Law Offices of Elena Reyes

In an effort to enhance the services our office offers to our clients, we have added Lisa Hunt back to out team, as both a legal assistant and paralegal. We will continue to focus our practice on both Probate and Estate Planning, and transactional Corporate and Business representation. We look forward to hearing from you.

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SPERM DONOR DILEMMA BEST AVOIDED BY ALWAYS BEING ANONYMOUS. Read an interesting article today by Attorney Meldie Moore regarding Senate Bill 115. (Orange County Lawyer, Vol. 55 No.9) The Senate Bill was introduced in January of this year and if approved it would confirm what the appeal courts have not yet decided, that a sperm donor can have standing to Petition for Paternity. A case on appeal involves actor Jason Patric who was a sperm donor, apparently when neither he or hi...s former girlfriend, Danielle, were in a relationship with each other, and there was no agreement that Jason would be recognized as the father. Of course they temporarily reconciled their relationship and the child, Gus, was accepted and presented by Jason as his son. The reconciliation was short lived, and now Jason wants parental rights with the child. From a contractual perspective, that was not the agreement. From a child perspective maybe parental rights to Jason is in Gus’s best interest. In the Patric case the family court decided that Family Code Section 7613, prevents a sperm donor from having status to sue at all. This code section states that a donor of semen to a licensed physician and surgeon or to a licensed sperm bank for use in artificial insemination is not recognized as a natural father unless the relevant parties otherwise agree in writing. Although one appeal court has confirmed that pursuant to Section 7613 a sperm donor cannot be treated as a natural father, and therefore has no standing to sue for parental rights. The question remains as to whether a sperm donor be a presumed father under Family Code Section 7611, which section permits even a non-biological person to be a presumed father when he has received the child into his home and openly holds out the child as his natural child. Of course the proposed Senate Bill 115, would circumvent a court decision and allow a sperm donor standing to sue, so that the presumption of parentage could be considered. Bottom line: It is best that the sperm donor be anonymous.

In another case Estate of Wilson, 211 Cal App 4th 1284, that has more relevance now then when decided in 2012, a court of appeal has held that the terms of a domestic partnership agreement DPA are not invalidated by a subsequent marriage of the parties thereto. In the parties DPA, they agreed that neither had the right to receive any property of the other upon the other’s death, unless otherwise written in a will or living trust. The couple married in the 2008, during the... window of time where same-sex marriages were allowed in California. Wilson died and left nothing in his will to his spouse. The spouse tried to claim that the marriage invalidated the DPA, and he was now an omitted heir a pretermitted spouse, claiming a spouses rights in Wilson’s property. BOTTOM LINE: Marriage licenses and certificates do not terminate agreements affecting the division of property. Like premarital agreements, they remain in effect during the marriage. See more

A recent California case, Estate of Giraldin, 55 Cal 4th 1058, confirmed what was more or less otherwise recognized, that a Trustee of a Trust that was not created by the Trustee, owes a fiduciary duty to the remainder beneficiaries. I.e., when a child takes over the trustee duties of his parent's trust, while the parent is still alive and the trust is revocable, the child, now trustee, cannot make investments that are harmful to the future beneficiaries, and such child trustee must produce an accounting for the period in which he serves as trustee. These rights can be asserted once the parent is deceased.

Today the Supreme Court ruled on twin landmark cases involving the constitutionality of same-sex marriages. This was applauded by President Obama who reinforced, The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts: When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free." First: the Supreme Court invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal benefi...ts to gay couples otherwise legally able to marry in their states, including Social Security benefits, tax law benefits, immigration rights, and family leave. Second: In the next case, the court stated that it could not rule on a challenge to a California Court of Appeal decision finding unconstitutional Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage in California passed by voters here in 2008. The court found that the supporters of Proposition 8 ban lacked the legal standing to appeal the lower court’s decision against it. The court did not rule on the constitutionality of gay marriage, but the effect of the decision will be to allow same-sex marriages to resume in California as soon as the court of Appeal lifts the stay on its prior decision. Now the question is whether the failure of these laws can be applied retroactively to affect IRS taxes, Social Security benefits, etc.... See more

