. Undue influence could be threats, manipulation, isolation, selling falsehoods. Pressuring someone to make changes to their will or trust could be both duress and undue influence and even coercion.

4. Fraud - This ground may occur where someone alters the will or the trust, replaces pages, destroys an amendment, or forges a signature.

5. Improper Execution - Wills have to be signed in front of witnesses who attest that the testator is of sound mind and is who he or she purports to be. Trusts have to be notarized by a notary public who requires identification to verify that the testator is indeed the individual signng his or her trust. Improper execution can invalidate a will or a trust. This ground sometimes appears where a testator has prepared a do-it-yourself document.

6. Lack of Capacity - Testators should be of sound mind and not suffering from a disease or condition that renders them incapable of understanding what they are doing. People who have Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or a brain injury may not be capable of executing a will or a trust. Another example is where the person temporarily lacks capacity such as if the testator is drunk or under the influence of drugs.

7. Incompetence - A testator may be incompetent to create or execute a testamentary document. This ground overlaps with lack of capacity.

If you are concerned about the validity of a will or trust, give us a call. We have experience in estate planning as wells as probate and trust litigation. Your first consultation is complimentary

In the estate planning world we used the term "fiduciary" a lot. Trustees, administrators, executors, and agents under a power of attorney are all "fiduciaries". What does that term mean?

A fiduciary is an individual who undertakes to act for and on behalf of another in a particular matter. A fiduciary has to perform his duties with the utmost of trust and honesty. A fiduciary is expected to be loyal to the person to whom he owes the duty (the "principal"). He must not put his personal interests before the principal and must not profit from his position as a fiduciary unless the principal consents.

The most common circumstances where a fiduciary is involved in estate planning is when a trustee administers a trust. The trustee is a fiduciary who must administer the trust estate for the benefit of the beneficiaries. If an individual dies with a will, the executor of the will is the fiduciary who administers the will and distributes the estate to the beneficiaries. An estate administered for someone without a will is called an administrator, also a fiduciary. All of these individuals have the duty to act with the utmost of loyalty and impartiality.

Other examples of fiduciaries are conservators and agents acting under a power of attorney or a health care directive.These individuals also have the duty to act in good faith and in the best interests of the principal.

The job of being a fiduciary is a serious one. A fiduciary who breaches his fiduciary duties can be held liable on a number of theories including negligence, fraud, financial elder abuse, even criminal prosecution. You should know what is expected of you so that you can properly perform your fiduciary duties.
If you need help, feel free to contact us.

For now, there is no estate tax in 2010. Everyone expected Congress to address the estate tax issue in 2009 but it did not happen. The House passed a bill that would have permanently kept the 2009 exemption but the Senate failed to vote on the estate tax issue leaving everyone wondering if they will respond during the next session. Without a law passed by Congress, the estate tax will re-appear in 2011 with a reduced exemption from 2009's $3.5 million to $1 million.

If Congress does enact an estate tax law sometime in 2010, will it be retroactive to January 1, 2010? Would a retroactive law be constitutional? No doubt there will some decedent who dies between January 1, 2010 and the date of the law who has an estate subject to estate taxes. The heirs or beneficiaries of such an individual would certainly litigate the retroactivity issue.

The uncertainty may cause some people to consider review their existing plans to determine the effect of the repeal in 2010 and the effect of a much lower federal estate tax exemption in 2011. Particularly individuals who have taxable estates and bypass or exemption trusts should get a review of their current trust to see if the repeal would have unintended consequences should they pass away. Many trusts have language referring to the federal estate tax exemption to allocate assets among different beneficiaries. Depending on how the trusts are set up, the repeal of the estate tax entirely could have unintended results such as disinheriting a child from a previous marriage or disinheriting a spouse from a second marriage.

If you have questions about the effect of the estate tax repeal and want to make sure your trust will still do what you intended, call us at Pinkerton, Doppelt & Associates LLP to schedule an appointment.

An irrevocable trust is one that usually cannot be revoked, modified or amended. Trusts can become irrevocable in several ways. Some are created to be irrevocable at the time they are created. An example of this type of irrevocable trust is a Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT). This is a type of trust that is created to hold life insurance and pass the death benefit from such policies to the beneficiaries of the trust without incurring any income or estate taxes on the transfer. Such a trust cannot be revoked, changed, or amended after it is created except by court order.

Some trusts for married couples become irrevocable upon the death of the first spouse. A typical example is an A/B trust, sometimes called a Bypass Trust or Exemption Trust. With this type of trust, the Deceased Spouse's Trust becomes irrevocable after the first death and cannot be changed, amended, or revoked.

Other trusts which can be irrevocable are certain types of charitable trusts and a Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT)There are some instances however, where a trust which is irrevocable can be modified by court order. Civil Code Section 3399 permits a contract (which a trust is) to be reformed when the writing, through mistake or fraud, fails to express the intent of the parties. Reforming a trust might be appropriate when due to a drafting error or scrivener's error, the intent of the individuals creating the trust has not been fulfilled.

Probate Code Section 15409 also permits a trust to be modified if “owing to circumstances not known to the settlor (person creating the trust) and not anticipated by the settlor, the continuation of the trust under its terms would defeat or substantially limit the accomplishment of the purposes of the trust.” The scope of what the court can do is broad. The Probate Court can authorize acts that are forbidden by the terms of the trust or not authorized.

Under Probate Code Section 15403 all beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust can consent to modification or termination of a trust unless the court finds that a material purpose remains for continuance of the trust and that purpose outweighs the arguments for termination or modification. Probate Code Section 15404 is even broader allowing termination or modification of a trust without court order if the settlor and all beneficiaries of the trust consent.

So there are alternatives if you have an irrevocable trust you want to reform, modify, or terminate. We offer a complimentary consultation if you would your irrevocable trust reviewed.

In the 1950's there was a TV program called "The Millionaire" where an anonymous millionaire gave away a million dollars each week to people he never met. The money was conditioned on the donee not revealing how he got the money or how much he received. I guess no one thought about things like gift tax, gift returns, or the IRS. It was TV!

A new documentary about real life situations involving wills and trusts is filming now for airing on Discovery Investigation. It will chronicle true stories about will, trusts, and estates and how they affected the people who created the will or trust, beneficiaries, or those cut out of a will. The program will interview everyone involved and show both sides of the controversy.The program is appropriately called "The Will."

At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we know the importance of creating an estate plan. Without a will or a trust, the California Probate Court will determine who inherits your assets and will do so through probate administration. Maybe such a documentary as "The Will" will help viewers to understand the importance of wills and trusts and encourage people who do not have an estate plan to create one.

Celebrity deaths often highlight various estate planning issues as prior posts have discussed. Michael Jackson's death brought public awareness to issues about choosing your executor and trustees, pour over wills, and guardianship. You may recall that Michael Jackson named his mother as guardian of his children. His second choice was Diana Ross. If Michael Jackson's mother had predeceased him, would he still have wanted Diana Ross to raise his kids, rather than a family member? We'll never know.

The lesson to be learned is first of all, to name someone you believe will be the right person to raise your children. Do they share your values? Are they stable individuals who will likely be able to provide the necessaries of life? Do they have any medical issues? What if you chose a couple and they get a divorce?

It is important to review your guardian nominations from time to time. As time passes, circumstances and people change. People you choose early in your childrens' lives may not be the ones you would choose for teenagers. Maybe you named your parent and that parent is now too old to raise your children. Maybe the original guardians have moved away and you want someone local to raise your children. Maybe you have siblings you are close to now and they would be a good choice to raise their nieces and nephews.

The New Year is a good time to review your estate plan to be sure it is up to date, including the nominations of guardians. It is a good idea while you are at it, to also review other aspects of your estate plan. Are the ages that you want distributions to your children still what you want? Do you want to add provisions to your trust about distributions for college, buying a house, or having a child? Do you need to add spendthrift provisions or substance abuse provisions for a particular child?

Call us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates LLP to set an appointment to review your estate plan.

Every revocable living trust should have a Schedule A attached to it. This is a document prepared by your estate planning lawyer to list all of the assets that are part of your trust, ie. they have been titled in the name of your trust “John Doe, Trustee of the John Doe Trust.”

There are two important things to keep in mind about your schedule A. First, it is just a summary of your trust assets. What is critical is that assets you want to be in your trust are indeed titled in the name of your trust. Assume for example that you buy a new home and that the deed to your new home lists your trust as the owner but you fail to get out your estate planning binder to add it to your Schedule A. Is the home “in” your trust? Is the home now a “trust asset”despite not being listed on your Schedule A? Yes, because what matters is how the deed is written, not whether you actually wrote it on your Schedule A.

The second important thing to know about a Schedule A is that although it is just a list, that list can in some circumstances assist in avoiding probate. As an example, suppose your Schedule A lists a particular brokerage account that you intended to title in the name of your trust but somehow forgot to mail in the necessary paperwork to make the change. Is the brokerage account “in” your trust (ie. is it a trust asset?) No, because it has not been properly titled in the name of your trust. In California however, if you have an assets listed on your Schedule A and have not transferred that asset by making the title change, you can file a petition called a Heggstad petition to show the court your intent was to transfer the asset into the trust.

Also important is that you keep your Schedule A up to date. Does it list bank accounts that you opened after you executed the trust? Does it show a vacation property you own? Are any businesses you operate in the trust? Have you sold some assets and bought other assets and listed those new assets on the schedule? An updated schedule can assist you during your lifetime in knowing which of your assets are trust assets and it can be useful for your successor trustee in handling your trust administration upon your death.

If you are now thoroughly confused about your Schedule A and its importance or not sure whether you have one, please give us a call at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates and we would be happy to help.

With the recent downturn in the economy, San Diego has been one of the hardest hit with declining property values and unemployment. According to the Feds, the states in a full recession are California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. California has reached 11%unemployment and San Diego is in the top five cities for decline in property values. Because of these factors, San Diegans may need to review their estate plan and possibly amend their will or trust.

Suppose your trust leaves a cash bequest to a particular beneficiary, maybe a charity, and then divides the rest of your estate into percentages. When the value of your assets goes down, because of lower real property values or a decline in your investments, that in turn will affect the amount other beneficiaries receive as a percentages. As an example suppose an individual decided to leave $100,000 to his favorite charity and the rest of his estate is to be divided between his four children. The trust was done at a time when the rest of his estate had a value of $1 million. With the problems in the economy, now the estate is only worth $700,000. Instead of each child receiving 1/4 of $1 million, they will be receiving 1/4 of $600,000. Since the cash bequest to the charity comes out of estate before the rest of the estate is divided, the children are now going to have a $100,000 per child reduction. Instead of each child inheriting $250,000, they will only inherit $150,000. The trustor may want to rethink the amount of the cash bequest to charity and amend his trust accordingly.

Another example is where you leave one child your trust assets and other children non-trust assets such as an insurance policy. The amount of the life insurance proceeds are not going to change because of the economy but the trust assets very well may. If your goal is to treat all your children equally, then maybe your trust should be amended.

The main thing is to review your trust or other estate plan periodically. Also review your assets and their current value to see if your estate plan still makes sense and fulfills your goals. Look for a later post on how the federal estate exemptions for 2010 and 2011 may affect your estate plan. We are happy to answer any questions or review your existing documents to see if they need to be amended. Contact us if we can help.

When you die without a will or a trust, you are said to have died “intestate.” The Court in the probate proceeding ,which will have to occur when someone dies"intestate,'" will determine who receives your estate based on California law. So if, for example, you are single with no children, your parents are your heirs and your estate will be divided between your mother and father.

