Year: 2018

live

Hello Subscribers! Keith A. Davidson here and, I would like to give you a personal big THANK YOU for subscribing to our blog. Great to have you on board! I’m thrilled to announce that we will be holding LIVE SESSIONS with Q & A every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. During the live sessions, […]

gotta get em

Every Trust and Will contest requires sufficient evidence to present in court. And if you are the contesting party, then it is your burden to meet the burden of proof required by California law. That means you have the burden to go out and find evidence to support your claims. There are three sources of documents […]

live

Every month we are contacted by several hundreds of people asking questions about Trust and Will issues. Abused Trust beneficiaries, bad Trustees, people being disinherited by wrongdoers at the last minute…the problems seem to emanate from every segment of society. It doesn’t help that Trust and Will law is particularly confusing. We spend a lot […]

copy please

You ask for it. Well let’s assume that you have already asked for a copy and someone says no. Then it all depends on whether your mom or dad is still alive, and whether you are a beneficiary of the Trust. For starters, if your parents create a revocable, living Trust during their lifetimes and they are […]

stand fight win

Some firms say their goal is to be (or become) the “premier firm” in whatever field they happen to practice. I think this is a terrible goal, and I’ve never really understood it. How do you know if you’re the “premier” firm, what does “premier” even mean? That’s not our goal. The problem with wanting to be […]

who's pulling your strings?

It can be hard to distinguish between influence and undue influence. People influence each other every day, but that does not make it undue.  Undue influence is far more sinister. Legally speaking, undue influence means the complete replacement of the victim’s intent with the intent of the wrongdoer. Instead of a document reflecting what I want, it […]

Step mommy dearest

What rights does a step-mother have to the property of your father? That can be a challenging question to answer because it all depends on how your father planned his estate (or how he failed to plan). While you may think that your father’s assets should go to you after his death, that may not […]

up to the challenge?

You can take any legal action you like in California court on your own, if you choose to do so; provided that, you’re not acting as an Executor, Trustee, or agent (all of which must be represented by lawyers in court). The problem with representing yourself in court is the complexities of California Will contest cases. The […]

stealing my gift

Don’t you believe it. This may be one of the oldest arguments in the book. Siblings often argue that whatever mom and dad gave you during life belongs to the estate. Or a closely related argument: we are going to count your lifetime gifts against your share of the estate. It really is all the same thing, siblings hate […]

where's the will

Easy, just go to the court in the California County in which your loved one lived at the time of their death and ask for a copy because every Will is required by law to be lodge with the court after death. Just kidding, people rarely lodge a Will with the court even though the law […]