CALIFORNIA CORPORATIONS CAN HAVE A HEART. Based on a perceived need for a type of entity that is both entrepreneurial and socially conscious at the same time, legislation, effective last year, now provides for two new types of "hybrid" corporations in California: The "flexible purpose corporation" and the"benefit corporation." The requirements for a non-profit corporation are often too restrictive for an entrepreneur trying to do some social good and the traditional corpor...ate and limited liability company form are often limited by the requirements to operate primarily for the benefit of its shareholders or members. These two new types of "hybrid" corporations are for-profit corporate entities whose declared purpose is to pursue social and/or environmental objectives in addition to (as opposed to primarily for) generating profits for shareholders. A benefit corporation is formed for the purpose of having a material positive impact on society and the environment. The purpose is based on a third party standard, i.e. specific requirements for defining, reporting, and assessing overall corporate social and environmental performance. Directors and officers of a benefit corporation must consider the affect of corporate actions on a broad spectrum of persons and organizations: (1) The shareholders ............ (2) The employees and workforce .....subsidiaries and suppliers. (3) The interests of customers ................. (4) Community and societal considerations...... (5) The local and global environment. (6) The short-term and long-term interests of the benefit corporation....... (7) The ability of the benefit corporation to accomplish its general, and any specific, public benefit purpose. [Corp. Code 14620(b)]. A flexible purpose corporation is formed for specific purposes consisting of (1) one or more charitable or public purpose activities that a nonprofit public benefit corporation is authorized to carry out; or (2) promoting positive short-term or long-term effects of, or minimizing adverse short-term or long-term effects of, the flexible purpose corporation's activities on its employees, suppliers, customers, and creditors, the community and society, or the environment. Rather than meeting a specific set of requirements to establish its required purpose, the statutes governing flexible purpose corporations require a higher degree of transparency in the information the entity must disclose to shareholders and the wider public. The idea that a corporation can be focused on a social good in addition to earning profits, sounds almost ideal. Time will determine whether apparently opposing objectives can be accomplished within a single entity.

I think the IRS was doing the job the taxpayers ask of it. If you want to have a political organization then apply as such. The applications by these groups were fraudulent from the beginning.

WILLS, TRUSTS AND PROBATE, 101. WHY SHOULD I HAVE A WILL? The state will not receive your property if you die without a will, unless you die with no blood relatives, i.e. natural heirs. If you have assets that make up your estate after you die, the law determines your closest blood relatives, and your assets will pass to them. Generally the estate must pass through probate before the relatives receive their inheritance. If you care to determine who should receive your assets ...after you die, and you care to appoint someone to oversee the distribution of your estate, then you need a will. WHY SHOULD I HAVE A TRUST? A Trust is generally created to hold the assets that would otherwise pass to a decedent’s estate. The primary purpose of a revocable, living, or family trust is to avoid a long, costly, and public probate of one’s estate and to appoint a trustee to manage your assets when you are incapable of the same. WHY SHOULD I HAVE AN ADVANCED HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE? An Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD) appoints a person to make medical decisions for you when you are not capable thereof. It directs the agent, family, friends, and medical personnel as to your wishes related to artificial life support systems. The AHCD also appoints and directs your agent regarding the disposition of your remains: i.e. anatomical gifts, cremation or burial, and funeral or memorial services. A COMPREHENSIVE ESTATE PLAN INCLUDES AN ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTING OF AT LEAST THE ABOVE STATED DOCUMENTS, AND OTHERS, IN RELATION TO YOUR AFFAIRS WHEN OR IF YOU BECOME INCAPACITATED OR DIE.

WILLS, TRUSTS AND PROBATE, 101. WHY SHOULD I HAVE A WILL? The state will not receive your property if you die without a will, unless you die with no blood relatives, i.e. natural heirs. If you have assets that make up your estate after you die, the law determines your closest blood relatives, and your assets will pass to them. Generally the estate must pass through probate before the relatives receive their inheritance. If you care to determine who should receive your ass...ets after you die, and you care to appoint someone to oversee the distribution of your estate, then you need a will. WHY SHOULD I HAVE A TRUST? A Trust is generally created to hold the assets that would otherwise pass to a decedent’s estate. The primary purpose of a revocable, living, or family trust is to avoid a long, costly, and public probate of one’s estate and to appoint a trustee to manage your assets when you are incapable of the same. WHY SHOULD I HAVE AN ADVANCED HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE? An Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD) appoints a person to make medical decisions for you when you are not capable thereof. It directs the agent, family, friends, and medical personnel as to your wishes related to artificial life support systems. The AHCD also appoints and directs your agent regarding the disposition of your remains: i.e. anatomical gifts, cremation or burial, and funeral or memorial services. A COMPREHENSIVE ESTATE PLAN INCLUDES AN ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTING OF AT LEAST THE ABOVE STATED DOCUMENTS, AND OTHERS, IN RELATION TO YOUR AFFAIRS WHEN OR IF YOU BECOME INCAPACITATED OR DIE.