In 2008, California passed pet trust legislation that clarified and added enforcement provisions to California pet trust law.   Your first step in establishing a California pet trust should be to consult with a California estate planning attorney so your trust will be executed properly and will be legally enforceable after you are gone.

In establishing a California pet trust, you should:

• Determine who will act as the trustee and gain their permission to name them in your trust documents.  You will need to provide their name and address.
• Determine a successor trustee in case your primary trustee is unable to fulfill his or her role according to your pet trust.
• If different from the trustee, name a primary caregiver and a successor caregiver for your pets.
• Furnish photos and microchip ID numbers for each pet included in the trust to prevent fraud.
• Outline the care of each pet in detail, including a requirement for veterinary visits, nutritional needs, health care needs, etc.
• Determine how much cash or assets are needed to properly care for your pet(s).  Be realistic, as your heirs could challenge an excessive amount left for the care of pets.  Include the costs of administering the trust as well.
• Select a beneficiary to receive any funds that are left over after the last pet provided for in the trust has died.
• Provide instructions for the burial or cremation of your pet(s).

If you have a beloved pet that you want to provide for in a pet trust, contact our Orange County estate planning law firm.

Just about everyone dreams of winning the lottery, especially in dramatic fashion like Louise White, the 81-year-old Rhode Island woman who sent a family member to the store for rainbow sherbet and a Powerball ticket that turned out to be worth $366 million last month.

And if you were ever to be as lucky as Ms. White, you would do well to follow what she did next: engage an estate planning attorney before claiming her prize in order to protect those winnings.

A Wall Street Journal article recently noted that while a vast majority of us will not win the lottery, there is a much greater likelihood that we will come into a financial windfall via inheritance.  A survey of financial advisers recommend that, to protect a windfall, you:

• Create goals for what you want to do with your windfall before spending any of it;
• Consult with a financial planner and/or estate planning attorney before making any investments;
• Be sure to subtract taxes and current debts from the windfall before making a spending plan;
• Update your estate plan and considering establishing trusts to protect assets;
• Consider donating to charity via donor-advised funds that allow you to invest, receive a deduction and make donations on your own schedule.

Our Orange County estate planning and asset protection law firm has been helping California families protect and grow their assets for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.

The April 17 tax filing deadline is a little more than five weeks away, and many taxpayers are  researching every possible deduction and credit to save money on taxes.

This infographic details the most overlooked tax deductions and tax credits so you don’t pay any more than you have to on your 2011 taxes:

by Column Five Media.

Protecting your assets needn’t be a taxing burden.  Our Orange County asset protection and estate planning law firm has been a trusted source for estate planning, asset protection and business transactions for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.

According to recently released statistics from the IRS, California is home to the most multi-millionaires (those with a net worth of over $2 million) — adding further luster to our nickname as “The Golden State”.

Here is the Top 10 list:

1. California – 329,000 (1.2 percent of total adult population)
2. New York – 160,000 (1.1 percent of the adult population
3. Florida – 155,000 (1.2 percent of total adult population)
4. Texas – 100,000 (.6 percent of total adult population)
5. Illinois – 83,000 (.6 percent of total adult population)
6. New Jersey – 71,000 (1.1 percent of total adult population)
7. Pennsylvania – 57,000 (0.6 percent of total adult population)
8. Massachusetts  – 51,000 (1.0 percent of total adult population)
9. Ohio – 50,000 (.6 percent of total adult population)
10. Virginia – 49,000 (.8 percent of total adult population)

Beyond the obvious advantages, being a multi-millionaire means you also have a responsibility to protect what you have accumulated, which is why it is important to consult with a California estate planning attorney.  Here are five very good reasons you should not delay in creating an estate plan:

1. California has a plan for your estate if you don’t – and it entails a lengthy and expensive probate process.
2. If you don’t make a plan for your minor children, California will make that for you as well.  They could end up with a relative or whoever volunteers…or, in a worst case scenario, they could be placed in foster care.
3. Depending on estate tax law at the time of your death, Uncle Sam will happily take a big chunk out of your estate for taxes if there is no plan to protect assets.
4. Your ex stands to benefit if they are still listed as a beneficiary for your retirement accounts or life insurance policies and you haven’t changed those in years.
5. Your private financial information becomes very public once it enters the probate process.  You can prevent this through careful estate planning.

Our California asset protection and estate planning law firm has been a trusted source for estate planning, asset protection and business transactions for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.

According to 2010 U.S. Census figures, unmarried couples comprise 12 percent of U. S. couples, a 25 percent increase in just one decade.  When it comes to retirement benefits, couples that are not married can use estate planning to ensure partners receive benefits and avoid taxes as follows:

Beneficiary Designations.  Listing your partner as beneficiary on the formal beneficiary designation forms for retirement accounts will ensure that partner receives those benefits.  Beneficiary forms must be kept up to date, as they take precedence over a will in determining who will receive retirement assets.  The same holds true for life insurance policies.

Rollovers and Distributions.  Unfortunately, many companies do not allow an unmarried partner to roll over a deceased partner’s retirement plan assets into an IRA.  Instead, they may require the surviving partner to take a lump sum distribution of the entire amount, which can carry a heavy tax burden.  When you leave your company, consider rolling over your retirement account into an IRA and name your partner as beneficiary.

Inherited Roth IRA.  The Pension Protection Act of 2006 made it possible for unmarried participants to roll over inherited retirement plan assets into an inherited Roth IRA, if the employer plan allows it.  A direct transfer is necessary in order for the partner beneficiary to take advantage of the Roth IRA, either via direct rollover or trustee-to-trustee transfer.  The beneficiary will have to pay taxes on the distribution upfront as well.

