So, you and your Santa Clara estate planning lawyer have put together a great plan for you.  Congratulations!  You are ahead of the majority of the population already.  Keep in mind, however, that even though the hard part is done, there is some maintenance that you and your attorney will want to do from time […]

May 15th, 2015 Posted to Estate Planning | Comments (9)

Will and estate lawyers in Santa Clara County are becoming intimately aware of their clients’ financial situations, and it’s just a fact of life that many people have considerable debt.  Whether it is the person setting up an estate plan or one who has inherited from it, there are often questions regarding what happens to […]

For those who love their stepchildren as their own, it may come as a surprise that this bond isn’t enough when it comes to estate planning in California.  Because of the laws of inheritance, stepchildren do not always automatically inherit when a stepparent dies. Let’s say you’re creating your estate plan, and you stipulate that […]

As our lives become increasingly digital, more and more of the assets we accumulate are based in technology or created online.   Estate attorneys in Santa Clara have the important job of educating their clients on how to handle “digital assets” in the event of a person’s death or incapacity, and then helping the client […]

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 […]

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)

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 […]

To be fair, a huge part of a Santa Clara estate planning lawyer’s job is to help parents determine how best to take care of their children once they are gone.  In the case of minor children, this might revolve around choosing legal guardians, setting up educational trusts, and making sure there is someone to […]