Family agreements can often be some of the most confusing areas that we deal with as trust and will litigators. The reason is that when families agree to do things for one another, they tend not to document the agreement in writing. They don’t think of the family agreement as a contract in the sense […]
Beneficiary deeds are a fairly new creation, under California law. A beneficiary transfer deed allows you to file something with the County Recorder’s Office that says, in effect, “After my death, I want my property to pass to my stated beneficiary.” It’s kind of like a beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy or a […]
There are times when a trustee is approached by one of the trust beneficiaries and the trust beneficiary says, “Hey, I really like the cabin in Big Bear. I’d like to buy the cabin in Big Bear. Can you sell it to me?” And the trustee’s response should be, “It depends on how other trust beneficiaries […]
Let’s talk a little bit about the difference between general gifts and specific gifts. Then we’ll also talk about residue gifts or remainders Basically speaking, a specific gift is when you are given the gift of a specific property. Specific Gift The most common specific gift is real property such as a house or piece […]
Stewart Albertson and Keith Davidson of Albertson & Davidson, a trust, estate and probate litigation law firm, address common inheritance questions in “Ask 2 Lawyers,” an online videos series. In the informative, short videos, the attorneys who help clients fight for their inheritance, address questions about California law regarding wills, trusts and inheritance. The videos […]
Once in a while, we do see trustees giving away money from a trust to people who aren’t actually named beneficiaries of the trust. To this day, I have no idea why they do it. Misappropriation of Trust Funds by Trustee The situations in which we normally see this is when the trustee is a […]
2019 Scholarship Winners! Albertson & Davidson Announces 2019 Scholarship Winners for the Infographic Scholarship Contest The attorneys at Albertson & Davidson, LLP are pleased to announce the winners of their 2019 scholarship contest that involved the creation of infographics about warning signs of dementia or nursing home abuse. How the Probate Lawyers Decide Scholarship Winners […]
We encounter situations in which people amend trusts when they don’t have the ability to do so. It’s very important when you first get a trust to look at the amendment and revocation provisions of that trust. In the amendment provision, you’ll see how the settlors envisioned any amendments to the trust. In some cases, […]
Ok, so you’re a beneficiary and you just did a title search on the asset that’s in the trust and you find that it’s in the name of the trustee, who is your older brother perhaps. And you say, “Wait a minute. Why is the title to the trust asset in my older brother’s name? Isn’t that […]
So you find yourself as a trustee of a trust and you have to make expenditures out of that trust. And the question is, “What are appropriate expenditures?” Well, let’s first talk about what your basic and primary job is a trustee and that is, as a trustee, you’re going to collect all the assets […]