But what about a situation where a father abandons his child at birth, has had no contact with his child, never paid child support, i.e. not really much of a father. Should that type of father inherit his son’s estate when the son dies? You are probably hoping the answer is “no”. Unfortunately the answer is that the father will inherit from the son, no matter what kind of a father he has been.

In a California case called Estate of Shellenbarger, decided by the Second District Court of Appeal in 2008, there were similar facts. The son died intestate (without a will or trust). Since the son was unmarried with no children, his parents are his heirs under California law. The administrator appointed by the Court tried to argue that the father should not receive any inheritance based on fairness, because he had left the mother prior to his son’s birth and never made any child support payments. The Court ruled that intestate succession is purely based on statute and a Court cannot disinherit an heir even on equitable grounds.

A similar result would occur if a father died intestate with no wife and 2 sons, one of which he had no contact with after the son left home at 17. The other son took his father into his own home and cared for him before his death. The two sons would inherit equally even though it may have been the case that the father would not have wanted his wayward son to inherit anything.

What this illustrates is that if someone dies without a will or a trust, the heirs are set by law. The statute which is set out in California Probate Code Section 6402 doesn’t take into consideration whether that heir had a relationship with the decedent or any other factors. A “bad” heir is still an “heir”.

If you think you might have a situation similar to the above examples, it is so important to get a will or a trust. Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP can help you with the process of
naming the specific beneficiaries who will share in your estate upon your death so that your assets will be left only to someone you would have wanted to receive them.

A life estate is a right to exclusive possession and use of property during one's lifetime. Thus, when a person(called the "grantor") gives another individual a "life estate", the recipient (called the "life tenant") receives many of the same rights as the owner but only for his or her lifetime. When the life tenant dies, however, the property does not go to the life tenant's heirs or beneficiaries, it goes to a beneficiary designated by the property owner.

Examples might be a piece of property that you want your children to benefit from during their lifetimes, but once they have passed away, the property will go to charity. Another common example is a widow or a widower who remarries and wants to provide for their spouse during his or her lifetime but wants the family home to go to the children when the spouse dies. Specific conditions can be spelled out in the life estate agreement such as that the life tenant not do anything to diminish the value of the property, keep the property in good repair, pay the taxes, even not remarry.

Life estate can be useful in some areas of estate planning and can be created by a deed or by a will or trust. In addition to giving another individual a life estate interest, you can also give yourself a life estate in property you own. An example of this occurs when a mother transfers her home to a child but retains the right to live there until her death.

A lifetime right of occupancy is similar however the use of the property is only while the individual is actually occupying the property. As an example, if a widower remarried and wanted his new wife to be able to live in the home he owned and they shared, after his death, he could give her a right of occupany during her lifetime. If she moved out or went into assisted living or a nursing home, the right of occupancy is terminated.

Setting up a life estate or a right of occupancy can be tricky because of the many variables that are possible. If you are considering one of these as part of your estate plan, please contact us for more information or to schedule a complimentary consultation.

One of the advantages of having a revocable living trust is that it is private and not a public record. No one has the right to see the provisions of your trust unless you want them to.

When you transfer your bank accounts into the name of your trust, you frequently will take your trust into the financial institution and show them that you have a trust. This is often done by showing the bank officer the first page and last page of your trust. You can also show or give them a copy of your Certification of Trust which is a document that shows then name of your trust, possibly the trust powers, and the current trustees. The document is notarized and can be used to show the existence of the trust. You do not have to provide any financial institution with a copy of your trust.

Upon your death or the death of your spouse, your trust becomes available to the beneficiaries of the trust or your heirs. California Probate Code Section 16061.5(a) provides:

"When a revocable trust or any portion of a revocable trust becomes irrevocable because of the death of one or more of the settlors of the trust, or because, by the express terms of the trust, the trust becomes irrevocable within one year of the death of a Settlors because of a contingency related to the death of one or more of the settlors of the trust, the trustee shall provide a true and correct copy of the terms of the irrevocable trust, to any beneficiary of the trust who requests it and to any heir of a deceased Settlors who requests it."

Aside from the persons mentioned in the Probate Code, no one else has the right to a copy of your trust upon your death. The contents of your trust will remain private unless your heirs or beneficiaries or other interested persons seek court intervention to interpret the trust or address issues of distribution or trust administration.

As a practical matter, you may decide you want to give a copy of your trust to your successor trustee but you are under no obligation to do so. Some people choose to give copies to their children who are the successor trustees and the only beneficiaries. Other people keep their trust private. Contact us if you have any questions about your revocable living trust or any other estate planning issues.

Many people want to leave their grandchildren something when they pass away. It may be small or it may be significant. There are several ways to do this, some better than others. When you draft your estate plan, you have no way of knowing whether some of your beneficiaries are going to be minors at the time you die. You have to plan for the possibility that some may be minors.

1. Outright Gift. You can simply provide in your will that a dollar amount or a percentage of your estate will go to a grandchild but this leads to problems if the recepient is a minor. Substantial amounts of money being inherited by a minor may cause a court-supervised guardianship of the estate of the minor until he or she is 18. Then at 18, the entire inheritance is handed over to the now adult, but still 18 year old, with no limitations attached.

2. Custodial Accounts. One way you can leave money to minors is in an account under the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act ( a UTMA account). This works well for small amounts of money. The account has a custodian who has the power to withdraw funds for the health, education, and maintenance of the minor. Once the child reaches the age you specify (In California it can be as old as 25), the child has full access to the funds.

3. Minor's Trusts. Another option for leaving money to minor beneficiaries is to set up a minor's trust. This is a trust customized to fit your situation and fulfill your wishes. You have infinite possibilities. You can put limitations on what the trustee can use the assets for such as for medical expenses, education, a home, car, etc. You can provide for the intervals at which you want the child or grandchild to receive distributions. As an example, one method would be 1/4 at age 18, 1/4 at age 25, 1/2 at age 30, and the balance at 35. The disadvantage of a trust is that there are costs of administering the trust during the time it is in existence. An experienced estate planner can help you weigh the benefits against the costs and expenses associated with administering the trust.

4. Educational Savings Plans. If your goal is to help your grandchildren with their education, there are many tax-favored college savings accounts, also called 529 Plans, Cloverdale Plans, or educational IRAs. The earning are not usually taxed as long as they are used for education. If the beneficiary does not go to college, however, the funds will have to go to another beneficiary.

Other ways to help your grandchildren out is to pay their education expenses directly while you are alive. You must however write the checks out to the school, not the individual. Savings bonds also work well since they are purchased at half the face value.

Contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP if we can help you in deciding how best to include your grandchildren in your estate plan.

Many wills and trusts include language to deter future disputes or contests over the provisions of the will or trust. These “no contest” clauses typically provide that if someone challenges the validity of a will or trust, they take nothing under the instrument.

As an example, suppose a parent has two daughters and creates a trust leaving her estate equally to her two children. Just before her death, she changes her trust to leave the bulk of her estate to the younger dauhter with whom she lives. If the trust contains a “no contest” clause, the daughter who wants to challenge the validity of the trust as amended, faces a court holding that her objection constitutes a “contest” and therefore, the objecting child takes nothing under the trust.

Beginning in 2010, Probate Code Sections 21300-21322 will be repealed. New Probate Code Section 21310(6) will define a “contest” as one that alleges the validity of an instrument based on either (1) forgery, (2) lack of capacity (3) fraud, duress, or undue influence (4) revocation or (5) disqualification of a beneficiary under Probate Code Sections 6112 or 21350 (care custodians, drafters, etc.)

Most significantly what will change is the new Probate Code Section 21311 which provides that a no contest clause shall only be enforced if brought without probable cause. The standard for what is probable cause is a low one, i.e. was there a liklihood that the amendment was made because of forgery, undue influence, etc.

The new law will affect any will or trust whenever executed that becomes irrevocable after 1/1/2001. So in the example above, the child whose portion was cut could challenge the trust amendment if she had probable cause to believe that the amendment was executed as a result of one of the 5 grounds listed above, such as information that the daughter with whom the parent was living wrote it and influenced her mother to sign it.

The applicability of “no contest” clauses is an area of trusts and estate law that requires experienced estate planning attorneys. If you would like one of our experienced lawyers at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP to review whether your trust contains an effective “no contest” provision, give us a call. We also handle litigation arising out of the applicability of a “no contest” clause as in the context of challenging a will or a trust.

Most people agree we are in the middle of an economic recession in this country. Unemployment is high and the stock market is like a roller coaster. How does the recession affect your need for a trust or affect your exisiting trust you already have?

If you do not have a trust and have assets of over $100,000, you do need a revocable living trust even in this economy, and some people would say, even more so. If you have real property out of state, a trust will avoid probate in both California and the state where the property is located. Many people have young children and need a trust with guardians set up in case something happens to them. Death is inevitable, recession or not, but a trust will enable your estate to be distributed faster and less costly than with a will or with no estate plan at all.

If you already have a trust, the recession may also affect you. In a recession, some investors try to recession-proof their portfolios by switching their IRAs, 401(ks) or other investments into different funds or CDs. Have you remembered to always title new investments in the name of your trust and made up to date beneficiary designations? Changing accounts, sales of real property, refinancing, etc. all increase in times of rescession, leaving open the possibility that assets are not properly titled in the name of the trust.

A second way your estate may be affected is by the type of trust you have. Your trust, even if old, is still valid, but may not be optimal. Estate plans written in the 90's often require a division of the estate into two separate trusts upon the death of the first spouse. These trusts are called A/B trusts, exemption trusts, or marital trusts. That was a good choice in those days but today with an inctease in the estate tax xemption to $3.5 million ($7 million per couple) you may want to update the type of trust you have. Revising your trust may save on trust administration after the first death and give the surviving spouse more flexibility.

Lastly, the economy may affect not only you but your beneficiaries. Do you have beneficiaries that have become dependent on public assistance? Are some facing bankruptcy? Maybe you need to create a special needs trust or make sure your trustee has the power to postpone distributions if a beneficiary is in bankruptcy.

We can't control the stock market and other effects of the rescession, but we can control our own estate plan by creating the appropriate documents and revising them from time to time as necessary. Contact us if you need to discuss these issues.

Aa you have learned from the recent series of blogs on probate, if you can avoid a probate after your death, your heirs will have an easier time settling your estate.

The best way to avoid probate is to have a revocable living trust into which you transfer all of your assets to yourself as the trustee during your lifetime. Upon your death, the successor trustee you have chosen will have immediate authority to administer your trust without a probate. It is critical however that you in fact transfer your assets into your trust by deed, changing title to accounts, etc. Other advantages of a trust are privacy and that if properly drafted, the trust will also have provisions for someone to manage your assets if you become unable to do that for yourself.

Other ways to hold title to avoid probate are:

1. Property held in joint tenancy with a right of "survivorship". An example might be a home you own with your spouse with a “right of survivorship.” Sometimes people own their cars in joint tenancy with other people or a bank account in joint tenancy. When a joint tenant dies, the other joint tenant(s) inherit the property without the probate process. Although assets held in joint tenancy avoid probate, holding title in joint tenancy can cause other problems such as the potential loss of a full step-up in basis which can result in capital gains. Another problem which can result when you own something in joint tenancy is that creditors of the other joint tenant may be able to enforce a judgment against the property.

2. Payable on Death Accounts (or POD accounts). This is a type of account where you choose a beneficiary who will receive the account upon your death. These accounts pass to the beneficiary without probate.

3. IRAs and Retirement Accounts. Benefits payable to beneficiaries under these accounts automatically pass to the named beneficiaries and avoid probate.

4. Life Insurance Proceeds. Just as with pension and retirement plans, life insurance proceeds are paid to the named beneficiaries and avoid probate.

