When someone passes away in California, their assets and debts are administered in accordance with any estate plan adopted by them during their life and, as applicable, California law. A decedent’s estate can either be administered under a Trust, or if a decedent didn’t leave a Trust, through the process known as Probate. When an [...]
The state of California is one of the most taxed in the country when it comes to income taxes. But there is some good news for those concerned about estate taxes — the state of California is one of the states that does not charge an estate tax. To learn more about California's transfer [...]
January 2022 Many people create revocable probate avoidance type trusts and then mistakenly believe that they do not need to again look their estate planning documents until a crisis arises. Unfortunately, it may then be too late to avoid expensive steps to correct the issues that may have developed in the meantime. A very common [...]
February 2021 On November 3rd, Californians voted by a slim margin to pass Proposition 19, the Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire and Natural Disasters Act (“Prop 19”). Prop 19 changes property tax benefits for all people who stand to inherit real property in California from their parents (or grandparents) [...]
March 2019 The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 raised the federal gift and estate tax exemption substantially. The Unified Gift and Estate Tax Exemption is now $11,400,000.00 per person for 2019 (for a total of $22,800,000.00 when combined for a married couple). This means that most revocable trusts accomplished before 2018 are antiquated [...]
Business activities, no matter how small, come with risk as well as tax liabilities, both of which can be reduced by operating through a legal entity --- a limited liability company or corporation. The Federal corporate tax rate for C Corporations[1] has plunged, down to 21%; a 20% qualified business income deduction applies to limited [...]
