Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law

The Role of the Estate Planning Attorney: Clients often come to an Estate Planning attorney with specific ideas in their minds. The attorney’s role is to counsel them regarding their plan, not just to draw up documents to accomplish it. Read on to learn more. The post The Role of the Estate Planning Attorney appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Use It Before It’s Gone: The amount you can pass free from estate tax is at a record high of $11.7 million per person. There’s legislation which would lower the exclusion to $3.5 million per person. Married people can take advantage of the current exemption. Read on to learn more. The post Use It Before It’s Gone appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Last Will and Testament Origin: Why do you have a Last Will and Testament. Even Estate Planning attorneys are unlikely to know the etymology of the term. It was the subject of a recent question on Jeopardy. Read on to learn more. The post Last Will and Testament Origin appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

5 Most Important Roles in Your Estate Plan: Some of the most influential decisions you will make within your estate plan are often the ones people spend very little time making. These are decisions related to fiduciary roles within your plan. Choosing people for the fiduciary roles within your estate plan should be done with great care because appointing or nominating the wrong [] The post 5 Most Important Roles in Your Estate Plan appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Pandemic Relief for Employers: The pandemic has been difficult for many of us, including some Estate Planning attorneys. Sometimes it’s difficult to follow all the news. But, there’s little-known pandemic relief for employers struggling from the pandemic. Read on to learn more. The post Pandemic Relief for Employers appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Using Disclaimers to Achieve Your Goals: Double Disclaimers: Disclaimers can be a good way of getting assets where you want them to go. If the disclaimer is a qualified disclaimer, the client isn’t treated as having made a taxable gift. Sometimes a double disclaimer is necessary to achieve the desired outcome. Read on to learn more. The post Using Disclaimers to Achieve Your Goals: Double Disclaimers appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Where You Should Leave Your Burial Instructions or Final Arrangements: Contrary to popular belief, you should not include your burial instructions or other final arrangements in your Will. Instead, leave your burial instructions or other instructions regarding your final arrangements in a separate instrument. The reason for this is timing. Most likely, your heirs or executor may not find your will immediately, and by the [] The post Where You Should Leave Your Burial Instructions or Final Arrangements appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Make Your Advance Health Care Directive Before It’s Too Late: An advance health care directive is a written document authorized under California law that allows you to take control of your medical care. By creating an advance directive before you become too ill to refuse certain medical treatments, you can take control of your future health care while you are still mentally able to do so. However, if [] The post Make Your Advance Health Care Directive Before It’s Too Late appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Who Will Manage Your Finances If You Become Incapacitated?: If you become incapacitated at any point in your life, who will manage your finances? You may think that you know the answer to that questions, but from a legal perspective you may not. Incapacity can happen slowly as part of the natural aging process or can happen in a moment as the result of [] The post Who Will Manage Your Finances If You Become Incapacitated? appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

What Happens if You Don’t Make Changes to Your Estate Planning Documents After Divorce: If you don’t make formal changes to your estate planning documents after divorce, you may be overlooking many important things. Most estate planning lawyers strongly recommend reviewing your estate planning documents before and after important life changing events, including divorce. In most states, spouses who fail to remove their former spouses as beneficiaries in their [] The post What Happens if You Don’t Make Changes to Your Estate Planning Documents After Divorce appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Estate Planning for Members of the LGBTQ Community: For members of the LGBTQ community, and their supporters, much has changed for the better over the last several decades. Just recently, one of the hardest fought battles was finally won the right of same-sex couples to marry. With that victory finally in hand, members of the LGBTQ community often ask if LGBTQ estate [] The post Estate Planning for Members of the LGBTQ Community appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Veterans Benefits: A Primer Part 7 of 7: In this final installment, we will focus on additional VA benefits planning strategies. One effective strategy is commonly referred to as spend down, which simply means to use otherwise countable liquid assets to purchase needed items such as vehicles, medical equipment, etc. The treatment of tax-deferred accounts poses special problems. While the annuitization approach may [] The post Veterans Benefits: A Primer Part 7 of 7 appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Creating Your First Estate Plan Preparing for Your Appointment: If you are among the millions of Americans who has yet to create and estate plan, doing so now may make you may feel a little intimidated. You may be concerned about what you need to do to prepare if you have made an appointment with an estate planning attorney. To help put you at [] The post Creating Your First Estate Plan Preparing for Your Appointment appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

