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Estate planning involves preparing legal and financial documents to outline how your assets will be managed and distributed after death or if incapacitated. It’s important to ensure your wishes are carried out, reduce potential disputes, protect loved ones, and minimize taxes or court involvement.

A comprehensive estate plan often includes:

Revocable Living Trust

We create the deed (or deeds) to transfer property (or properties) from your name as an individual to your trust’s name. A Living Trust is 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.

Another benefit of this is that it 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. More information on Revocable Trust can be found here.

Pourover Will

Essentially, a “catch all” document that works with the living trust to ensure that all your assets in Covina and Temple City, 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.). A power of Attorney in Covina, CA or Temple City, CA can be drafted in multiple ways in regards to “effect” and “power”. Check out more information on Power of Attorney.

Advanced Health Care Directive

Another document that is important while you are living, but incapacitated, but applies to healthcare matters by specifying 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.).

A will is a public document that takes effect after death, requiring probate. A trust is a private arrangement that can take effect during life (living trust) or upon death. Trusts often allow for faster, more flexible, and private distribution of assets while avoiding probate. Click here for more information

Yes, estate planning is not just about wealth. It ensures your healthcare and financial preferences are respected, appoints guardians for dependents, and prevents potential legal issues for your loved ones.

Your estate is distributed according to state intestacy laws. Typically, assets are given to your closest relatives (spouse, children, parents). This process might not align with your wishes, and court proceedings could be lengthy or costly.

You should review it every 3–5 years or whenever significant life changes occur, such as marriage, divorce, birth of a child, relocation to another state, or acquiring new assets.

DIY estate plans are possible using online tools, but they carry risks. State laws vary, and errors can render documents invalid. An attorney ensures your plan is legally sound and customized to your needs.

Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will and settling an estate.
It can be avoided by:

  • Creating a living trust.
  • Titling assets as joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.
  • Designating beneficiaries on accounts.

A POA allows a trusted individual to manage your finances, legal matters, or healthcare decisions if you become incapacitated. Without it, courts may appoint a guardian, delaying decisions.

By having an advance healthcare directive drafted, which includes:

  • A living will to detail specific medical treatments you want or refuse.
    A healthcare proxy to name someone who can make medical decisions on your behalf.

An executor is responsible for managing your estate, paying debts, and distributing assets per your will. Choose someone organized, trustworthy, and willing to take on the role, ideally with some financial knowledge. A trustee is essentially an executor, but for a trust (instead of a will).

You should appoint a legal guardian in your will and establish a trust to control how and when children receive their inheritance. This ensures funds are managed responsibly until they come of age. Our office also offer a Kid’s Protection Plan, which allows you to outline in detail your wishes for how your children should be raised.

California does not have an estate tax, but the US government does if your estate exceeds the lifetime exemption amount. Common strategies to minimize taxes include:

  • Gifting assets during your lifetime.
  • Establishing irrevocable trusts.
  • Charitable donations.

Revocable trust: Allows changes or termination during your lifetime, but doesn’t shield assets from creditors.
Irrevocable trust: Once created, it cannot be modified, but are hardly drafted in California due to our restrictive laws.

Click here for more details.

Yes—an estate plan ensures your medical and financial preferences are respected and avoids leaving decisions to the state or courts.

Yes. You should include usernames, passwords, and instructions for handling digital assets like social media accounts, cryptocurrency, and cloud storage in your estate plan.

Debts are paid from your estate before distributing assets. Family members are typically not liable unless they co-signed or guaranteed the debt.

By updating trusts, wills, beneficiary designations, and more to exclude your ex-spouse. State laws may automatically revoke their rights in certain documents.

Please see our probate calculator here:. https://tyrelawgroup.com/probate-calculator/

These families face unique legal challenges, such as ensuring non-biological parental rights and protecting partners’ inheritance rights, especially in states with less inclusive laws. Please find more information here: https://tyrelawgroup.com/lgbtq-estate-planning/

A form of co-ownership where assets pass automatically to surviving co-owners upon death, bypassing probate. However, there are liability risks with joint tenancy.

Yes, estate planning in California has specific laws and unique considerations compared to other states. Here’s how California’s rules might differ and what to keep in mind

  • California’s Community P
  • Property Laws
  • Probate in California
  • California Living Trusts
  • Community Property with
  • Right of Survivorship
  • Estate Taxes
  • Advance Healthcare Directive and POLST
  • Digital Assets
  • Special Rules for Minor Children
  • Real Property in California
  • Spousal Property Petition
  • Unique Considerations for LGBTQIA+ Individuals

High property values make even modest estates complex.
Probate fees and delays are significant without proper planning.
California-specific tools like community property require professional guidance.