by jasonsbuckingham | Jun 14, 2022 | Estate Planning, FYI
Estate plans are intended to take a lot of the guess work out of what should happen if something unexpected comes up in the future. The information below describes some possible what-if scenarios, and how the estate plan documents often address those scenarios. What...
by jasonsbuckingham | May 18, 2022 | Estate Planning, FYI
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...
by jasonsbuckingham | May 13, 2022 | FYI
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...
by jasonsbuckingham | Apr 25, 2022 | Estate Planning, FYI
To borrow a phrase from Rod Serling, imagine if you will: You did the responsible thing by executing an estate plan to get your affairs in order. Your documents include incapacity documents — an Advance Health Care Directive for medical decisions, and a Durable Power...
by jasonsbuckingham | Apr 20, 2022 | Estate Planning, FYI
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...
by jasonsbuckingham | Apr 12, 2022 | Estate Planning, FYI
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...