Funding your trust is one of the single best things you can do to spare your beneficiaries from the probate court. Find out more about what it means to fund a trust, which items to include, and which items to leave out. Seek insight from Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer.

How to Avoid Sending Your Loved Ones to Probate Court

Without a careful, well-considered estate planning strategy, many individuals inadvertently propel their loved ones straight into the court system, forcing them to undergo probate before claiming their inherited assets. Given probate’s reputation for being expensive and time-consuming, this is something to try to avoid.

One mistake that always leads to probate is having an underfunded trust. In this post, we’ll clarify what it means to fully fund a trust and which assets should (and shouldn’t) be included in the living trust.

What Does it Mean to Fund Your Trust?

Funding your trust can be defined as transferring assets from your name to the name of the trust. Beneficiary designations may also be changed to the trust.

There are three basic ways to fund your trust:

1. Change the title of an asset from your individual name to the name of the trust.
2. Assign your interest in an asset that doesn’t have a title (say, a piece of jewelry) to the trust.
3. Change the primary beneficiary of an asset to your trust (this is especially common with things like annuities and life insurance policies).

We recommend compiling a list of your assets, values, and locations. Start by funding the most valuable item on the list, then work your way down. Contact your estate planning attorney with any questions.

What Happens to Assets Omitted from Your Trust?

Simply put, if you leave assets out of your trust, you’re all but guaranteed to send your beneficiaries to the probate court, which can be a long, complicated, expensive, and aggravating process. This can happen even if you have a will, so make funding your trust a top priority.

Which Assets Should You Include in Your Trust?

There are certain types of assets that you’ll more or less always want to include in your trust. Here are the assets to fund:

• Real estate
• Bank and credit union accounts
• Safe deposit boxes
• Investment accounts
• Notes payable to you
• Life insurance
• Business interests
• Intellectual property
• Oil and gas interests
• Personal items of great value – think artwork, jewelry, collectibles, antiques

With that said, there are also certain assets you don’t want to fund to your trust. These include:

• IRAs and other tax-deferred retirement accounts
• Incentive stock options
• Foreign assets
• Cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, motorized scooters, and other types of vehicles

What are the Benefits of Funding Your Trust?

There are several advantages to fully funding your trust. These include:

• Your trustee can access your assets without needing a court order.
• Your wishes (and the contents of your estate) can remain confidential.
• Your beneficiaries will not experience the costs and frustrations associated with probate.

With any additional questions about funding a trust, make sure you reach out to a skilled and experienced attorney in your community. Schedule a consultation with Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer, today.

Elderly financial abuse can involve acts of neglect, fraud, or exploitation that adversely affect the financial standing of a senior citizen or a dependent adult. Often, financial abuse of the elderly can involve the elderly trust administration and probate administration. To ensure adequate protection, it’s important to know what qualifies as elderly financial abuse and to speak with a Trust Litigation Lawyer about these issues. Learn more in this post from Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer.

What is Elderly Financial Abuse?

We all need more assistance as we age. Sadly, there are people, including family members, who prey on the elderly in times of their need. Elderly financial abuse is all too common. According to California law, elderly financial abuse occurs whenever an older or dependent adult is subjected to financial exploitation or fraud.

What Does Financial Abuse of the Elderly Look Like?

Multiple factors make a situation qualify as financial abuse of the elderly. Those factors include:

• The victim is a senior citizen (age 65 and over) or dependent adult (age 18 to 64 but with a significant physical or mental impairment that makes independent living prohibitive).
• The defendant took advantage of the victim’s vulnerability or impaired state to exploit them; for instance, by obtaining or using the victim’s funds without their awareness or consent.
• The defendant acted recklessly or intended to defraud/exploit the victim.
• The victim suffered harm or loss, including the loss of money or inability to secure food, shelter, medical care, and other essentials.
• The defendant’s actions played a consequential role in the victim’s loss.

Elderly Financial Abuse, Trust Administration, and Probate Administration

Elderly Financial elder abuse often comes to light only after the passing of the elderly person, which then can be linked with estate planning issues, including trust administration and probate administration. Consider some examples:

• A person uses undue influence to coerce an elderly person to change the terms of their will or trust (often to the defendant’s benefit).
• A person practices fraud, falsifying documents to obtain an inheritance or other benefits of a deceased person’s estate.
• A trustee or executor mismanages or embezzles assets associated with an estate.
• A trustee or executor breaches their fiduciary duty, taking self-serving actions or simply harmful to the estate.
• A person who has a duty to administer the estate is neglectful in their actions, failing to do what is needed to preserve the estate’s full benefits on behalf of beneficiaries.

Elderly Financial Abuse: A Case Study

For an example of what elderly financial abuse might look like in the State of California, consider the case of Niece v. Benedict (2017).

The case involved an 87-year-old woman who lived in a nursing home, suffering from dementia. Her niece was named the sole beneficiary of her estate, with the woman’s sister as the alternate beneficiary.

After the elderly woman passed away, her sister contested the will, claiming that the niece had coerced the woman into changing her will. The sister further claimed that the niece had isolated the elderly woman from her loved ones, controlling her finances and denying her medical care.

The court ruled in favor of the sister, finding that the niece had unduly influenced the elderly woman to change her will while she was suffering from dementia and unable to make clear decisions on her own. The court also found that the niece had engaged in elder abuse by isolating the woman from her family and blocking her from receiving medical care.

Get the Protection You Need from a Skilled Estate Planning Attorney

This case study reveals the importance of protecting the rights of elderly individuals, upholding their wishes, and caring for them even if they suffer from mental and physical impairments. It also shows that financial elder abuse can occur even at the trust administration or probate administration stage, often with dire consequences.