For questions about probate, living trusts, transfers to trusts, or any other estate planning area, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP.

Newspapers and magazines are already commenting that Michael Jackson’s estate will be a real nightmare. No one seems to know at this point whether Jackson had a will or a trust. Some people think there is no way he would have failed to provide for his children. In the absence of a will or a trust, his children would inherit the estate equally.

Whether Jackson created an estate plan or not, his estate will have to be settled, either in the probate court, or through trust administration. There are many creditors already lining up to be included. Although Jackson sold millions of records, he reportedly was in serious debt, perhaps as much as $400 million.

One of the assets in his estate that is going to be fascinating is the publishing rights Jackson had to millions of songs. Jackson outbid Sir Paul McCartney for a 50% interest in a music publishing catalog that includes rights to the Beatles hits as well as publishing rights to other hits by major artists, Jackson apparently paid $48 million for the rights, now estimated to be worth $500 million.

Interestingly, since Jackson died in 2009, his estate will have less estate taxes to pay than had he died last year. In 2008, the federal estate tax level for a single person was $2 million. In 2009, it is $3.5 million. However in 2010, the estate tax is scheduled to disappear entirely. For most Americans, it doesn’t matter a great deal, but think of the savings for the rich and famous by dying in 2010!

Part of our estate planning caseload at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP are cases in which a will or a trust is being questioned or challenged. Typical factual scenarios are where an heir or a beneficiary has been disinherited or their share reduced because of "death bed" changes which may have resulted from undue influence, fraud, or duress. Most wills or trusts contain a clause known as a "no contest clause." "No contest" clauses are commonly found in wills and trusts to discourage someone from challenging the will or trust. Typically, the language is that if anyone contests the will or trust, that individual will take nothing.

Existing law however, allows a beneficiary or other individual to file a petition with the court (called a Safe Harbor petition) asking the court to determine whether a particular challenge fits within the definition of a "contest." If the court rules that it doesn't constitute a contest, then the will or trust can be challenged in spite of the "no contest" clause.

Last Year the California legislature passed a bill which was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger that will change the law regarding "no contest" clauses. Under the new law which will take effect in January 2010, the applicability of the "no contest" clauses will be limited to specific circumstances. The new law will eliminate Safe Harbor petitions and will also provide that a "no contest" clause will only be enforceable to defeat a will or a trust contest if brought without probable cause.

The purpose of the legislation was to permit the free access to justice by allowing such clauses to thwart litigation only in limited circumstances. It remains to be seen whether the new legislation will increase or decrease will contests and trust litigation. If we can assist you with your litigation matter in the probate or trusts area or if you have questions about no contest clauses, please contact us for a complimentary consultation.

Many parents and grandparents don't realize that a child, grandchild, or other beneficiary with a disability complicates an estate plan. If you have such a loved one you want to provide for in your estate plan, you need an appropriate trust even more so than someone without a disabled beneficiary in the picture. Here are some of the points often overlooked in planning for a special needs beneficiary:

Outright distributions to a special needs child or adult will likely make the beneficiary ineligible for continued SSI or Medi-Cal benefits. On the other hand, leaving such a beneficiary out of your will or trust may not be something you feel comfortable with and disinheriting that person could leave the beneficiary with total reliance on such benefits. Sometimes people think they will leave property or assets to another family member with the understanding that he or she will provide for the disabled beneficiary. This approach is unwise as the family member could not follow through ( it happens), die, or run into financial difficulty.

The way around the issue is to create a third party special needs trust as part of your estate plan. If you already have a trust, a stand-alone special needs trust can be drafted. If you haven't created a trust yet, a special needs trust can be incorporated into yours. The trust can provide distributions for the beneficiary's special needs, such as medical care not covered by public benefits, computers, TV, vacations, and other items or activities to enhance the beneficiary's life. With such a trust, the beneficiary is able to continue eligibility for government benefits and use his or her inheritance to supplement those benefits.

The other aspect of estate planning to consider when you have a special needs family member is to be sure that beneficiary designations and life insurance beneficiaries do not include the disabled person. A beneficiary who receives a pay out from an insurance policy, annuity, or pension plan is also subject to losing public benefits.

For questions about special needs trusts or any other estate planning issue, call us or email us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP,

If you have a will and not a trust, when you die your estate will have to go through probate. In general this means that all the property that the deceased owned at the time of death such as real property, personal property, bank accounts, investment accounts, etc. will be part of the probate estate. However there are some exceptions. You may have in your estate some assets that do not go through probate in California. These are some of them:

1. Property held in joint tenancy. An example might be a home you own with your spouse with a “right of survivorship.” Sometimes people own their cars in joint tenancy with other people or a bank account in joint tenancy. When a joint tenant dies, the other joint tenant(s) inherit the property without the probate process. Although assets held in joint tenancy avoid probate, holding title in joint tenancy can cause other problems such as the potential loss of a full step-up in basis which can result in capital gains. Another problem which can result when you own something in joint tenancy is that creditors of the other joint tenant may be able to enforce a judgment against the property.

2. Payable on Death Accounts (or POD accounts). This is a type of account where you choose a beneficiary who will receive the account upon your death. These accounts pass to the beneficiary without probate.

3. IRAs and Retirement Accounts. Benefits payable to beneficiaries under these accounts automatically pass to the named beneficiaries and avoid probate.

4. Life Insurance Proceeds. Just as with pension and retirement plans, life insurance proceeds bypass probate and are paid directly to the named beneficiaries.

Another way you can avoid probate is to transfer your assets into a revocable living trust. Assets which have been transferred into the name of the trust are non-probate assets. Contact the experienced estate planning lawyers at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP if you would like more information about a trust or putting your assets into some other form which will avoid probate.

We frequently get calls from prospective clients wanting to know if creating a trust will protect their assets from creditors or lawsuits. Unfortunately, they do not.

A revocable living trust is a legal arrangement whereby you hold your assets in trust to be used and managed until your death when they will be distributed to someone else. You can add assets or remove assets from your trust at any time, even revoke the trust completely and put them back into your name individually. Since you have control of your assets, creditors can reach those assets to collect on a debt.

There are some irrevocable trusts that can remove assets from your control but these cannot be revoked, hence they should be created with advice from an experienced estate planning attorney and possibly your financial advisor.

Although protection from creditors is not a benefit you can derive from a trust, there are many other benefits that make the creation of a trust something many people should consider. Such benefits include:

1. Avoidance of probate, passing assets to your beneficiaries more quickly and inexpensively.
2. Ability to dictate the terms of distributioin to include such things as charitable gifts, children's trusts, Special Needs Trusts, etc.
3. Privacy (probate is public).
4. Can be used to manage your estate if you become temporarily or permanently incapacitated.
5. Utilization of federal estate tax exemptions for both husband and wife, reducing or eliminating estate taxes.

If you worry about your creditors being able to access your children's inheritance once you pass away, that is a different issue. You can incorporate into your trust certain provisions whereby money would be distributed to them in increments, thereby leaving only small amounts available for creditors to try to reach and leaving the bulk of the inheritance in a trust. To discuss these or other issues about trusts or any other estate planning concerns, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates. Your first visit is always free.

At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we see trusts everyday that are drafted by other estate planning lawyers in San Diego or even by our own firm that cause some concern. Once your trust is drafted, it is intended to be reviewed periodically and also there are some things you need to aware of.

Not transferring into your trust all of your assets that should be in the trust. Depending on your attorney and what arrangements you make concerning transfer of assets into the trust, some transfers of assets require an affirmative action on your part. For example, to transfer your accounts into the name of your trust, you often have to visit the bank and fill out new signature cards. If you forget to do this, the bank account will not be in the trust at the time of your death, causing problems for your heirs. As you acquire new assets or change the form of the ones you have, you need to remember to title those new or changed assets into your trust. Assets that are left out, with some exceptions, will require probate and that is what you were trying to avoid in creating the trust in the first place.

Writing on your trust, crossing out words, or writing in the margins. We often have clients come into the office for a review of their trust or for some other service and find that their trust document has words crossed out or writings in the margins or highlighting. Please remember that a trust is a notarized document and it can only be changed by another document that is notarized. You cannot change your trust by crossing out language and adding the changes with your signature; it has to be formally amended. Also if we are going to petition the Court for some reason concerning your trust, a clean copy of the original trust will have to be filed.

Not amending your trust when important events happen in your life. We always try in our office to draft a trust that will take into consideration later children born or other events which may occur, however there are some events that require you to amend your trust. An example is a child born to you after the trust is drafted that is born with a disability or special needs, or later in life becomes disabled and receives SSI or Medi-Cal. Your existing trust may call for your estate to be divided equally to your children with no mention of special needs, causing your disabled child to lose his or her public assistance. A special needs trust for a beneficiary has to be set up as part of your estate plan so such an event will necessitate an amendment or a separate Special Needs Trust. There are other events that might happen in your life that also will cause your trust to become outdated such as an inheritance, death of a successor trustee, or deaths of beneficiaries.

Not keeping the original of your trust in a safe location. People differ in their opinions as to where a trust should be kept. Some people feel more comfortable keeping it in a safe deposit box. A trust can be quite lengthy however and some people feel that the cost of a box big enough to hold the trust is a factor plus the inability to have access to it. Other people purchase a safe or a fire proof box. The fires of 2007 made the point that just keeping your trust in a file cabinet at home without a copy anywhere else can be a problem. The estate planning attorney who drafted the trust should keep a copy but sometimes years later it may be difficult to locate the attorney or the document.

For these or other estate planning issues, we can help at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP. Call us or email us to set your complimentary consultation.

What is the meaning of the term “capacity” in California?

Many people, particularly estate planning lawyers toss the term “capacity” out as though everyone knows what the term means. Often you hear people talk about someone “losing capacity” in the sense of not being able to make a will or trust or take care of their finances. What exactly does the term “capacity” mean in the context of making a will or a trust?

The California Probate Code provides that a person is not "mentally competent"to make at will if either of the following is true:
1. The individual does not have sufficient mental capacity to be able to (A) understand the nature of the testamentary act, (B) understand and recollect the nature and situation of the individual's property, or (C) remember and understand the individual's relations to living descendants, spouse, and parents, and those whose interests are affected by the will. OR
2. The individual suffers from a mental disorder with symptoms including delusions or hallucinations which delusions or hallucinations result in the individual's devising property in a way which, except for the existence of the delusions or hallucinations, the individual would not have done.

The California Probate also provides that someone does not have "mental capacity" if at the time they are making a will or a trust they lack the ability to communicate verbally or by any other means and to understand and appreciate (a) the rights, duties, and responsibilities created by, or affected by the decision, (b) the probable consequences for the decisionmaker and, where appropriate, the persons affected by the decision, and (c) the significant risks, benefits, and reasonable alternatives involved in the decision.

Stated simply, capacity is the ability to make decisions for yourself. It includes memory, attention, logic, information processing, verbal comprehension, and the ability to concentrate and stay on task. In the area of estate planning, it means that you can make your own decisions about your estate plan by understanding what assets you have, who you want to leave your estate to, who you want to make financial and health care decisions for you if you are unable to make those yourself, and what the various provisions in a will or trust mean.

A person may lack capacity due to dementia, brain injury, mental illness, or a progressive medical condition or disease. A person may lack capacity permanently or temporarily such as when someone has been injured in an accident but then recovers. Sometimes a medical assessment is necessary to evaluate a person’s level of memory, cognition, and judgment before important legal decisions are made.

