Imagine this: You’ve built a business empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars, transformed a city’s downtown area, and touched countless lives with your vision and generosity. Then, unexpectedly, you pass away—and nearly five years later, a will you may have created suddenly appears. Meanwhile, your family has been battling creditors, former associates, and mounting...Read More

Most estate planning attorneys would agree that one of the most common concerns among clients is the smooth transfer of assets to loved ones upon their death. Below are some essential facts for Orange County families and how they can avoid probate through careful planning and sound advice. Joint Ownership vs. Beneficiary Designations: What Orange...Read More

BLENDED FAMILIES + DEATH = A POTENTIAL NIGHTMARE Anyone who’s seen an episode of “Modern Family” knows that families these days come in many different shapes and sizes. Long gone are the days when a “family” was defined as a mother, father and two children (or was it 2.5 children? Where does the .5 come...Read More

WHAT IS PROBATE Unless you’ve created a proper estate plan, when you die many of your assets must first pass through the court process known as probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate can be time-consuming, costly, and open to the public, and because of this, avoiding...Read More

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” If you don’t have a trust and your estate is larger than $150,000, then your heirs can count on the certainty of Probate too. Probate is a court supervised process necessary to transfer assets to the decedent’s beneficiaries when a person dies without a...Read More