A comprehensive California estate plan should be specific and customized to fit your personal circumstances. It generally includes a Living Trust, Powers of Attorney for Property and Healthcare, a “HIPAA” authorization, a Living Will/Advance Healthcare Directive, a Pour-Over Will, Deeds to your properties, Beneficiary Designations on life insurance, annuities, IRAs, 401 (k)s, Guardian Nominations for minor children and perhaps more. Sounds like a lot? Well, there can be many advantages to getting everything in order while you are in good health and capacity to make the many decisions involved in preparing these documents. This article will give you an overview what each of the pieces of the Estate Planning puzzle are and how they can help you.
What is a California Living Trust?
A California Living Trust protects you while you are alive. During your lifetime, you have complete control over the Living Trust to change it, and you will have the right to use the property during your lifetime with no restrictions. However, upon incapacity or death, the Living Trust puts the power into the hands of your heirs, generally with no requirement to go to court. It can have advantages for tax planning and avoiding creditors. You can find more information on Living Trusts here: https://www.scscourt.org/self_help/probate/medical/living_trust.shtml#what
What is a Living Will/Healthcare Directive?
A California Living Will is more commonly knowns as an Advanced Healthcare Directive, and it helps your loved ones know how to carry out your wishes when you are no longer able to make your own decisions. It can direct them on tough decisions such as breathing and feeding tubes and other end of life dilemmas. You can find more information here: https://oag.ca.gov/consumers/general/care#advance
What is a California Durable Power of Attorney for Property and Healthcare?
A Power of Attorney is a document that authorizes someone to represent you. A Power of Attorney can authorize another person to make bank transactions, trade stocks, pay your bills, buy or sell your property, file your tax returns, hire people to take care of you, apply for benefits on your behalf and more. You can find more information here: https://www.scscourt.org/self_help/probate/medical/poa.shtml#what
How do I designate a guardian for my children in California?
If you have minor children, it is likely a great concern for you to determine who will take care of your children if you pass away or become incapacitated. When both parents are dead, the court will decide who the guardian will be as per what is the best interest of your children. The court will ask the children what they want and consider your guardianship wishes. Alternatively, while you are alive, if you have legal custody, you can obtain a joint guardianship, and then when you pass away, the legal custody will transfer to the other joint guardian usually without additional hearings. You can find more information here: https://www.courts.ca.gov/1215.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en
What is a California Pour-Over Will?
A Pour-Over Will works hand-in-hand with our Living Trust. It covers everything that may not be in your Living Trust at death to your trust. For example, if you took your home out of your trust to refinance and forgot to put it back into the trust, you Pour-Over Will would make sure that the home is distributed under the terms of the trust. You can find more information here: https://www.scscourt.org/self_help/probate/medical/living_trust.shtml
What is a HIPAA Authorization?
A HIPAA authorization allows the people you designate to have access to your healthcare documents. This can be important for your family members to get updates on your condition, view diagnostics such as lab reports or test results, and to make more informed healthcare decisions on your behalf. You can find a HIPAA form here: https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Documents/Authorization%20for%20Release%20of%20Protected%20Health%20Information%20DHCS%206247.pdf
How can the Law Office of David Knecht help you personalize your estate plan?
Depending on your specific circumstances, you may need other documents. If you are anticipating bankruptcy, divorce, or certain types of lawsuit, you may need strategic planning to protect your beneficiaries. An estate plan goes further than a checklist of documents, but should be approached with a unique plan just for you that provides the best tax strategies and plans to carry out your wishes with exactness. The attorneys at the Law Office of David Knecht, have extensive experience in all aspects of estate planning and can help you create a plan that is complete and advantageous. Contact us at 707-451-4502 for more information.