Our California asset protection and estate planning law firm has been a trusted source for estate planning, asset protection and retirement planning for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.

A Wall Street Journal article last Friday noted that the art of passing down art is an art in itself, requiring a collector to do some planning that includes the assistance of a qualified California estate planning attorney and a frank conversation with family members.

It is often true that other family members may not value an art collection as much as the original collector – or if they do, fear that part of the collection will need to be sold off to pay estate or gift taxes.  Here are some options to consider while planning for what to do with a valuable collection:

Putting the art in a trust will get it out of your estate and still allow your heirs to inherit the artworks as well as the appreciated value of the art.

Have a frank discussion with beneficiaries to determine if they really want the art, or if they will sell it after you’re gone.   If you have a large collection, you may wish to have each heir choose a favorite piece, and settle any disparities in value with cash from the rest of the estate.

If your collection is worth more intact than it would be if sold separately, you may want to donate the entire collection to charity.

Finally, be sure that whatever your decision is on what will happen to your art collection after you’re gone, that you discuss it with your family.  This will help eliminate any family squabbles over the disposition of the collection.

Our California asset protection and estate planning law firm has been a trusted source for estate planning, asset protection and business transactions for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.

An article today in the New York Daily News noted that Andy Rooney, the popular 60 Minutes commentator and veteran CBS newsman who died last November at the age of 92, left an estate of $9 million that will be split among his four children.

But, as his son Brian Rooney noted, “He could have had a $50 million estate if he’d paid attention to it.”

Brian Rooney was quoted in the article as saying that his father “wasn’t into fancy estate planning…Some years he made more money that others.  When he made it, he stashed it away.”

Rooney’s will revealed that he left behind $8 million in stocks, bonds and cash and $1 million in property, including his primary resident in Norwalk, CT, and a summer home in Rensselaerville, NY.  His beneficiaries are his three daughters and one son.

What the Daily News article didn’t talk about was how much, if any, of the $9 million in assets would be going to estate taxes.  If Rooney wasn’t “into” estate planning, he may not have been aware that only $5 million of his estate was exempt from estate taxes for the year he died, 2011.  His wife died in 2004; portability was not available at that time, so he would not have been able to utilize her unused estate or gift tax exemptions for asset protection.

Brian Rooney noted that his father “was not a guy to pay for services,” saying that Andy washed his own car, made his own ice cream and shined his own shoes.

Many may find these qualities admirable, but not paying a little for some good estate planning advice likely cost Rooney’s children millions – a move that should be additional fodder for one of Rooney’s famous curmudgeonly complaints.

Our California asset protection and estate planning law firm has been a trusted source for estate planning, asset protection and business transactions for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.

The tax on personal income was initiated 150 years ago, in 1862, by President Abraham Lincoln as a way to help pay for the Civil War.  The top tax rate was five percent – the lowest it has ever been except for the years when it was repealed (1872-1894).  The highest tax rate in American history was 94 percent, in 1945, making today’s top rate of 35 percent look pretty good.

This infographic from TurboTax provides a brief history of the American personal income tax:

For estate tax-saving and asset protection strategies, contact our California estate planning law firm.

There are several different types of legal ownership options for property and accounts that affect how each are distributed upon the death of an owner, offering varying degrees of asset protection:

Tenants in Common – allows for property ownership by multiple parties and allows for different percentages of ownership.  Once the property is sold, the owners receive the proceeds according to their percentage of ownership.  If one owner sides, his or her percentage becomes part of the estate and will pass to heirs via a will.  If there is no will, it will be distributed according to the rules in the decedent’s state of residence.

Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship – allows for equal ownership between two people; when one dies, the property or account passes to the other without having to go through probate.  The assets must be titled “with right of survivorship” or the ownership will be treated as tenants-in-common.

Trusts – a trust is an excellent vehicle to protect assets, especially if your assets are significant and there are multiple beneficiaries.  Property and accounts must be titled in the name of the trust, and the trust named as beneficiary of those assets.  While there are several different kinds of trusts that you can discuss with your California estate planning attorney, they all fall into two categories: irrevocable trusts and revocable trusts.  Both have their pros and cons, and you won’t know which meets your needs best without first consulting a California asset protection lawyer.

Our California asset protection and estate planning law firm has been a trusted source for estate planning, asset protection and business transactions for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.

Trusts are fundamental estate planning tools that have been used for years by people wishing to protect their assets and ensure their safe passage on to heirs.  When the Tax Act of 2010 increased the estate tax exclusion to $5 million for individuals, some may have thought that a trust was no longer necessary to perform these valuable tasks.

However, a Newport Beach estate planning attorney says there are at least six good reasons for establishing a trust:

1. Trusts can allow you to pass on assets without having to go through probate.
2. Establishing a trust is usually much less expensive than the cost of probate.
3. Trusts provide everyone with a degree of privacy that is lost through probate.
4. Trusts can protect assets against creditors.
5. Trusts enable you to set rules on when and if a beneficiary will inherit assets.
6. Trusts guard against the vagaries of changing estate tax rules, shielding assets from potential taxes.

Trusts can be designed to protect and build on even a modest estate. Whether your desire is to provide for your immediate heirs, or leave a legacy that lasts far into the future, a trust can help you accomplish your goal.

Our Newport Beach asset protection and estate planning law firm has been a trusted source for estate planning, asset protection and business transactions for more than 35 years.  Contact us today for asset protection and estate planning strategies to meet your unique needs.