Modern Estate Planning Blog

"My 80-year-old mom, who is in relatively good health, just filled out an Advance Healthcare Directive at her doctor’s office and named me as her agent. Now what do I do?"

As a trust lawyer in Gold River, I know all parents want to see their children succeed. For most families, this means going to college, getting a good job and creating a happy, healthy family of their own.

As a will lawyer in Gold River, I have unfortunately seen many circumstances where a person goes through the time and expense of having an estate plan done, only to fail to update their beneficiaries on financial or retirement accounts before they pass away.

As a Sacramento trust attorney, I often meet with people who are concerned about their parent’s end of life affairs.

As an estate planning and elder care lawyer in Sacramento, I’m often asked what is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid and how can you best prepare for long-term care.

If you’re like most parents, you probably like to keep your teens on a “need to know basis” — especially when it comes to your finances and the details of your estate.

If you have lost a loved one and are now attempting to close out their estate, we are sorry for your loss and we understand how frustrating the process can be.

You may want to consider naming your favorite charity or organization in your will so you can leave them a portion of your estate once you pass away.

When a loved one passes away, the grief doesn’t go away after the burial. This is especially true for surviving spouses who have most likely spent the majority of their life living with, and caring for the deceased.

If you are like most older people, you have lived a long and fulfilling life, and have probably collected items during that journey that have become very sentimental to you.

"We have been working on funding our trust and changing beneficiaries of our IRAs. Our new IRA custodian says that we should name our spouses as beneficiaries first and the Trust second. Otherwise, the custodian says that we’ll suffer a big tax hit upon death. This is contrary to the instructions you gave us."

It involves trying to figure out if your loved one’s employers offered any type of benefit to the surviving spouse or children upon death.

If you are in need of some free legal advice, I want to invite you to attend one of the many public workshops I will be speaking at over the next month.

As a will lawyer in Sacramento, I often hear from clients that finding out what benefits are available under insurance policies and retirement accounts was one of the most difficult tasks in closing out their loved one’s estate.

As an elder attorney in Sacramento, it is important to be aware of the nursing home options available to clients, as well as any changes in laws that apply to this type of care.

Before your son or daughter packs up for summer vacation or even their first semester of college, I want you to think about what it means having a child who is an “adult” in the eyes of the law.

Contrary to popular belief, a person’s debt is not automatically canceled out upon their passing. As you will soon find out, all outstanding bills will eventually need to be paid out of the decedent’s estate.

"I just created a revocable trust and was trying to change the ownership on my investment account and the company said they don’t let trusts own the accounts. What now?"

In continuing our series on the important steps to take after the death of a loved one, one of first things you must take care of is making sure your loved one’s home is safe from the threat of theft or vandalism.

A common misconception is that Social Security will automatically be notified once a person passes away. There is also a misconception that any benefits falsely issued after death can be collected by family members until the funds are officially shut off.