Digital assets include virtual currencies, loyalty program benefits, website and podcast content, and content stored on sites like Amazon and iTunes. An individual’s digital assets may be as valuable as what’s in their bank and investment accounts. Increasingly, “What happens to digital assets upon the owner’s death or if the owner becomes incapacitated?” are important […]
Follow Trust Terms The trustee has a duty to follow the Trust terms. In other words, do as they’re told. May sound obvious, but it’s remarkable how often trustees seem to get that one wrong. It is a basic trustee duty that can be found at California Probate Code section 16000. Too often individual trustees will […]
Administering a trust in California consists of multiple steps that can take months, or even years (depending on the nature and complexity of the trust assets). Here is what you can expect with obtaining financial information to determine the value of your share of trust assets, and how long it may take to finally receive […]
If you are a beneficiary of a Trust in California, you have legal rights. Below is a list of some of a California Trust beneficiary’s basic rights. Obtain Copies of Trust Documents Trust beneficiaries are entitled to receive copies of the Trust documents. Beneficiaries should receive copies of the Trust when either: The Trust (or […]
There’s a lot beneficiaries can do to set things right, but it’s not as easy as you may think. Often beneficiaries will say “isn’t the Trustee breaking the law?” The answer is yes, but who is going to stand up and hold the Trustee responsible for breaking his or her duties as a Trustee? The […]
If you look at a Trust document created by a husband and wife, you will often see there are various sub-Trusts created after the first spouse dies. The purpose of these sub-Trusts is to divide up the assets, sometimes for tax purposes and sometimes for protection purposes. For example, when families have children from different […]
In our latest post on Trust uses and abuses, we are back discussing The Have’s. These are people named in a Trust document receive a gift, but who can’t seem to get it. Many Have’s know they are entitled to a portion of the Trust because they are named in the document. They are either […]
The Have’s are the people named in a Trust document to receive a gift of some type, but they are not receiving it because they are facing a bad Trustee who is not treating the beneficiaries equally, not making required distributions, not giving you information, and using the trust money to hire lawyers to defend […]
Trusts Wouldn’t it be nice to combine the best features of joint tenancy with a Will? That’s where Trusts come into play. Trusts are now one of the most widely used devices to transfer assets from parent to child. Over the course of this series you are going to learn how Trusts are used, and […]
Did you know that Trusts didn’t used to be so widely used? In fact, the widespread use of Trusts for planning the transfer of assets from parents to children is a fairly new development. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone passed their asset on to the next generation using the centuries-old method of Last […]