What Is the Difference between SSI and SSDI?: Although we often think of disability as something that occurs as we age, the reality is that anyone can become disabled at any time. A tragic accident or a debilitating illness could leave you incapacitated and unable to work tomorrow. If that were to occur, would your family suffer financially without your income? The odds [] The post What Is the Difference between SSI and SSDI? appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Helping Your Parents Age: Watching a parent go through the physical and mental deterioration that accompanies the natural aging process can be extremely difficult. As an adult child, you want to do something to help. Knowing what to do and when to do it can be difficult to determine. Here are some suggestions that may hep guide you as [] The post Helping Your Parents Age appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Our Available Services During COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic: The health and safety of our clients, staff, and friends of the law firm are top of mind amid concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). As estate planning and elder law attorneys, our practice is dedicated to serving our most vulnerable citizens, including seniors, those who are ill, disabled, experiencing mental health challenges [] The post Our Available Services During COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Generational Wealth is Key to Leveling the Playing Field: Generational wealth is wealth earned by one generation and passed on to the next. Generational wealth is key to allowing the next generation to be free from the burden of having to live hand-to-mouth and allows them to pursue an education and build a career or business to build a better life for themselves. Read on to learn more. The post Generational Wealth is Key to Leveling the Playing Field appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Chadwick Boseman Demonstrates the Importance of Planning: Chadwick Boseman played many heroic American roles and the superhero role of the Black Panther. His death at age 43 demonstrated how it’s important to have at least a basic estate plan in place even if you’re young. Read on to learn more. The post Chadwick Boseman Demonstrates the Importance of Planning appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

How to Recognize the Signs of Nursing Home Abuse: The increase in the senior population in recent years has caused a corresponding increase in issues that impact the elderly, including nursing home abuse. Fortunately, there are nursing homes that provide competent, caring, and compassionate care to patients; however, you must remain vigilant and on alert for signs of abuse or neglect if you have [] The post How to Recognize the Signs of Nursing Home Abuse appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Assisting Family and Friends During These Trying Times: Before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of our clients were already assisting elderly or disabled family member and friends with such things as meals, medications, medical visits and shopping. Regular visits just to check in were also part of many folks’ normal routines. COVID-19 restrictions have had a large negative impact on many [] The post Assisting Family and Friends During These Trying Times appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Covid-19 and Your Estate Plan: The COVID-19 crisis has caused many people to realize that life-changing events can happen unexpectedly and turn their lives upside down. The myriad of challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have given many pause to rethink their concerns and priorities. Estate planning is one area that should get attention, and possibly revision, as a result [] The post Covid-19 and Your Estate Plan appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Will Your Estate Plan Still Work If You Move?: Before the pandemic, Americans were more mobile than ever. When you move, you have to change your address, your voter registration, and all sorts of other things. But, do you need to revise your estate planning documents? Like with many things in law, it depends on your situation. Read on to learn more. The post Will Your Estate Plan Still Work If You Move? appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Staying Current is Especially Important in the Pandemic: A Health Care Power of Attorney appoints someone to make decisions for you if you’re not able to do so for yourself. An Advance Directive expresses your wishes regarding end-of-life decisions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to have them up-to-date. Read on to learn more. The post Staying Current is Especially Important in the Pandemic appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

What Is a HIPAA Release?: The acronym HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. In this post, we will explain why this piece of legislation is something to take into consideration when you are planning your estate. Advance Directives for Health Care Everyone is well aware of the fact that you have to facilitate postmortem [] The post What Is a HIPAA Release? appeared first on Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law.