The reason this is important is that once a person has lost his or her mental capacity, they are no longer able to execute such documents as wills, trusts, or powers of attorney. If you need assistance with estate planning documents, we offer a free consultation. Call us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates LLP for an appointment.

We know that many Americans procrastinate about getting a will or a trust done. Especially in this economy where people have a lot of challenges, an estate plan, even if desired, sometimes doesn’t work itself up to the top of one’s To Do List. What happens if you procrastinate about getting an estate plan?

Probate - Without a trust or a will, your estate will wind up in the probate court. Statutory fees will have to be paid to the probate attorney and the administrator of your estate. Probate is not private - anyone can view probate records - and the distributions to your heirs can be delayed for as much as a year and in some cases, longer.

Without a will or a trust, your surviving spouse may not inherit your entire estate. Your spouse will inherit all the community property but will only get 1/2 to 1/3 of your separate property. The remaining property will go to the children.

Minor children will not have guardians appointed. Without a designation of guardians for your minor children, the Court will have to appoint a guardian without any guidance from you as to your preference for the guardian or guidelines for raising the children.

Children may receive money outright and not be equipped to handle it. Without a trust setting forth increments for the distribution at various ages, children who are 18 will receive their money outright, all at once, which may not be a good idea for some young beneficiaries.

Special Needs Beneficiaries may lose their public assistance. If you have a child or other beneficiary who is on public assistance, inheriting money outright rather than into a special needs trust, may cause them to be disqualified from receiving those benefits.

Higher Estate Taxes - For those high net worth individuals, not having a trust can result in your heirs having to pay more estate taxes than necessary. Estate planning strategies like an A/B or A/B/C trust, irrevocable life insurance trusts, or other advanced techniques can avoid or reduce estate taxes.

Don't procrastinate any longer. Contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP for a complimentary consultation to discuss your will or trust.

Have you ever wondered whether someone who murders another person can inherit from their estate? In years past, there have been several California cases where children have murdered their parents, sometimes for money, as was alleged in the famous Menendez case in Los Angeles. Two brothers, Eric and Lyle Menendez, were tried and convicted of murdering their parents in 1989 to inherit what they thought was a $14 million estate. As it turned out, after taxes, loans, and costs of defense, they each would have inherited only about $ 2 million each. They were prevented from inheriting their parents' estate.

The California Probate Code Section 250 has a section that provides that a person who “feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent” is not entitled to “any property, interest, or benefit under a will of the decedent or a trust...” This would also include life insurance proceeds or assets left to the killer as a designated beneficiary. You may remember Scott Peterson who was convicted of killing his wife. He was prevented from receiving benefits from his wife’s insurance policy.

All states in this country have similar laws to prevent someone who kills another from inheriting from the victim of their crime. In addition many states have adopted laws to make it difficult for convicted killers to sell their story and keep the money for themselves. These so-called “Son of Sam” laws came from the case where serial killer David Berkowitz, nicknamed the Son of Sam, was planning to profit from the sale of his story. California passed a “Son of Sam” law in 1986 prohibiting felons from profiting from their crimes. This law was struck down in 2002 as being unconstitutional. Today “Son of Sam” laws are sometimes put into plea bargains to provide that any profits from book deal or movies will go to the U. S. Treasury. Another remedy for victims is that they can sue their perpetrators in civil court, as in the O.J.Simpson case, and obtain a judgment which would be satisfied by book and movie profits.

Accidental disinheritance is a growing problem, not only in San Diego, but across the country. We have seen it in the cases of Anna Nicole Smith and Heath Ledger. Failure to update estate planning documents or beneficiary designations can cause unintended disinheritance or unequal distributions that may not have been intended.

One of the ways people accidentally cause a disinheritance is in a stepparent situation. As an example, suppose a man has a will he created when married to the mother of his children. After she dies, he remarries and writes a new will leaving everything to his new wife. When he dies, the new wife inherits everything and then leaves her estate to her own children. The husband’s children (her stepchildren) are disinherited, which was probably not the father’s intent. The way to avoid this was to have a trust set up with the new wife which could have provided that his wife had the use of the assets during her lifetime but upon her death, the husband’s children participated in the distributions. This is a situation where an experienced estate planning lawyer would have been worth the expense to draft an appropriate will or trust to take into consideration possible future scenarios.

Another way that a failure to update can cause difficulties is where a child is born after the estate plan is created and the child has special needs. A trust, if drafted correctly, usually will provide for after born children without the necessity to update the trust, however, if a child born after the trust is created has special needs and is on public assistance, a special needs trust needs to be prepared so if the parents die, the child does not receive his inheritance outright and lose his public assistance.

Another potential unintended result can occur when upon death, there are outdated beneficiary designations. Suppose a wife has made her husband the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. They divorce but she fails to remove him as a beneficiary. When she dies, the ex-husband gets the proceeds which may not have been what the wife wanted. Also if someone names a beneficiary on their life insurance policy and the beneficiary dies before the insured, the life insurance proceeds will have to be distributed through probate as there are no alternate beneficiaries listed.

There are countless other ways that failure to update your will, trust, or beneficiary designation can thwart your wishes upon your death. It is always a good idea to review your estate planning documents periodically to make sure they are up to date. If you need assistance, contact us for a complimentary consultation.

Many elderly people in San Diego are cared for at the end of their lives by caregivers and friends rather than family members. Sometimes they want to provide for those caregivers or friends in their will or trust. Such bequests however can be challenged by family members and other beneficiaries after a death.

The California Probate Code lists seven categories of people who are presumptively unable to inherit under a will or a trust. The list includes the person who drafted the will or trust, the law firm, attorneys or employees of the law firm that are asssociated with the drafting and “care custodians.” A care custodian is defined to include a number of agencies and any "individual providing health care services or social services to elders or dependent adults.”

Those persons mentioned in Probate Code section 21350 who are left an inheritance are subject to higher scrutiny before they can inherit. They can inherit only if they can prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that the bequest to them “was not the product of fraud, menace, duress, or undue influence.” This can be difficult to prove after the death of the individual making the will or trust.

The Probate Code section arose out of a case, Bernard v. Foley, where a 97 year old woman changed her trust three days before she died to leave all of her assets to two individuals, old friends, who had taken care of her after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Although the two caregivers won at the trial level, the California Supreme Court ruled that a “care custodian” does not necessarily mean a paid caregiver; it could be a personal friend and in fact personal friends would be uniquely in a position to influence the elderly person they care for. The two friends were disqualified from inheriting anything under the trust.

There is a means by which a person wanting to leave assets to a caregiver can do so without risking the possibility that the gift will be invalidated. The Probate Code provides that an individual wanting to make a bequest to caregivers can obtain a Certificate of Independent Review by a second attorney who interviews the testator and determinines whether the testator has been unduly influenced or coerced. We can help with these and any other estate planning issues at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP.

Those of us who live here in San Diego know what a great place San Diego is to live and work. Besides the wonderful weather and the proximity to the beautiful beaches of La Jolla, Del Mar, and other coastal areas, there is another benefit you might not realize. California is one state that does not have an inheritance tax.

17 states and the District of Columbia assess an inheritance tax on the portion of an estate received by an individual. This is in addition to the federal estate tax levied on the estate before it is distributed. As we reported in earlier blogs, a federal estate tax will have to be paid on estates over $3.5 million in 2009. States which have an inheritance tax assess it separately against each beneficiary and each beneficiary is responsible for paying the tax to the state, although there may be a lower tax rate for spouses and children of the deceased as opposed to a distant cousin.

A revocable living trust can help reduce estate taxes for couples in California as can other advanced estate planning techniques. If you need to set up a trust or want to know your options for reducing estate taxes, contact us. The experienced estate planning attorneys at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP would be happy to meet with you at no charge for your first consultation.

Are you following in the footsteps of past Americans utilizing trusts?

If you have a revocable living trust, you are in good company. Many famous people from the past utilized trusts as part of their estate plan.

When the 13 colonies declared independence in 1776, the richest man was a Senator from Pennsylvania named William Bingham. He created a trust in 1804 for his vast estate in Maine.

Joseph Kennedy, father of President John F. Kennedy established many trusts. One was to own the famous Chicago Merchandise Mart. He also created a family trust and many tax shelter trusts. His son, John F. Kennedy, had a trust. So did his son, John F. Kennedy Jr. who died in a plane crash.

William Waldorf Astor created a trust in 1991 saving his heirs millions of dollars which, without a trust, would have gone for probate fees and taxes.

The Rockefellers used various types of trusts to reduce their estate taxes. It has been estimated that they created well over 100 trusts. Likewise, H.L. Hunt, a Texas billionaire, used about 25 trusts, many for his children.

Linda Mc Cartney, wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, had a trust.

Diana, Princess of Wales, left her $35 million estate in trust for her sons William and Harry.

Baseball great Joe DiMaggio created trusts for his great grandchildren.

Ronald Reagan established a trust.

Sir Edmund Hillary, the famous mountain climber who climbed Mt. Everest set up a charitable trust for sherpas in the Himalayas.

You don't need to be rich or famous to set up a trust. Ordinary people can benefit from a trust as the main component of their estate plan. If you still need to set up a living trust for your estate, contact the San Diego estate planning lawyers at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP for a free consultation.

Many people in San Diego are in the position of choosing a successor trustee for their living trust or they may be beneficiaries of a trust and wonder if the trustee is managing or distributing their inheritances properly. Generally the trustee must administer the trust according to the terms of the trust and the California Probate Code. Here are some of the duties of a trustee of an irrevocable trust in California.

Duty of Loyalty. The trustee must administer the trust in the best interest of the beneficiaries, not using the power to the detriment of any beneficiary.

Duty of Impartiality. Similarly, the trustee must treat all beneficiaries the same, not favor one over another or if the trustee is also a beneficiary, giving himself or herself favor.

Duty to Avoid Conflicts of Interest. The trustee must avoid situations where the trust's interests and the trustee's interests conflict. These situations may arise when a beneficiary owns property in which the trust also has an interest or when a trustee wants to purchase a trust asset.

Duty to Control and Preserve Trust Property and Make the Trust Assets Productive. The trustee has an obligation to identify the trust assets and preserve them so they are not dissipated or lost. A trustee also has a duty to make sure the assets are invested wisely.

Duty to Report and Account to Beneficiaries. The Trustee must keep the beneficiaries informed about the trust administration. The trustee must also prepare statements regarding the assets and financial transactions of the trust to the beneficiaries upon request and at least annually if not requested.

These are just some of the duties of a trustee in California. For more general information, read our article on trust administration. If you need information about your specific situation, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP for a complimentary consultation. We handle trust administration, representing trustees and beneficiaries throughout San Diego County.

Last year we posted a blog about cats living it up in a retirement home in Spring Valley thanks to a pet trust. Wherever you are in San Diego County, do you consider your pets part of the family? You are not alone if you do. 87% of Americans consider their pet a family member. Do you need estate planning for this family member? If you have a number of family members or friends that will step in to care for your pet, then maybe not. If any of the following are true, however, you might consider having a pet trust.

1. You have pets with a long life expectancy. Some pets are almost sure to outlive you. Birds and reptiles have exceptionally long lives. Some turtles can live almost 100 years. A macaw for example can live to be 80. Horses have a life expectancy of twenty to thirty years.

2. You live alone. If you live alone with your pet, you need to consider who would step in and care for your pet if something happened unexpectantly to you.

3. You have a chronic illness or your life expectancy is shorter than your pet. If you pet is likely to outlive you for some reason, you may need to consider making arrangements for care after you pass away.

4. Your pet is one that not just anyone can care for. Horses for example have to be cared for by someone that has experience with horses. An expensive show horse requires someone who can manage the training, feeding, and showing of the horse. A dog that is a Great Dane cannot be taken in by just anyone. Perhaps your grandson or daughter live in a apartment or have a new baby.

