Experienced Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorneys

When it comes to successful estate planning, Los Angeles estate planning lawyers can provide you with significant and financial advantageous arrangements to benefit you both now and down the road. Hiring estate planning attorneys in Los Angeles whose practice focuses on wills, trusts and probate matters can mean the difference between having your estate administered according to your wishes and having one of your intended beneficiaries left out of your estate plan altogether. A qualified Los Angeles attorney estate planning can help. This page provides information about the role estate planning lawyers Los Angeles can have in making sure that your wishes are carried out and provides answers to some frequently asked estate planning questions.
WHO NEEDS ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEYS LOS ANGELES?: You do-whether your estate is large or small. Either way, you should designate someone to manage your assets and make health care and personal care decisions for you if you ever become unable to do so for yourself, estate planning attorneys Los Angeles such as McFarlin & Geurts LLP can help answer your estate planning questions. If your estate is small, you and your Los Angeles attorney for estate planning may simply focus on who will receive your assets after your death, and who should manage your estate, pay your last debts and handle the distribution of your assets and answer your heirs estate planning questions.
If your estate is large, your estate planning attorneys Los Angeles will also discuss various ways of preserving your assets for your beneficiaries and of reducing or postponing the amount of estate tax which otherwise might be payable after your death. These are estates planning questions estate planning lawyers Los Angeles can assist you with. If you fail to plan ahead, a judge will simply appoint someone to handle your assets and personal care without estate planning attorneys Los Angeles. And your assets will be distributed to your heirs according to a set of rules known as intestate succession rather than a plan set up by your Los Angeles attorney estate planning.
Contrary to popular myth (one of the frequently asked estate planning questions), everything does not automatically go to the state if you die without a will. Your relatives, no matter how remote, and, in some cases, the relatives of your spouse will have priority in inheritance ahead of the state. Estate planning lawyers Los Angeles can answer such estate planning questions. Still, they may not be your choice of heirs; a Los Angeles estate plan gives you much greater control over who will inherit your assets after your death. Such a plan is typically prepared by estate planning attorneys Los Angeles.
ESTATE PLANNING QUESTIONS: WHAT IS INCLUDED IN MY ESTATE?: All of your assets. This could include assets held in your name alone or jointly with other family members or business associates, assets such as bank accounts, real estate, stocks and bonds, and furniture, cars and jewelry. Your assets may also include life insurance proceeds, retirement accounts and payments that are due to you (such as a tax refund, outstanding loan or inheritance). Estate planning questions can be complex and to be properly answered it is important to speak with estate planning attorneys Los Angeles. The value of your Los Angeles estate is equal to the "fair market value" of all of your various types of property-after you have deducted your debts (your car loan, for example, and any mortgage on your home.) The value of your estate is important in determining whether your estate will be subject to estate taxes after your death and whether your beneficiaries could later be subject to capital gains taxes. This matter is an important one to discuss with estate planning attorneys Los Angeles before preparing any sort of estate plan. Ensuring that there will be sufficient resources to pay such taxes is another important Los Angeles attorney estate planning issue to discuss.
If you already have an estate plan prepared by estate planning lawyers Los Angeles, but haven't looked at it in several years, then chances are things have changed with your family that will have a direct impact on your Los Angeles estate plan. Have you gotten married or divorced, had or adopted children, become a grandparent, lost a loved one due to injury or illness, moved to a new state, or had a falling out with a child? These are important estate planning questions to address with your estate planning lawyers Los Angeles. All of these things will directly affect your estate plan, from who gets what to who will be in charge to how your plan will really work if you become incapacitated or die a Los Angeles attorney estate planning can explain these issues. You may need to add a grandchild as a beneficiary, delete your deceased uncle as your Personal Representative, or change your trust documents to comply with the laws of your new state of residence. If your estate plan has been sitting in a drawer for a while, make 2009 the year that you take it out, dust it off, and read it carefully to determine if it still meets your goals and needs. Of course if you have any estate planning questions regarding the document there are estate planning attorneys Los Angeles ready to help.
