1. Golden Rules of Dementia The NAELA Bulletin reported the five golden rules which lowers the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The report was based on a study by Analysis by Age UK which revealed that lifestyle was responsible for 76% of changes in the brain and significant avoidance of the disease could…
Attention all of you Trustees of Living Trusts and children beneficiaries of the Trust- This case is a wake-up call. You know how you might want to punish a step-mother or step-father for becoming a life partner or spouse to your widowed mom or dad. Once the natural parent is out of the picture many…
In a recent California case, the California No Contest provisions in a Living Trust were tested. In Balian v. Balian decided in December 2014, the mother, Mary, created the Balian Family Trust designating her children and a Special Needs Trust for her daughters Patricia and Diane as beneficiaries. There was significant animosity between Patricia and…
In light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court case of Clark v. Rameker, creditors will begin to zero in on Inherited IRAs. What is an Inherited IRA? These are IRAs inherited by non-spouse beneficiaries. Typically, spouses rollover IRAs and become the IRA owner if they are designated as the beneficiary. But non-spouse beneficiaries do not…
If you like gambling with cards, don’t carry that over to your designated IRA or Retirement fund beneficiaries. We all know a full house trumps a straight in poker. But did you know this, a Retirement form trumps a Will or Trust? That’s right. If you are considering the designation of your Retirement fund in…
The following was written by Attorney Jack E. Stephens, for the professional manual, Rules of Trust Administration in California, regarding the administration of a Living Trust on the death of a Trustor. This is Part 6 of an ongoing series. Real Property Issues If you are having insomnia issues, try a couple of chapters of the…
The following was written by Attorney Jack E. Stephens, for the professional manual, Rules of Trust Administration in California, regarding the administration of a Living Trust on the death of a Trustor. This is Part 5 of an ongoing series. §13100 Declaration Some of the assets we acquire for our clients during the Trust Administration is via…
The following was written by Attorney Jack E. Stephens, for the professional manual, Rules of Trust Administration in California, regarding the administration of a Living Trust on the death of a Trustor. This is Part 4 of an ongoing series. Estate Planning with Digital Assets Why are we even discussing this topic in Trust Administration procedures….
The following was written by Attorney Jack E. Stephens, for the professional manual, Rules of Trust Administration in California, regarding the administration of a Living Trust on the death of a Trustor. This is Part 3 of an ongoing series. Statutory Notice Requirement Avoiding the Liability Locomotive- Stop, Look and Listen §§16061.5, 16061.7 I designated this…
The following was written by Attorney Jack E. Stephens, for the professional manual, Rules of Trust Administration in California, regarding the administration of a Living Trust on the death of a Trustor. This is Part 2 of an ongoing series. Identifying the Players Successor Trustee(s) Without a doubt, one of the most important decisions the Trustor…
The following was written by Attorney Jack E. Stephens, for the professional manual, Rules of Trust Administration in California, regarding the admistration of a Living Trust on the death of a Trustor. This is Part 1 of an ongoing series. Family Contact On the death of a client we are normally contacted within a relatively short…
Believe it or not, most people are more reluctant to plan for incapacity than death. More individuals can accept death but not incapacity. They can accept the graveyard but not the nursing home. When I asked one elder male client why he knew he would never go to a nursing home he responded , “because…