After you complete the process of creating an estate plan with your Santa Clara estate lawyer, you’ll want to give serious thought about the place where you will store your original documents. Unfortunately, if your original documents can’t be found after you pass away, it could be presumed that you died without leaving a will […]

Silicon Valley special needs planning lawyers often help parents set up a Supplemental or Special Needs Trust in California to protect their child’s resources and inheritance for the future. When crafting this important document, the attorney will also help their clients choose a trustee who will be charged with overseeing and managing the funds in […]

Creating and building a successful business is an incredibly difficult undertaking—and maintaining that success is usually even more challenging. Protecting that success, however, is a different story entirely. You must consider what will happen if you die or become incapacitated, if your business will be subjected to estate taxes once you pass away, or even […]

When a home is passed on to adult children after the death of a parent, there are three typical paths that beneficiaries can choose: move into the house, sell the house, or rent it out. If you and/or your siblings recently inherited a house and are uncertain about the best way to deal with the […]

Health care directives, which include the Living Will, Health Care Agent Designation, and HIPAA Medical Release, are necessary components of any estate plan. Health care issues occur more and more as we age, so it’s important to have the proper legal documentation in place to ensure we get the care we need. However, mental health […]

By Silicon Valley Estate Planning Attorney Gary Brainin Between 2007 and 2016, the number of unmarried couples over the age of 50 who were living together increased by 75% according to the Census Bureau. There are several factors contributing to the rise in romantic roommates. A change in social attitudes towards cohabitation has lifted much […]

A revocable living trust is the perfect document to protect your privacy, avoid probate, and leave someone you trust in charge of managing your affairs if you become incapacitated or pass away. It’s an essential element for estate plans and gives the trust maker, also known as the Grantor, the peace of mind that their […]

Attorneys in Santa Clara often see the results of what happens when someone does not realize the importance of planning for the possibility of an unexpected disability. Sure, clients come to their lawyers ready to plan for what to do with their retirements, or how they would like to see their estates managed after they […]

As a Silicon Valley trust lawyer, I know that it’s an unfortunate reality that people are afforded very little privacy here in California when they pass away. Under the laws of our state, and in every other state across the country, sensitive details about one’s estate and how much their loved ones stand to inherit […]

Few things in this world are as devastating as losing a partner. If you have suffered the loss of your life partner, our hearts go out to you. As Bay Area estate planning lawyers, we understand how the grief can be debilitating, and the last thing you want to think about is your “to do” […]