What Is the Difference Between a Will and a Trust?
Wills and trusts are the basic building blocks of estate planning. Both wills and trusts can be used by people to arrange for their assets to pass to others after death. Although they are both used for estate planning, they are very different documents. Wills and trusts are created and operate in distinctly different ways.
What Is Probate?
Probate is the court procedure used to verify the validity of a will and to distribute a decedent's property after their death. In California, an estate in excess of $184,500 must be “probated” whether or not there is a valid will.
California Law on Elder Abuse
Before we opened our private practice, Teresa and I were legal aid attorneys at a non-profit organization that exclusively served older adults. Many of our clients there were victims of elder abuse. The abuse was physical, emotional, financial—often a combination.
Do You Need a Trust?
You probably recognize that you will eventually need a will. You might already have one that you drafted when you became a parent or faced a brush with mortality or the loss of a loved one. We’ll explore wills in greater depth in another post, but here we’d like to zero in on arguably the most essential—and confusing—component of California estate planning: the trust.