Estate Planning

Do you want to make sure your survivors have peace of mind by knowing that you properly planned for the future?

The loss of a loved one is difficult enough on a personal level. The last thing a loved one wants to do is navigate the lengthy and costly world of probate court.

Estate planning in Covina, CA is a process you control. Please see below for a summary of the documents we recommend for almost all of our clients.

Revocable Living Trust

• A document that allows your beneficiaries to avoid probate court, which can be both expensive and time-consuming.

• You choose the “successor trustee”, the person (or persons) you designate to be in charge of dispersing your assets among your beneficiaries.
• Can be amended or revoked.
• We transfer real property (e.g., your home), personal property (e.g., household belongings), and many of your other assets.
• We create the deed (or deeds) to transfer property (or properties) from your name as an individual to your trust’s name.

Pourover Will

• Essentially, a “catch all” document that works with the living trust to ensure that all your assets in Covina, CA have been moved to the trust.
• Basically states, “Anything I accidentally left out of my trust, I leave to my trust.”

Durable Power of Attorney

• A document that is important while you are living, but incapacitated (meaning, you cannot make decisions for yourself).
• Applies to financial matters: Specifies who you appoint to make financial decisions on your behalf and what powers that person will have (e.g., power to sign checks, etc.).

Advanced Health Care Directive

• Another document that is important while you are living, but incapacitated.
• Applies to healthcare matters: Specifies who you appoint to make healthcare decisions on your behalf and what powers that person has (e.g., remaining or not remaining on life support, donating organs, etc.).