5. You have multiple pets. If you have a bird aviary, a stable of horses, a petting zoo perhaps, it may be difficult to find a family member or friend that can care for them. To keep your pets together, you may want to consider a pet trust.

6. Family members would not be good pet caretakers. There are many reasons why a family member may not be a good choice to care for your pet. Maybe they are allergic to cats, hate dogs, or maybe they just don’t have the time to give your pet the love and attention it is used to.

7. You have a guardian for your pet but the guardian needs assets for the pet’s care. Maybe you have a wonderful pet lover in mind to care for your pet, but that individual doesn’t have the resources to take care of the pet for the pet’s lifetime. In that case, a pet trust can solve the problem by setting aside assets in trust for the care and maintenance of your pet.

Read more about pet trusts and contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP for a free consultation. We can help you estimate how much should be set aside for your pet and decide who will be the human trustee to manage the trust.

When people give particular assets to someone upon their death, what happens when that asset is no longer in the estate at the time of death? "Ademption" is the term used in the area of wills and trusts to describe a situation where property left to a beneficiary is no longer in the estate when the decedent dies. In that case, the property is "adeemed", i.e. the gift "fails" and the beneficiary does not receive it.

As a example, a father leaves a condominium to his daughter- maybe because she lives in the state where it is located or he wants to keep it in the family and she would be most suited to inherit. He provides in his will or trust that his other two children divide the rest of his estate. Years later he decides to sell the condo but forgets to update his will or trust. When he dies, the condo is not part of his estate and since the daughter isn't mentioned anywhere else in the estate plan, she is accidentally disinherited.

Another example is where a woman provides in her trust that she wants her 1000 shares of XYZ stock to go to her grandson. The rest of her estate is to be divided between her two children. She decides to sell the stock (or the company dissolves) but she forgets to update her trust to leave her grandson some other asset or cash bequest. When she later dies, the stock is not in her estate and the grandson gets nothing.

These are examples of unintended results caused by failing to update a will or a trust. Accidental disinheritance can occur in other ways too. Look for a later post on not coordinating your beneficiary designations with your will or trust. If you need your will or trust updated, contact us to set up a complimentary consultation.

People with little assets other than their home many times need a living trust more than individuals with more assets. Why? Picture this scenario: With the high cost of housing in the San Diego area, many couples both work to pay the mortgage on their home. They don’t have a will or a trust but own their home in joint tenancy. Husband is involved in a serious accident and has a brain injury which makes him unable to work and incompetent. They need to sell their home because of the loss of husband’s income. How is the wife going to sell the property?

Since the title is held in both their names, the wife cannot sell the home because the husband is incapacitated. The joint tenancy with right of survivorship only applies if the other joint tenant is dead. The husband is not dead and they both need to sign the escrow documents. Even if they had wills, a will would not be of any assistance because the husband is still alive. The wife’s only alternative is to have her husband declared incompetent and become his conservator. Conservatorship is costly and takes time. With mounting medical bills and loss of husband’s income, there is no money to pay for a conservatorship. Also a prospective sale may be lost during the time it takes the court to appoint the wife as conservator.

A revocable living trust would have avoided this problem. With a revocable living trust, there are incapacity clauses contained in the trust. Both spouses are usually trustees but one can serve as sole trustee in the event of a incapacity. There are also durable powers of attorney which enable you as your spouse’s agent to take over the finances and sell the house. In addition, powers of attorney for health care are included in our revocable living trust package that allow you to make decisions about your spouses’s health care including life support and other measures. Contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates,LLP to set up a free consultation about living trusts.

Living trusts save beneficiaries thousands of dollars in probate fees, however, upon the death of the Trustor, there are still steps that need to be taken by the Successor Trustee. These steps are called trust administration and often require some assistance from an experienced attorney. If these actions are not taken or done incorrectly, the Successor Trustee may be held liable to the beneficiaries.

The California Probate Code requires notification by the Successor Trustee to the beneficiaries and heirs of the person who has died. A copy of the will must be filed with the County Clerk. Notices should be sent to the Dept. of Health Services to determine if the person received Medi-Cal benefits as there may be a lien against the estate for reimbursement of those benefits. A similar notice of death should be sent to the Social Security Admiistration, Veterans Administration (if applicable) and the credit bureaus. Creditors may need to be dealt with. The issue of estate taxes needs to be considered.

Trust assets need to be inventoried and valued as of the date of death and decisions made as to how the assets will be distributed to the beneficiaries. Will assets be liquidated to provide cash to the beneficiaries or will the assets themselves be divided up in a manner which fulfills the trust's provisions?

Trust assets consisting of real property need to have the title changed so they can be distributed according to the terms of rhe trust. A Notice of Affidavit of Death needs to be prepared along with new deeds recorded with the County Recorder. If the transfer is from parent to child, a claim for exemption from property tax reassessment should be filed with the County Assessor's office.

As a final step, the administration should be completed with a final accounting of the estate or a waiver of such accounting by the beneficiaries.

These are just some of the steps which are necessary in a trust administration. If you are a Successor Truste and need assistance with trust administration, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt & Associates LLP. Your first consultation is always complimentary.

You would think that people who have practiced law would know the benefits of a well drafted estate plan. I guess it is like the old adage that “the cobbler’s son has no shoes.”

Who knows how many lawyers in this country do not have a will or a trust. Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer before he became President, died intestate (without a will). Maybe like most of us he wasn’t anticipating dying at the age of 56.

Some judges have died without an effective estate plan. In 1910 a Judge of the New Jersey Court of Appeals left no will with an estate of between $100,000 and $500,000.

Supreme Court Justice Warren Berger, a former Chief Justice, left a short one page will which did not have any specific powers granted to his executor and didn’t say anything about debts, expenses, or taxes. He was a lawyer who had practiced law and taught law school. He served as an assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department before becoming a Supreme Court Justice.

So you are not alone if you don’t have a will or a trust, but nonetheless it can be a costly omission for your heirs. Furthermore, the Probate Court, which writes your estate plan for you in the event you don’t, may not have the same ideas you do about where your money should go. See our prior blog post (August 2008) about all the things you can’t do without a will or a trust.

Contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP if you would like a free consultation about an estate plan.

If you create a will or a trust, you can make any kind of gift you want to whomever you want. You can also make stipulations that a certain event must occur for the beneficiary to receive the inheritance. Some people, for example, provide for distributions to children or grandchildren if they graduate from college or they stay off drugs.

Some more outrageous bequests or conditions have been:

A Finnish business man left 780 shares of a rubber boot company to the residents of a nursing home in Finland. That company later became Nokia, which makes cell phones, making all the nursing home residents millionaires.

George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, left his fortune to the person who could create a new English alphabet. The money was ultimately shared between 5 people who created phonetic alphabets.

You’ve probably heard of Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Mean, who left $12 million in trust for her dog excluding two of her grandchildren.

Comic book writer Mark Gruenwald provided in his will that his cremated ashes be mixed with ink and used in a comic book.

In 1862 Henry Budd bequeathed money to his two sons on condition they never grow mustaches. (How would that be enforced?)

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s ashes were flown into space and shot out as the satellite orbited the earth.

But strangest of all - Juan Potomachi left over $50,000 to the Teatro Dramatico in Buenos Aires, on the condition that his skull be preserved and used in the production of Hamlet.

We can help you with whatever bequests you want in your will or trust although carrying out similar ones to those here might be difficult. Call us or e mail us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP if you need a will or a trust drafted or updated.

Many of us in the San Diego area start the New Year by resolving to lose weight, quit smoking, or spend more time with family. The top New Years’s Resolutions are:

• Stop smoking or drinking
• Increase physical fitness
• Lose weight
• Reduce stress at home or on the job
• Spend more time with family/enjoy life more
• Get out of debt or save more for the future

A good guide to following through with your New Year’s resolutions comes from Selfhelp Magazine which outlines the 10 keys to achieving results. The author stresses such things as making your resolutions realistic, setting a timetable for your goals, and not giving up.

While you are working on these resolutions, add a resolution to get your finances and your estate plan in order. A Disney family parenting magazine has 9 steps to get off on the right financial foot in the New Year, including creating or updating your estate plan and updating your beneficiary designations of retirement accounts, life insurance policies, annuities, etc. You should also make sure all your assets that should be in your trust are in fact properly titled.

At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we can help you achieve your resolution to create or update your estate plan. Call or us or e mail us to set up a complimentary appointment to create or update your will, trust, or beneficiary designations.

Earlier this month we posted a blog about identity theft during the hollidays. Malls in North County, South Bay, Carlsbad, and Mission Valley are targets for pick pockets and thieves who look to steal purses. But did you know that even deceased persons can be victims of identity theft? The deceased are easy targets because sometimes it takes weeks or months and in some cases years for financial institutions to find out about a death. The identity of a deceased person can be stolen in a variety of ways. Some identity thieves watch the obituaries, look up death certificates, or obtain private information from health care providers, unknowing relatives, or internet genealogy web sites.

Back in 2006 in Kentucky a financial planner used the confidential data of 160 deceased persons to acquire 700 credit cards from financial institutions and scammed nearly $2 million over a three year period

Although the deceased person doesn’t have to be concerned with his or her credit rating, identity theft can cause emotional distress for the family. Identity Theft Resource Center has valuable information about how to protect yourself and your deceased loved one from identity theft. They also have an information sheet with steps to take to decrease the risk of identity theft such as notifying the credit bureaus to put a “deceased” notation in their file, obtaining a copy of the decedent’s credit report, and a list of agencies and companies to notify of the death. Sample letters can be found at the California Office of Privacy Protection.

You can also stop the junk mail by contacting the Direct Marketing Assn. There you can register to take the deceased’s name off mailing lists with their Deceased Do Not Contact List.

If your loved one had a will which needs to be probated or a trust which needs to be administered after death, Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP handles many of the above steps as part of their representation. Contact us if we can help with trust administration or probate.

Many people in San Diego make revocable living trusts the primary feature of their estate plan. You may wonder where the idea of a trust came from. Trusts haven’t just been popular in the last century. Trusts are quite old. Plato back in 400 B.C. used a trust to finance his university in Greece. The Romans also used trusts. In England they were popular beginning in the 11th century in order to protect property from abusive noblemen and the King. A trust was used to vest title to real property in a trustee who would then give it to the wife, son, or daughter upon the husband’s death. Without such a trust, the property would go the lord or the King leaving the family poor and with no land to earn a living.

Trusts came to this country with the colonists. One of the first trusts was that of Governor Robert Morris of the Virginia colony. The trust was drafted in 1765 by Patrick Henry. Thereafter, William Bingham, a Senator from Pennsylvania, said to be the richest American when the colonies gained their independence, created a trust for his vast fortune.

Trusts are popular today as a way of avoiding not the King, but probate. With a living trust, you can avoid the cost of probate, the time of probate, and the lack of privacy of probate. You also can save on estate taxes if you have a sizeable estate by having the appropriate type of trust. If you are thinking about creating an estate plan, consult the experienced estate planning lawyers at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP to determine if a trust is right for you. The initial consultation is always free.

This summer Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill which will protect pet trusts. The bill (SB 685) makes pet trusts enforceable. The bill was supported by the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) which estimates that over half of American families have at least one pet. The bill removes the discretion of the trustee in carrying out the trust and allows the court to appoint a caregiver if the trustee doesn’t want to act. The bill actually repeals a section of the Probate Code ( Section 15212) which made pet trusts honorary and not enforceable by law.

