San Jose Probate & Estate Planning Lawyer

Advance Health Care Directives: This document allows you to specify what types of medical treatment you do or do not want at the end of your life. It informs doctors, family members, and friends of your decisions, so they do not have to guess about what type of treatments you may or may not want.

Benefits of Probate: While there are certainly valid legal procedures used by will-makers and trust-makers to avoid probate, from a beneficiary point of view, there are definite benefits to the probate process. Probate can also give individuals peace of mind knowing that once they die, the distribution of their estate will be supervised by the court in order to ensure that all distributions are made in accordance with California State laws.

Components of an Estate Plan: There are many important documents that are used to create a comprehensive estate plan. Each item is equally important and can be personalized to meet every person's needs. They protect your assets and your health care wishes and ensure that your estate is properly transferred to beneficiaries after you pass away.

Estate Administration: Estate administration is the act of collecting, inventorying, managing, and distributing a decedent's estate according to California State Law, or the deceased's will. It also involves paying taxes and debts, as well as handling potential creditors' claims. The person in charge of administering the estate is known as the personal representative.

Guardianships: A guardian or guardians are needed if both parents of minor children pass away, or become unable to care for them. A guardian may be solely in charge of a child, or singularly responsible for a child's property. Oftentimes, parents will elect the same person to act as both a property and personal guardian for their minor children.

Powers of Attorney: A durable power of attorney is a document that a person, who is known as the principal, creates in order to give legal authority to another person, known as the agent. The agent will act on the principal's behalf in the event that the principal is unable to make medical decisions.

Probate: Probate is the process of validating a decedent's will and distributing the estate among the selected heirs. If a person dies without a will, they are known as dying intestate, and the State of California must divide and distribute the deceased's assets according to their laws. It may be a fairly simple or extremely complicated process, depending on the decedent's estate.

Revocable Living Trusts: Revocable living trusts are useful estate planning tools. They can determine who will receive your estate after you pass away, while still allowing you to manage the assets you placed in the trust while you are alive. They are known as living trusts because they are created and effective during your lifetime, not only after you pass away.

Trust Administration: When a grantor dies, the person named as a successor trustee has a myriad of responsibilities. They must follow the terms of the trust, and use their discretion when handling any item or money placed in the trust. A successor trustee is responsible for every item that is in the trust and may be held liable for misusing or mishandling the trust.

Wills: Wills are an essential document in an estate plan. They allow a person to document which of their assets will go to who after they pass, as well as elect a guardian for their minor children or incapacitated loved ones. A will also allow a person to name an executor or a person who will be in charge of managing and distributing the estate after the person who created the will passes.