A good Santa Clara estate planning attorney is going to help you take a lot of things into consideration when putting together your plan.  Various factors influence your estate planning after all: finances, children, age… but what about your gender?  Is estate planning for women different than it is for men? Actually, there are some […]

Part I of a two-part piece looking at the most important estate planning documents for young professionals. Bay Area estate planning for young professionals?  Perhaps nothing about the word “young” makes you think of the need for estate planning.  The truth is, however, that those folks who have recently graduated from school and into professional […]

There are a lot of advantages to organizing your business as a Corporation or LLC: limiting your personal liability, having a clear business structure when adding owners, and allowing your business to continue after you are gone, just to name a few.  But it is true that (like most things in business) these benefits come […]

Many people visiting their will and estate lawyers in Silicon Valley are unprepared for the news that their income might change drastically with the death of a spouse.  For example, the spouses of veterans are often surprised to find that VA benefits can end when the veteran passes away.  Unfortunately, this is something that sneaks […]

My article last month about California’s Proposition 13 prompted a lot of questions, so I thought it might be helpful to go over some more details about how some of the most common exemptions work. As a reminder, the basic rule is that a property is reassessed to market value when it is transferred.  That is true […]

March 5th, 2015 Posted to Estate Planning | Comments (2)

Trusts lawyers in Santa Clara have the important job of helping their clients create a legacy that is compliant with a number of different laws.  For the most part, these laws will vary from state to state.  Some differences are minor, while others can impact the trust significantly.  Someone who already has established a trust […]

While married couples are most obviously in need of the services of an estate planning lawyer in Santa Clara, unmarried couples may actually need it more.  It’s a pretty well known fact that when a married spouse passes away, the other will likely inherit a considerable portion of the estate, simply by virtue of the […]

How the New Requirements Work. Starting July 1, 2015, any employee who works at least 30 hours in a year and satisfies a 90-day employment period qualifies for paid sick leave. Sick time starts accruing on the first day of employment (or July 1, 2015 for current employees), but can’t be used until the 90-day […]

Thanks to a new law passed in Congress last month, disabled individuals will no longer have to choose between saving a small nest egg for future care expenses or preserving long-term eligibility for low-income benefits such as Medi-Cal or Supplemental Social Security Insurance (SSI). Under the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, individuals with […]

A growing number of people in California are realizing that they can have more of a say in how their estates are used after they have departed, and the use of incentive trusts has increased as a result.  Parents, especially, are directing their trusts lawyers to add guidelines and stipulations that need to be met […]