You may ask what types of pets are affected by this bill? The new legislation provides that for purposes of this code section, an “animal” means a domestic or pet animal for the benefit of which a trust has been established. Cats, dogs, birds, and horses would be covered. If an owner wanted to establish a trust for some other domestic pet such as a python snake (which can live 40 years) or a pot bellied pig, presumably they would be covered also. It is hoped that the new law which goes into effect in January 2009 will reduce the burden on pet shelters, protect defenseless animals, and guarantee that the wishes of pet owners are carried out.

To incorporate pet trust provisions into your estate plan, call us or e mail us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP to schedule a complimentary consultation. We can also amend existing trusts or create a revocable living trust with “pet” provisions.

The San Diego Probate Court has many cases involving will and trust litigation. Wills and trusts can become the subject of litigation even when prepared by an experienced estate planning attorney. Issues which can become the subject of a will contest or trust litigation can be issues relating to the successor trustee or executor, codicils or amendments, the distribution provisions, or the management of the estate assets.

Here are some red flags which tend to trigger litigation that should be addressed at the time you draft your will or trust:

1. An "unnatural" disposition of an estate. Clients obviously have the right to leave their assets to anyone they wish however an unusual or unnatural disposition is more likely to be challenged. A “natural” disposition would be leaving your estate to your wife and then to your children. What is not “natural” is disinheriting a child, leaving substantial assets to a non-family member or to someone who has provided care to you, or leaving your entire estate to a new spouse, charity, or a pet to the exclusion of other heirs.

2. The timing of the estate planning document. Wills or trusts done just prior to death may simply be because the decedent realized the necessity for an estate plan, however changes to wills or trusts on the individual’s “deathbed” may raise questions of competency. There may be challenges as to whether the decedent had capacity, was unduly influenced, or under duress.

3. Drafting your will or trust at the insistence or with the assistance of an individual who gets more than other beneficiaries may raise similar concerns.

4. Favoring one child over another or a new spouse over your children from a former relationship. This may be a “natural” disposition of your estate but if someone feels slighted or omitted from a will or a trust, there is a potential for litigation.

The best way to avoid litigation over a will or a trust is to make sure your documents are prepared by an experienced estate planning lawyer. A properly drafted document should have a no contest clause although even that clause may not prevent a contest. You may want to consider rather than disinheriting an heir outright, giving that person a nominal gift to discourage a will or trust contest. Lastly, if you are creating an estate plan with an “unnatural disposition” you may want to consider having the signing of the document videotaped.

Will and trust litigation is costly and can be emotionally draining for everyone involved. For help creating your estate plan to avoid future litigation, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP. We can also assist with representation in any will or trust litigation.

If you live in San Diego, there is a lot of free information available to you on a variety of legal issues. Here are some “clicks’ that may answer many questions you have:

1. Our website at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP has many articles in the area of estate planning and divorce. Our estate planning blog has current postings as well as archived postings going back to 2002.

2. The San Diego County Clerk/Recorder's office has information on its website about recording documents and you can also download samples of commonly used forms such as affidavits of death, grant deeds, quitclaim deeds, property tax exemption forms, and preliminary change of ownership forms. You can access information about your property tax bill or download an application to lower your propery taxes. You can also check the Grantor/Grantee index online for deeds and other recorded documents and order copies on line or pick them up at one of the offices in Kearney Mesa, San Marcos, downtown, Chula Vista, or El Cajon.

3. The California Courts Self-Help Center has information about how to find lawyer referral services, where all the courts are located and their calendars, and frequently asked questions about a variety of topics. There is information about small claims court, conservatorships, elder abuse, landlord/tenant issues, divorce, and traffic tickets. You can even download the Judicial Council legal forms and get information on how to fill them out.

4. At the California State Bar website you can find a lawyer, look up a specific lawyer’s disciplinary record, and get basic information about a number of legal topics. Consumer pamphlets are available on all sorts of topics such as estate planning, probate, small claims court, getting arrested, minors and the law, seniors and the law, and divorce and child custody.

If you need information on estate planning issues, remember Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP offers a free in-house consultation. E mail us or call us with a question or to set an appointment.

There are many different types of trusts which San Diego couples may create as the cornerstone of their estate plan. Prior to 2000 when the exemption for estate taxes was $650,000 many couples had A/B trusts prepared. These were also called Bypass Trusts, Marital Trusts, or Exemption Trusts. These types of trusts call for the initial trust to split into two or more trusts after the death of the first spouse in order to reduce or eliminate the federal estate tax. Today many couples still have this type of trust. Couples with children from prior relationships also may have this type of trust which requires a split or division in trust assets after the first death.

Couples may also have a disclaimer trust which requires the surviving spouse to disclaim assets within nine months of death in order to take advantage of the federal estate tax exemption for couples. There are also so-called option trusts which place a duty on the surviving spouse to value the estate after the first death and only split the trust into sub trusts if necessary to take advantage of the federal estate tax exemption. All of these types of trusts require that after the first death, some steps be taken to comply with California law, preserve the federal estate tax exemption, and change title to assets. This is called trust administration.

If the trust is one which requires a division into two or more sub trusts, the assets in the estate need to be valued as of the date of the first death, then the assets allocated between two or more trusts, and new deeds prepared for real property. If the original trust is not divided at all after the first death or the assets allocated improperly, tax benefits can be lost. Also there may be financial losses to the children of the couple or other beneficiaries. Sometimes in the aftermath of a spouse passing away, these details may understandably be overlooked.

If you need help figuring out what to do after your spouse dies, we can help. The experienced estate planning lawyers at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP can review your trust and do whatever trust administration your trust requires. Our initial consultation is complimentary.

San Diego is home to many retirees and others who love to travel. The U.S. Dept. of State has useful information about traveling abroad. At their website you can access information about passports, registering your travel abroad, taking medicines on your trip, customs and import information, and immunizations required for various areas.

You can also check the website for what travel warning and alerts are in effect for a specific country. A Travel Warning is a warning against travel to certain countries where a condition may make the country dangerous or unstable. Currently, some of the countries listed with Travel Warnings are Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Colombia, Nepal, and Somalia.

Travel Alerts are issued for usually short term conditions such as a natural disaster, a coup, or acts of terrorism. Countries under a Travel Alert at this time are Mexico, China, Comoros, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Before you take a trip abroad it is also a good idea to make sure your estate planning documents are up to date. If you need a will or a trust or want to make changes to your existing documents, don’t wait until the last minute to contact a lawyer. If you need assistance, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP for a complimentary consultation.

Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s 5 month old son who has Down Syndrome has caused an increase in public awareness about children with special needs. Special needs children are those that need extra care whether because of a developmental disability, autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, or other physical or mental condition. Many parents in San Diego County have children with special needs and know all too well about the extra care they require, the government benefits they rely on, and the financial challenges they face.

Many families with special needs children need to rely on Medi-Cal or Social Security to help with the high cost of health care. This financial support can continue throughout the child’s life. Parents and grandparents of special needs children and adults may want to provide for their disabled loved ones in their will or trust but they do not want to jeopardize the individual’s eligibility for public benefits. A Supplemental Needs Trust is the answer.

A Supplemental Needs Trust (often called a Special Needs Trust) enable a person with a physical or mental disability to have assets held in a trust and those assets will not be considered countable assets for purposes of qualifying for certain government benefits. Supplemental needs that can be paid for by the trust may be such items as special medical equipment, dental needs, eyeglasses, recreation, entertainment, transporation, computer equipment, or special dietary needs.

Parents or other family members of disabled individuals who want to provide for a disabled beneficiary can establish a supplemental needs trust as part of their own estate plan and the trust will be established upon their death.

For more information on special needs trusts, read the article on our website. The law firm of Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP can incorporate a special needs trust into your estate plan or prepare a “stand alone” special needs trust, tailored to fit your concerns about your special needs beneficiaries. Call us or e mail us if we can help.

The simple answer is "you can" but why would you want to? You may have seen the commercial on TV where a man is on the phone with his doctor who is telling him how to operate on himself and the man says “shouldn’t you be doing this?”

There are many web sites today that offer inexpensive estate planning documents you can download. There is also software available to write your own will or trust. The problem with doing it yourself is that you don’t have the experience, training, and knowledge to know whether you have done a good job and the effect of not doing a good job can be devastating. Many “boilerplate” trusts and other documents contain language that is inappropriate for your situation. Estate planning is not "one size fits all."

When you hire an experienced estate planning lawyer you are not only paying for the document itself but the training and experience that goes into a properly drafted document. The attorney knows what questions to ask to assist you with decisions such as whether you want clauses about distributions to minors and at what intervals, duty to provide accounts and reports, how to distribute assets if a beneficiary predeceases the trustor, and what clauses are necessary to protect the estate from estate taxes. Deeds need to be prepared to record your real property with the County Recorder and a Preliminary Change of Ownership form needs to be filled out correctly to avoid reappraisal.

At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we offer a complimentary consultation to find out what your goals are and make sure the appropriate clauses are in your revocable living trust. We also record deeds to put your real property into your trust and assist you with funding your trust. Read more about what is included in our revocable living trust package and give us a call.

When someone dies, estate taxes have to be paid if the estate is large enough. Under the current law, the federal estate tax exemption is $2 million. This means that no estate taxes will have to be paid on estates under $2 million and for couples, assets of less than $4 million would be exempt from estate taxes.

The exemption is set to increase to $3.5 million in 2009, disappear entirely in 2010, and revert back to $1 million in 2011.

Now that the Presidential candidates have been narrowed to McCain and Obama, where do they stand on this issue? John McCain is in favor of raising the exemption to $5 million. Senator Obama proposes a $3.5 million exemption. The other difference is that McCain would cut the tax rate from 45% to 15%. Obama is in favor of keeping the tax rate at 45%.

So it does appear that no matter which candidate is elected, the country will continue to see a federal estate tax exemption which will keep the majority of Americans from having to pay estate taxes upon their deaths. It has been estimated that in 2009, only 1 in 600 estates will owe estate taxes.

For couples to both take advantage of the exemption for estate taxes, they need a revocable living trust with appropriate language. There are many other advantages of a trust even if you are not concerned about estate taxes. If you need a trust and corollary documents prepared, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP to schedule a free in-house consultation.

When you purchase property in San Diego County, you will have to specify how you are going to hold title. Title is the evidence that you are the owner. The form of ownership is called “vesting”. The escrow company will ask you how you want to hold title so the deed to your new property can be prepared. Here are some of the more common forms of holding title.

Sole Ownership
When you hold title as the sole owner, you own the entire interest. Usually sole ownership is for single individuals. A man or woman who has not been married may hold title as “John Doe, a single man.” A man or woman who was previously married but legally divorced might hold title as “Jane Doe, an unmarried woman.” If you are married and want to take title in your name alone, your spouse must relinquish all interest in the property since real property conveyed to a married couple in California is presumed to be community unless otherwise stated. Title in that case might read “John Doe, a married man, as his sole and separate property."

Co-Ownership

Joint Tenancy
This form of ownership occurs when two or more individuals, who may or may not be married, want to own property together in equal interests. With joint tenancy with right of survivorship, when one joint tenant dies, the other joint tenant becomes the owner of the property by operation of law rather than the property passing to the deceased joint tenant’s heirs. As an example, title could read "John Doe and Jane Doe, husband and wife, as joint tenants.” Many couples who purchased property years ago may be holding their property in joint tenancy.