One way to put the right protections in place is to meet with an estate planning attorney. Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer, is here to answer any questions about averting elderly financial abuse in will and trust. To schedule a consultation, contact Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer, today.

Before heading out on summer vacation, attend to some estate planning basics. Doing so can give you and your family ample peace of mind. Some estate planning steps include checking your guardian nominations, verifying correct signatures, and ensuring your estate planning documents are properly organized. Find out more via Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer.

Planning Your Summer Vacation? 5 Things to Consider Now

Summer vacations can provide a much-needed reprieve from your 9-5 life, allowing you and your loved ones a chance to rest, relax, and reconnect. Before embarking on your seasonal sojourn, however, there are a few preparations you’ll want to make. These include a few basic estate planning activities.

5 Estate Planning Considerations for Summer Vacation

1) Guardian nomination.

Some low-level risk is always associated with summer vacationing, whether you’re traveling by car or plane. If you and your spouse don’t make it back from your trip, who will serve as guardians for your minor children? We recommend double-checking your estate plan to ensure you’ve named the appropriate person.

Remember that if you do not name someone to serve as the guardian to your minor children, and if you and your spouse both pass, the court will appoint someone to take care of your children moving forward. This may or may not be someone you would have wanted for the job, so it’s always best to be clear in nominating your chosen guardian. We see all too many situations in which custody of children goes to a deceased parent’s sister or brother, even when that sister or brother may have limited income, several kids of their own to worry about, an unsupportive partner, or a lifestyle that isn’t conducive to taking on another child. Talk to your estate planning attorney about avoiding this fate.

2) Beneficiary designations.

It’s very uncommon for people to have outdated beneficiary designations, or at the very least, that hasn’t been reviewed in a long time. We recommend taking just a few minutes to log into your IRA, 401(k), and/or life insurance company’s website to double-check your beneficiary designations to check double that these assets will be allocated according to your wishes, should the unthinkable happen to you while you’re vacationing.

3) Health care documents.

Suppose you become seriously injured, ill, or even incapacitated while on your trip; it may fall to one of your loved ones to make important financial or healthcare decisions on your behalf. Ensure the right people make these decisions and enjoy general peace of mind. At the same time you travel, ask your estate planning lawyer to review your powers of attorney and advance health directives.

4) Signatures.

Do you have a will, trust, and other unsigned documents? Perhaps you haven’t signed because you’re still reviewing them, but remember that they are not legally valid without a signature. Rather than wait until they are “perfect,” reach out to your estate planning attorney to develop a plan for getting them signed ASAP. Remember that you can always make changes or revisions in the future.

5) General organization.

Where do you keep your hard copy and a digital copy of your estate planning documents? Choose a safe location in your home to store at least one hard copy, and always create a folder on your hard drive or personal cloud storage site to have access to a backup digital copy. You should also inquire about keeping a copy on file at your estate planning law firm.

Check-in with Your Estate Planning Lawyer

Getting your estate plan in order can provide additional peace of mind while you travel, rest, and relax. If you’re in the Orange County area, we invite you to contact Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer. He has a proven track record of helping clients prepare for all scenarios. Contact the estate planning law firm of Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer, today.

When seeking a trust litigation firm, looking for an attorney with a winning record is essential. For clients in the Orange County, CA area, that means the office of Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer, headed by Max Alavi, Esq., a recognized Super Lawyer. Find out more about the firm’s impressive track record, by reviewing sizable settlements and favorable verdicts from previous trust litigation cases.

Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer Boasts Remarkable Track Record in Trust Litigation

When choosing an estate planning and living trust attorney, it’s vital to look at their track record and verify that they can get accurate results, netting favorable outcomes on your behalf. The firm of Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer, headed by Max Alavi, Esq. a recognized Super Lawyer, has just such a track record. Take a closer look at some of the verdicts our team has achieved on behalf of clients in the Orange County, Southern California.

Estate Planning & Trust Litigation: Our Results

Keep in mind that the results indicated below are based on the unique facts of specific cases. Every case is different, and these verdicts do not constitute a guarantee for future cases. With that said, here are some big wins from the office of Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer.

• We won $1,000,000 on behalf of our client via the successful defense of a trust amendment.
• Representing the lifetime beneficiary of a living trust against his stepmother and other beneficiaries, we gained the outright grant of a commercial property to our client. Total value: $3,000,000.
• We successfully defended an exercise of a power of appointment to a trust in favor of our client, obtaining $1,000,000 on the client’s behalf.
• We obtained $6,000,000 by defending a surviving wife’s right to maintain her control of trust assets, even as her stepchildren demanded an immediate distribution upon their father’s death.
• We successfully represented a challenge to an omitted spouse claim and a $20,000.00 settlement to the surviving spouse.
• Through victory in a contested spousal property petition in favor of our client, we garnered $960,000.
• We successfully defended a contest of a trust amendment, with judgment for the amendment being upheld in favor of our client. That client was able to retain the home that she shared with her late husband, worth $850,000 (plus considerable peace of mind).
• We also obtained $850,000 by defending a trust amendment in favor of an in-home caretaker and his gift receipt.
• Finally, we defeated an attempted trust contest by prevailing on a motion for summary judgment. This resulted in our client receiving the entire trust estate valued at $700,000.

Choose Estate Planning Lawyers with a Winning Record

For an estate planning team with an exemplary track record, clients choose the office of Max Alavi APC, OC Trusts Lawyer. We welcome you to contact us whenever you’re ready to schedule a consultation and to learn more about our expertise in living trusts, trust litigation, and beyond.