Attention business owners and those with entities as part of their estate plan: We’re at the halfway point of the year, which means you only have a few months left to meet the deadline to file with FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), or face hefty fines. This isn’t just about traditional businesses: if […]

As those of you who have been to my seminars know, when a person has received Medi-Cal benefits, that person’s estate may be subject to Medi-Cal Recovery. That means the state can recover for the costs of certain services it paid for during the person’s lifetime. As of January 1, 2017, the rules regarding what services are recoverable […]

A lot of people complain about high taxes. Looking at what the government takes from your weekly paycheck can be frustrating. But it could be worse. Even people who don’t complain about taxes (there are a few) and understand it takes money to run the government would complain if they understood that it is possible […]

Most people are familiar with the two types of IRAs, Traditional and Roth. Briefly: traditional IRAs are both tax-deductible (you don’t pay income tax on the money that’s contributed, up to an annual limit) and tax deferred (you don’t pay taxes on the earnings inside the IRA), but you pay income tax on all the […]

It’s not often that a new kind of deed comes along, but one is coming to California next year.  It’s called a Revocable Transfer on Death Deed, it was passed in the California legislature this year, and it will become effective January 1, 2016. The basic idea is that, like the Pay On Death (POD) […]

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’re looking to improve your home, at some point you will be working with a contractor.  Many people are understandably nervous about entering into a construction contract.  It’s an often expensive, and almost always disruptive, project to get involved in, and people share horror stories of the terrible contractors who overcharged them or left […]

In today’s litigious society, just about everyone needs some level of asset protection planning.  Unfortunately, more and more people are using the legal system to deprive others of their life’s work. Whether you’re involved in a car accident, a mistake on the job, a business relationship gone sour, or you simply face unexpected financial difficulties […]

As medical malpractice claims continue to rise in the US, more physicians than ever are turning to asset protection strategies to help them avoid financial catastrophe in the face of a malpractice lawsuit. While nearly every physician is at risk for a lawsuit, there are some doctors who experience legal claims more than most.  Three […]

As an asset protection lawyer in Menlo Park, I find that it often makes sense to advise clients to create multiple LLCs when they own more than one investment property. While it might seem more convenient to simply set up one LLC for all of your properties, you can maximize your asset protection by putting […]