Tenancy in Common
Tenants in common are two or more owners who own an undivided fractional interest. As an example, one owner may have a 1/3 interest and the other a 2/3 interest in the property. Two owners may each own ½. Each owner can use and enjoy the entire property and each owner may sell or give his interest away or leave it to someone else upon their death. An example is “John Doe, an unmarried man, as to an undivided 1/3 interest and Jane Doe, a single woman, as to an undivided 2/3 interest, as tenants in common.”

Community Property
If you are a married couple, you may hold title as community property. In California real property conveyed to a married man or woman is presumed to be community property unless otherwise stated. Each spouse has a ½ interest in the property and may leave that interest to the other spouse or anyone else. Title would be held as “John Doe and Jane Doe, husband and wife, as community property.”

How you hold title can have important legal consequences. When you create a living trust, you should put your home and any other real property in the name of the trust. If you have any questions about how to hold title in your situation, you may call us or e mail us with questions. At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we can also assist you with the preparation of a living trust package, including trust transfer deeds.

If you die with a will or intestate (without a will), the probate court has no discretion to withhold money from your legal heirs if they are 18. There are many 18 year olds who are not capable of managing significant amounts of money at that age. One way to insure that your children do not receive distributions from your estate at such a young age is to create a children’s trust or build one into your own revocable living trust. In either case you can be creative as to when your children receive distributions and for what purposes.

A trust can structure your child’s inheritance by making specific provisions for the use of trust assets. As an example you may provide that upon your death, a family member will be the successor trustee who will use the trust assets for the “health, education, maintenance, and welfare” of the child. Will that include money for vocational training or starting a business? Will the trustee have the discretion to buy a car for the child to go to work or school? These are some issues your trust provisions can address.

What about distributions when the child becomes an adult? You can specify in the trust that distributions be made at age 25, 30, or 35 or any other intervals you wish. You can specify that a distribution be made upon graduation from college, or that there is to be no distribution at all until the child turns 35 or 40.

You also have to decide what happens if the child dies before all distributions are made. Do the trust assets pass to their children or to the other beneficiaries or perhaps to charity? Another decision is whether the trustee of the trust should make a yearly accounting of the trust assets. Some people put spendthrift provisions into the trust ( preventing the child from borrowing from the trust) or provisions about substance abuse.

A trust for your children can put your mind at ease about the financial future of your children. If you would like a children’s trust set up or one incorporated into your own living trust, call us or e mail us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP to set up a complimentary appointment

Are you the Executor or the Successor Trustee of a will or trust in San Diego? Are you faced with the dilemma of how to divide up personal effects of the deceased? How to divide personal property (furniture, collectibles, jewelry, cars) upon someone’s death can be a harder problem than distributing the rest of the estate. Many wills and trusts provide for distribution to heirs in equal amounts or equal shares, but how do you determine who gets what? What if more than one heir wants a particular item? How is the property valued, especially if its real worth is more sentimental than anything else?

There is an interesting alternative being offered by an auction company called eDivvyUp. This is an online auction site which can assist executors or beneficiaries deal with distribution of personal property. This company will inventory the items of personal property, photograph them, and then the beneficiaries are invited to participate in the auction with “points” they are assigned. At the end of the auction the property is distributed to the highest bidder.

At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we can assist you with the division of personal property and any other matter relating to probate or trust administration. You may call or e mail us to set up a complimentary consultation.

Do San Diegans fit the national statistics on Estate Planning?

Alhough there are no statistics specifically for San Diego County, a study done nationally in 2007 found that over half (55% ) of all adult Americans do not have a will or other estate plan. Of non-whites, the lack of a will is even more pronounced:

Only 32% of African American adults have wills
Only 25% of Hispanic American adults have wills compared to
52% of white American adults.

The study also found that 41% of American adults have health care directives. This is up from several years ago perhaps because of news coverage about such cases as the Terry Schiavo case in Florida.

Reasons for not doing an estate plan:
1. Ignorance is bliss. 10% say they don’t want to think about dying or becoming incapacitated.
2. Where to begin? 9% say they don’t know who to consult about an estate plan
3. No Assets to worry about. 24% say they don’t think they have enough assets
Possible other reasons are procrastination: I know I should do it but don’t seem to get around to it.

If you fall within these categories and do not have a will or a living trust, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates. We offer a complimentary consultation in the office, contact us by e mail.

You don’t have to be rich to need a trust. If you own your home in San Diego where the cost of the average home is high, you need a trust to avoid probate. Even without a home, if you have total assets over $100,000 you need a trust to avoid probate.

You don’t have to be rich to afford a trust. Even with this economy, a trust is so important that it may warrant cutting back on other things to afford it.

1. Painless Savings Techniques: One technique for savings is to put every $5 bill you receive into a jar or tucked away in a drawer. You would be surprised how many $5 bills you receive in a month. You can easily save several hundred dollars a month if you faithfully make this a habit. Some people deposit the change they find in their pocket or wallet into a jar. Taking those jars to the bank and converting them into money to set aside for a trust is a way to save painlessly. The Keep the Change Program at Bank of America rounds up every purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfers the difference into your savings account. The bank will even match your savings for the first 3 months.

2. Cut back on your mocha frappachino or carmel machiato you have been drinking everyday. It has been estimated that a person consuming a designer coffee drink once a day spends over $100 a month. If you can’t give up your coffee, how about bringing your lunch to work for a while. You can easily spend $10 or more on lunch eating out. These amounts may seem insignificant but they add up!

3. How much do you spend annually on Christmas presents for your family? Some families spend $50 to $100 per person. What if you bought something a little less expensive and spent the money on a trust. After all, the creation of a living trust is really a gift for your heirs. Such a gift will later be appreciated more than a video game or sweater they probably won’t like anyway.

4. Cut back on dining out or other monthly outing. A trip to your favorite sushi bar or nice restaurant can easily cost $100 - $200 per couple. A trip to the ball game for the whole family can cost more than that. What if you cut back on some of these outings for 6 months?

5. Have a garage sale and put aside the proceeds to help fund a trust. Many people have a garage full of garage sale items and once you have a sale, what do you do with the money? Earmark the proceeds for something that will last a lifetime (literally)!

A revocable living trust can be affordable for most people even if you have to get creative. At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP, we can’t assist you with the garage sale but we can help you create an estate plan. Call us or e mail us for a complimentary consultation.

San Diego County is home to many members of the military stationed at Camp Pendleton, MCRD, MCAS Miramar, and the various Navy facilities such as 32nd Street Naval Station, Navy Submarine Support Facilities and Naval Base Coronado.

When a member of the military gets orders to deploy out of the area, they often need to get their estate planning and financial affairs in order. Some of the things to think about are a power of attorney for finances, a will or a trust, a designation of guardians for your minor children. If you are a single parent or both parents are deployed, you may want to execute a document naming a temporary guardian for your children. This may also include authorizations to permit the guardian to obtain medical care for your children in your absence.

JAG attorneys on the base often provide some of these documents for military personnel but if you have a unique situation, it may be worthwhile to consult a private attorney. Situations that may make this advisable are children with special needs such as autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, or any other physical or mental disability that would require special provisions in your estate plan. Real property in more than one state or an estate in general that is over $100,000 may warrant a revocable living trust. Also if you have a trust prepared in California, it is valid in any other state you might subsequently live.

If you need assistance with an estate planning matter, call us or email us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP for a complimentary in-house consultation. Also if a family member dies who is in the military and there is an estate to settle, we would be pleased to meet with you about what to do next.

Many San Diegans have timeshare properties out of state in Hawaii, Colorado, and Florida as well as right here in San Diego in the beachfront communities of Coronado, La Jolla, Mission Beach, Carlsbad, and Oceanside. If you plan to leave your timeshare properties to your heirs you need to understand several things.

There are two types of timeshare properties - deeded and non deeded. With the non deeded form of ownership you usually are buying a license to use the property or a lease or membership interest that allows use of the property for a number of years. You may or may not be able to pass this on to your heirs. With a deeded timeshare you actually have an ownership interest in the property and have a deed showing that interest.

If you have a revocable living trust, a timeshare, like any other piece of property, has to be transferred into your trust. If it is a deeded timeshare, this will be done with a trust transfer deed. Many trust administrations or trust distributions are delayed because individuals forget to transfer their timeshare properties into their trust.

With a will as your estate plan, your entire estate will have to go through the probate procedure with its accompanying time and expense. If the timeshare property is out of state, a second probate called an “ancillary probate” will have to be established, resulting in additional probate fees. Ownership of out of state property is a good reason to have a trust rather than a will.

With either a will or a trust, if you think your children will be fighting over the use of the timeshare, consider leaving it to only one beneficiary so that the timeshare does not have to be sold to distribute it.

If you have questions about your vacation properties and whether they are properly transferred into your revocable living trust, we can assist you at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP You can also call us or e mail about any other estate planning issue.

Reverse mortgages have become extremely popular in California and especially in San Diego communities with a large senior population such as Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Ramona, and Oceanside.

If you have a reverse mortgage already or are thinking about getting one, useful information about reverse mortgages is available fromthe U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). AARP also has information and a list of questions to ask yourself before making the decision to apply for one.

Remember from an estate planning perspective, the lender may ask you to take your home out of your living trust to accomplish the reverse mortgage. Make sure your home is put back into the trust after the mortgage is in place. This means that there is a grant deed or quitclaim deed showing the property titled in your name as Trustee. When the deed has been recorded with the County Recorder, you home is then “put back” into your trust. This process may be done by whoever handled the mortgage paperwork but it is a good idea to verify that it has in fact been done since your home is often the major asset of your estate. You do not want to pass away with a major asset left out of your trust.

If you need help transferring property back into your trust and recording the necessary deed, contact us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP. Feel free to call us or e mail us for a complimentary in-house consultation about this or any other estate planning issue.

If you die in San Diego without a will or a trust, you are deemed to have died “intestate”. To die “intestate” means to die without a “testament” (a will) or a trust and your estate will have to go through the probate process where the Probate Court will determine where your estate will go. This can result in unintended results for some people and not what they would have wanted.

As an example, most people believe that if they are married and they die without a will or a trust, all their property will go to their surviving spouse. That is not the case in California. If you are married with children, your community property(essentially property acquired during the marriage) will go to your spouse, but only one-half of the separate property (property acquired before marriage or inherited during the marriage) will go to your spouse if there is one child of the marriage. If you have 2 or more children, your spouse will only receive one-third of the separate property. This can be an unintended result if the estate is small and the surviving spouse needs all the assets in the estate to live on. Furthermore, California inheritance laws only recognize relatives of the intestate decedent, so the Probate Court can never distribute any of the estate to charities or non relatives.

Here are 10 example of things you cannot do if you die intestate:

1. Leave any part of your estate to a friend.
2. Provide for a disabled child or other disabled beneficiary so as not to impact their public assistance.
3. Designate a guardian for your minor children.
4. Prevent a minor beneficiary from receiving all of his or her inheritance at age 18.
5. Leave any gifts to charity.
6. Disinherit someone who is your heir.
7. Designate who will receive your personal property such as jewelry, artwork, coins, etc.
8. Provide a life estate so that someone can live in your home after your death.
9. Leave any part of your estate to a non-adopted step-child or foster child.
10. Designate the ages and the terms under which your children or grandchildren will receive their inheritance.

To avoid unintended results upon your death and provide for your loved ones in any of the ways listed above, it is important to have a will or a trust. A will allows you to accomplish these objectives but a will has to go through the probate process which can be costly and time consuming. A living trust is a better way to specify who you want to inherit your estate without the time and expense of probate. The experienced estate planning lawyers at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP can assist you with implementing your wishes in the appropriate estate planning documents. Call us or e mail us for a complimentary in-house consultation.

