The number of adult children caring for their elderly parents is growing at a very fast pace. If you are a baby boomer and not already caring for an elderly parent, chances are high that you might be facing this situation soon. It isn’t always easy to know when, or how, to step in to […]

Unless you were living under a rock, you most likely heard about the tax reform bill that was passed by Congress and signed by the President over the holidays. One big change that came out of it was the doubling of the exemption amount for federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Beginning in 2018, […]

Like many Americans, your home is probably your largest asset. However, if you have children who have grown and moved away, you’re left with an empty nest, quiet and big. You may be torn between keeping the house and passing it to your children someday or selling it. On the one hand, it may be […]

The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which was created by Congress in 2014, allows people with disabilities and their families to save up to $100,000 in accounts for the benefit of a disabled person. The funds can be saved without jeopardizing the individual’s eligibility for Medi-Cal, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and other government […]

As a Silicon Valley will and trust lawyer, I have the important job of helping 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 affect an estate plan significantly. Someone who already […]

Millions of individuals are affected by dementia in their lifetime. Unfortunately, it is usually after a medical crisis like dementia hits that many families begin to think about estate planning. What people don’t realize, however, is that it may be “too late” under the law to make a plan after dementia strikes. This is usually […]

Blended families are becoming more and more common in modern society, yet estate laws remain largely unchanged and still geared toward a “traditional” family structure. This poses an issue when it comes to leaving an inheritance for step-children in an estate plan. Step-children are often not legally adopted by the new spouse, which means they […]

This tragic hurricane season and other disasters have taken a toll on many parts of the United States and the Caribbean. They have also taken a toll on the charitable organizations that step in when a crisis hits. As a will and trust lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area, it is gratifying to meet […]

Often, when we think of someone having property overseas, we think of George Clooney and his Italian villa or Richard Branson and his private island. However, plenty of everyday Americans own property or assets in other countries, and it may become part of their estates when they pass on. There are special considerations to keep […]

It’s entirely possible for someone to have an estate and no one to inherit it when they die. It could be due to not having children of one’s own and no other family. It could also be due to outliving all of one’s relatives, or not having relatives who live in the United States. Whatever […]