When a friend or family member passes away, someone will be named as the executor of that person’s estate.  Because of the length and complexity of the process that follows, it’s usually in everyone’s best interest to hire a skilled Santa Clara probate lawyer.  There are different kinds of probate lawyers, but most executors find […]

Putting together a solid estate plan with your Santa Clara will and trust lawyer is an important step in protecting the future for you and your family.  In order to make sure that things go the way you’ve planned, it’s a good idea to occasionally double check who you have listed on your IRA beneficiary […]

There’s a fairly constant drive that Santa Clara estate planning lawyers see in our society to continually acquire assets.  After all, that’s one of the ways we accumulate wealth, which we then ask the estate planning lawyer to help us pass on.  Simply gathering more and more assets isn’t always the best approach to building […]

If you own your own small business, it’s likely that business is one of the two most valuable assets you own (the other being your real estate).  Integrating your business plan with your estate plan is therefore of critical importance. Business succession planning can be quite complex and can vary widely depending on the nature […]

While it doesn’t happen in real life as often as it does in the movies and on soap operas, Silicon Valley wills and trusts lawyers do sometimes have to deal with a contested will.  Wills and trusts are created in order to ensure that a deceased’s wishes are followed, as well as for the financial […]

When getting a divorce, it seems like there’s no end to the paperwork.  One task that is far too often overlooked by those in Santa Clara is making an appointment with their estate planning lawyer.  Whether you already put together an estate plan with your ex-spouse or you’ve never gotten that far, now is the […]

When working with families dealing with probate on a loved one’s estate, Santa Clara probate lawyers often find themselves answering a variety of questions about how to avoid probate in the future. There are a whole lot of tools at the disposal of a Santa Clara probate attorney when it comes to protecting an estate, […]

In order to ensure proper use of funds, Santa Clara special needs planning lawyers help their clients choose a trustee.  This person is put in charge of the special needs trust, and instead of providing money directly to the beneficiary (the child with special needs), the trustee will usually pay directly from the trust to […]

One of the important things to discuss with your San Francisco Bay Area estate planning lawyer is the topic of your IRA.  Because estate planning lawyers work so extensively with these plans, they can usually offer insight into how best to utilize them.  For many people, the IRA will be left to their beneficiaries, and […]

When a celebrity passes away, Bay Area will and trust lawyers often watch for news of their affairs, hoping that the celebrity in question had a great estate plan in place.  With the recent loss of comedian Joan Rivers, it was reassuring to see that she had planned well for her loved ones, including her […]