ESTATE PLANNING QUESTIONS: What if you don't have an estate plan? Then check your family situation to determine if you need to make a plan. Do you have minor children or a blended family, have you recently gotten married or divorced, are you single without children, or have you recently lost a loved one due to injury or illness? If so, then you fit squarely into one or more of what I call one Los Angeles attorney estate planning calls a "family red flags" of estate planning. If this is the case, then don't delay, call estate planning lawyers Los Angeles today. Make 2009 the year you commit yourself to making an estate plan that will protect you and your family if you become mentally incapacitated or worse. These are estate planning questions that estate planning lawyers Los Angeles can answer for you.
ESTATE PLANNING QUESTIONS: Background on estate planning. An estate is the total property, real and personal, owned by an individual prior to distribution through a trust or will, typically established by estate planning attorneys Los Angeles. Real property is real estate and personal property includes everything else, for example cars, household items, and bank accounts. Estate planning distributes the real and personal property to an individual's heirs through the estate planning attorneys Los Angeles previously prepared Los Angeles estate plan.
Estate planning is the process by which an individual or family arranges the transfer of assets in anticipation of death, usually through the use of estate planning lawyers Los Angeles. A Los Angeles estate plan aims to preserve the maximum amount of wealth possible for the intended beneficiaries and flexibility for the individual prior to death. A major concern for an estate planning attorneys Los Angeles is Federal and state tax law.
Wills and trusts are common ways in which individuals dispose of their wealth, these are also typically prepared by Los Angeles attorney estate planning. Trusts, unlike wills, have the benefit of avoiding probate, a lengthy and costly legal process that oversees the transfer of assets. Most estate planning lawyers Los Angeles would recommend avoiding probate to the extent possible. Other common estate planning questions regard inter vivos gifts. Sometimes, it will be useful to make inter vivos gifts (gifts made while the donor is alive) in order to minimize taxes, estate planning attorneys Los Angeles can assist with such estate planning questions. The Federal Gift Tax exempts certain levels of lifetime gifts.
LOS ANGELES ATTORNEY ESTATE PLANNING: more estate planning questions and history. During the early 1500's in England (before the advent of estate planning attorneys Los Angeles) landowners found it advantageous to convey the legal title of their land to third parties while retaining the benefits of ownership. Because they were not the real "owners" of the land, and wealth was primarily measured by the amount of land owned, they were immune from creditors and may have absolved themselves of some feudal obligations. While feudal concerns no longer need be addressed by your estate planning lawyers Los Angeles, and wealth is held in many forms other than land (i.e., stocks, bonds, bank accounts), the idea of placing property in third party hands for the benefit of another is still something to discuss with your Los Angeles attorney estate planning. This is the idea of a trust which has survived and prospered by.
Generally, a trust is a right in property (real or personal) which is held in a fiduciary relationship by one party for the benefit of another. It is important to have a trust set up properly by estate planning attorneys Los Angeles, in order for it to have the intended benefits. The trustee is the one who holds title to the trust property, and the beneficiary is the person who receives the benefits of the trust. To understand the laws governing trusts and other estate planning questions a good starting point is your local Los Angeles attorney estate planning.
Many trusts are created as an alternative to or in conjunction with a will and other elements of estate planning. State law establishes the framework for determining the validity and limits for both.
Los Angeles attorney estate planning: The Uniform Probate Code, as well as case law developed by estate planning attorneys Los Angeles, has shaped state law in this field. It includes provisions dealing with specific affairs and estates of the deceased and laws addressing specified nontestamentary transfers, like trusts and their administration. The theory behind the Code is that wills and trusts are in close relationship and thus in need of unification. Since their creation, over thirty percent of states have adopted a form of the California Uniform Probate Code. Interpretation of the code, however, typically falls to estate planning lawyers Los Angeles as it can be difficult for most civilians to understand.
Since many individuals neither set up trusts through Los Angeles attorney estate planning nor execute wills, state intestate succession laws play a role in the law of estates and trusts. They determine where an individual's assets go upon death in the absence of a will. Most estate planning attorneys Los Angeles will tell you, intestate succession is typically not ideal.
To discuss your specific estate planning questions and your personal financial situation confidentially, please call the estate planning attorneys Los Angeles at McFarlin & Geurts LLP today, our estate planning lawyers Los Angeles are ready to help.