Even when a person dies with a will or a trust, there can be disputes that result in a will contest or trust litigation. An individual may feel he or she should have been a beneficiary under a will or a trust. Sometimes a will has been changed and beneficiaries under the original will feel there has some impropriety surrounding the execution of the subsequent will. Sometimes beneficiaries may be dissatisfied with the accounting of the assets in the estate. When these types of issues occur, it may become necessary to seek the assistance of the court to resolve these issues. Common grounds for contesting a will are such things as claims of undue influence, lack of mental capacity, fraud, or an invalid codicil (amendment).

With a trust, individuals who are beneficiaries or think they should be a beneficiary may dispute the trust. Issues can arise such as the validity of the trust or amendments, the administration of the trust, or conduct of the trustee. Sometimes trustees have to be removed for misconduct or impropriety or it may be the case that beneficiaries have to initiate litigation to receive a fair distribution.

Handling a will or trust litigation matter requires special experience. If you have concerns about a will or a trust or believe you should have inherited from one, the experienced estate planning lawyers at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates can assist you. Call or e mail us for a complimentary, confidential in-house consultation.

Once you create a revocable living trust your job as the creator (often called the Trustor or Settlor of the trust) is to properly fund the trust initially and thereafter see that all the assets that should be placed in your trust are properly titled.

Once you pass away, the job of administering the trust is in the hands of your successor trustee. Your trust continues in existence and certain actions are necessary to carry out the purpose of the trust. These duties are done by your successor trustee. If you are the successor trustee of a trust, it is important to understand you have certain duties. These duties are called Trust Administration and may involve some or all of the following : paying the decedent’s debts, making an inventory of the trust’s assets, creating sub trusts if called for by the trust agreement, filing tax returns, transferring ownership of real property, notifying certain parties of the death (such as the Social Security Administration, Medi-Cal, and named beneficiaries), paying estate taxes within 9 months, paying property taxes on real property, selling certain assets, and making other decisions about investments if the trust is to continue.

Trust administration does take some time and attention to details. It often requires the assistance of an attorney to advise the successor trustee and assist him or her with the duties the job involves. If you need an experienced attorney to assist you as a trustee (or as a named beneficiary), call us or e mail us at Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP and we will be pleased to offer you a complimentary consultation.

In San Diego the cost of housing is one of the highest in the nation. For many of us, our home is the primary asset in our estate. One of the issues in the upcoming presidential campaign is the repeal or modification of the federal estate tax exemption. The outcome of the election may have an effect on whether your estate will be subject to estate taxes. As discussed below however, regardless of the election, you should not postpone creating an estate plan, the central document of which would be a revocable living trust.

The Estate Tax, often called the death tax, is a tax on the estates of the deceased in the United States. Tax-cut legislation enacted in 2001 provided for 10 years of increasing exemptions. Current law is that those with taxable estates over $2 million will be subject to estate taxes. If the estate is more then $2 million, the remainder is taxed at 45%. In 2009 an estate over $3.5 million will be taxed. Unless Congress acts to repeal or change the current law, the tax will be completely eliminated in 2010 but will be reinstated in 2011 to tax estates over $1 million with a top rate of 55%.

The repeal or elimination of this tax entirely has been suggested by many fiscal conservatives, primarily Republicans. Where do the Presidential candidates in the upcoming election stand?

Democrats argue that a total repeal would benefit the wealthy. Senator Obama has publically opposed doing away with the estate tax entirely. He voted against a repeal of the estate tax in June 2006. Recently he hasn’t mentioned any idea short of a repeal but most people think he would freeze the estate tax exemption at 2009 levels which imposes estate taxes on estates over $3.5 million.

John McCain voted in favor of repealing the federal estate tax when a bill was introduced in Congress in June of 2006. ( HR 8 ) He has been quoted as saying that he favors an exemption of estates under 5 million.

Don’t postpone a decision on your estate planning until after the election. Regardless of who wins the election, it appears we may have federal estate taxes in some form. If we return to the exemption threshold of $1 million, there will be many Americans, and particularly Californians who will potentially have estate tax issues. In San Diego where the average price of a home is still close to $600,000 most people who own a home and additional assets such as IRAs, 401(k)s, mutual funds, or other assets may easily have an estate valued at $1 million. At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we can assist you with an estate plan to address whatever the federal estate tax level may be at the time of your death. With a revocable living trust as the key element of your estate plan, you may be able to reduce the amount of estate taxes which have to be paid. Contact us by e mail or phone for a complimentary consultation on this or any other estate planning issue.

Unfortunately, it occasionally happens that both parents of a minor child die in a common event or accident. If both parents die without an estate plan, a probate judge will have to appoint a guardian. A guardian is responsible for taking care of their “ward” until the child turns 18. This includes such things as housing, food, medical bills, clothing, education, and other incidental expenses. Having the Probate Court choose a guardian for your children may not always result in a guardian that you would have selected.

If the parents have a will or trust designating a legal guardian for their children, the children will be taken care of. A will or a trust allows you to have a say in who takes care of your child upon your death. You are in the best position to know who that individual is. Who is best able to provide a stable and nurturing home for your child - your brother, sister, grandparent, a close friend?

Factors you should consider are:
1. The age of the proposed guardian. Is the proposed guardian young enough to be able to care for the children until they reach adulthood?
2. Ages of your children. Any special needs?
3. Family structure of the proposed guardian. Is the guardian married, single, already have 6 children to raise?
4. Health issues, financial situation, religious views, living arrangements of the proposed guardian. For example would the guardian be able to raise your children in his or her existing home or would you want to provide that they could live in the family home? Does the proposed guardian have the same religious and other philosophical views as you? Does the guardian have any health issues that would have an impact on his or her ability to take care of your children?
5. Willingness to serve. Consult with the proposed guardian to be sure they are willing and comfortable with taking on the responsibility of guardian.

Nominating a guardian for your children is very important but even more so if you are selecting a non family member as a guardian. If the guardian has to be appointed by the Court, family members are usually given priority over non family members. At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP we can assist you with the appropriate estate planning documents to nominate guardians for your minor children should something happen to you. This is best accomplished with a revocable living trust which will include nomination of guardians for your children as well as pour-over wills, durable powers of attorney for finances, health care directives, and other accompanying documents. Call us or e mail us for a complimentary consultation to discuss guardians and any other estate planning issues.

Estates are comprised of many different assets including homes, bank accounts [Bank of America, Union Bank and others], life insurance [Farmers, State Farm and others], and personal property such as jewelry, artwork, cars, and boats. Sometimes what causes the most squabbles among family members after a death is not the real property or cash but such things as jewelry, collectibles, or other items of strictly sentimental value such as grandma’s ring or grandpa’s gun.

Unless you have left specific instructions as to your personal property in your will or trust, usually it will be divided equally among your beneficiaries. But what is equally? How do you value a family heirloom? As an example, Rosa Parks (who you may remember started the civil rights movement in 1955 when she refused to surrender her seat on a bus to a white rider) had in her estate china that was used when she dined with then President Clinton. How does one determine the value of that particular piece of Wedgwood china? What about Grandma's ring? Something that may be priceless to a beneficiary because of its sentimental value may be worthless in terms of its appraised value. What if two or more beneficiaries want the same item and won’t budge?

If you have specific items of personal property that you want to give to particular people upon your death, you can make specific bequests in your will or trust. Usually however, people have too many items of personal property to list them all in their will or trust. Or they may acquire other personal property after they execute their will or trust or want to change their mind at some point about certain gifts.

To minimize any potential family squabbles, consider making specific bequests of valuable property in your will or trust. You also can include in your estate planning documents a Personal Property Memorandum which lists the intended recipients of your various items of personal property and should be a part of any trust package. At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates, LLP, our estate planning attorneys can assist you with issues relating to disposition of personal property upon your death or with any other estate planning issue. Call or e mail us for a complimentary consultation.

San Diegans, have you provided for your pet in your will or trust? Our firm can assist and please feel free to e mail us. Please review our article regarding pets on our website.

You may remember last year when hotel and real estate magnate Leona Hemsley died, leaving 12 million dollars to her dog, a white Maltese named Trouble. You can view the story of her extraordinary gift in the Washington Post Newspaper. She apparently left two of her grandchildren nothing ‘for reasons known to them” but left millions to her beloved pet.

While the amount may have been extraordinary, it is becoming more commonplace for pet owners to provide for their pets in their will or trust. Even people of modest estates may set aside a certain sum of money to see that their pet is taken care of. $500 to $5000 may not be unrealistic for care of a beloved dog, cat, or horse. Horses may require even more money to maintain as they can often outlive their owners. It is not uncommon for horses to live to be 20 - 30 years old. Expenses for caring for a horse can be as much as $ 5000 - 10,000 per year for such items as food, boarding, vet care, and farrier services.

Estate planning for your pet can be done by incorporating provisions in your own trust or setting up a separate pet trust.

At Pinkerton, Doppelt, & Associates LLP, we can add provisions to your existing trust to provide for pets, or incorporate provisions into a new estate plan. Protect not only your pets but even more important, your heirs, by creating a living trust. Contact us for a complimentary consultation about this or any other estate planning issue.

In San Diego, all of the attorneys are licensed by the State Bar of California. This is the professional organization which oversees attorneys. The State Bar of California, along with the Continuing Education of the Bar, offers many services for attorneys. There are also, however, services for the public which many persons in San Diego who are current clients or not current clients do not know about.

One of the sections for the public is in the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar website. This gives the public acess to the toll free senior information line of 1-888-460-7364. In addition, the public can view resources which the Speaker Bureau Attorneys can obtain directly from the State Bar. These include a statutory will form, an advance health care directive, estate planning brochures, and additional information including a senior information card.

At our firm of Pinkerton, Doppelt & Associates, LLP we offer a complimentary consultation as the different forms, pleadings and procedures can be very complicated. We also have a page on our website directly relating to living trusts. Please feel free to contact us directly by e mail or at our toll free number in Southern California of 1-877-435-7411 [1-877-HELP411] which is also our website address of www.help411.com.

In San Diego, we have many FDIC insured banks. These include Washington Mutual, Union Bank, Bank of America and others. Our law firm of Pinkerton, Doppelt & Associates, LLP does not endorse or recommend any bank or other financial institution. We would be pleased to offer you a complimentary consultation on any estate planning issue. Our firm does not recommend or endorse any bank or financial institution. Please feel free to e mail or call us with any questions.

In 2004, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) put in place new rules for insurance coverage of living trust accounts in FDIC-insured institutions. A living trust, sometimes called a family trust, is a formal revocable trust. Its owner specifies who will receive the trust assets when the owner dies. During his or her lifetime, the owner, also known as a grantor or settlor, maintains control of the trust assets and has the power to make changes in the trust.

The owner of a living trust account is insured up to $100,000 per beneficiary if each of the following three requirements is met:

(1) The beneficiary must be the owner's spouse, child, grandchild, parent, or sibling. Not every relative qualifies. For example, cousins, nieces, and nephews do not qualify, but stepparents, stepchildren, and adopted children do.

(2) The beneficiary must become entitled to his or her interest in the trust when the owner dies. FDIC insurance coverage would be based on the beneficiaries who satisfy this requirement as of the time when a bank fails.

(3) The title of the account at the bank must indicate, with terms such as "living trust" or "family trust," that the account is held by a trust.

While insurance coverage is based on the actual interests of each beneficiary, the FDIC will assume that the beneficiaries have equal interests in the trust account unless the trust states otherwise. By way of a simple example, if a father has a living trust leaving all of the trust assets equally to his three children, the account would be insured up to $300,000. The total coverage consists of $100,000 for each of the three qualifying beneficiaries, who would become owners of the trust when their father dies.