When your parents create a revocable Trust, they don’t have to tell you about it. And if they change the Trust terms to either give you more or less, they don’t have to tell you that either. Often people will find out about a change to their parent’s Trust after the parent passes and ask, […]
Why can’t the judge just throw the other side’s case out of court? Can’t the judge see the other side is lying or bringing a bogus claim? That’s not possible in our court system because of a concept known as Due Process of Law. The American system of justice operates using a concept know as […]
Undue influence is when a bad person exercises their power over and elderly person and gets the elderly person to give them extra assets, or to cut the other beneficiaries out. The problem that undue influence is generally difficult to prove directly. Generally, a person will not admit they coerced someone into changing a Trust […]
Is it legal to name a caregiver as a beneficiary of a Trust or Will? The answer is… maybe. Here are the things you need to know about naming a caregiver as a beneficiary of a Trust or Will in California: When a Caregiver is Named as a Beneficiary of a Trust or Will, A […]
I’m going to tell you why you are wrong today if you think that your parents would never disinherit you. If you receive a trust or will after a parent dies, and you’ve been disinherited, it could be that there are grounds to try and overturn that trust or will if your parent lacked capacity […]
There’s a difference between the lawyer who represents the Trust that you’re a Beneficiary of and the lawyer that represents Beneficiaries. A very big difference. And the reason there is sometimes confusion is because somebody becomes the Beneficiary of their parents’ Trust and they believe they can call the attorney who’s handling the Trust Administration […]
Should a Trustee have one or two attorneys that represents them in a litigated trust matter? Let me give an example. You have a Trustee after Mom and Dad have passed away and the Trustee is administering the Trust as the Trust terms state. But, maybe the Trustee’s brother and sister don’t agree with the things that […]
There’s a significant difference between Estate Litigation Attorneys and Estate Planning Attorneys. Obviously, by definition, one type of attorney handles estate planning and the other type litigates over the enforcement of those plans. For example, if your parents want to create a Trust, Will, and Durable Powers of Attorney, they’re going to visit with an […]
We’ve addressed the issue of Trust and Will no-contest clauses several times in our blog posts and videos in the past, but we think it’s an important issue to keep people aware of what the legislation is in California pertaining to no-contest clauses. A no-contest clause is generally included in a Trust, Will, or both, […]
What is the difference between lack of capacity and undue influence? We talk a lot about these concepts on our videos, our blog, all of our websites, because it really is the most important part of a Trust or Will contest. We’re almost always bringing a claim to try to overturn a Trust or Will […]
