Jason S. Buckingham

Attorney & Counselor At Law

Painless, affordable, fast estate planning

(707) 745-2200

Estate plan documents and what they do

Estate plan documents and what they do

One of the most common questions about estate plans is: What’s the difference between a trust and a will? In California, the difference is big if you’re a homeowner. Basically, having a properly prepared and funded trust means avoiding Probate, while having just a...
Inheritance math

Inheritance math

Here’s a common scenario in making trust distributions: The trust estate contains cash (most commonly from a home sale), and some items of valuable personal property like a car. We have two or more “residual” beneficiaries who will receive equal...
Uninformed beneficiaries

Uninformed beneficiaries

Beneficiaries are often uninformed when it comes to estate administration. There are two things beneficiaries should know: (1) as beneficiaries, they have rights during the administration; and (2) the administration will take time, so a little patience goes a long...
The uninformed trustee

The uninformed trustee

In a previous post, I wrote about qualities a successor trustee should have to ensure a successful trust administration. While it should go without saying, there will be problems when a successor trustee tries to administer a trust estate if they lack knowledge and...