Most life insurance policies are simple: You take out a policy for a set face value and a specific number of years. Term life insurance Maybe you take out a term life insurance policy for $500,000 that lasts for 30 years. You make your premium payments each year until the policy expires. If you […]
Estate Planning
Is There a California Estate Tax?
Is there a California estate tax? The short answer is no. California does not impose a state estate tax. When you die as a California resident, no state agency will assess a tax on your estate based on its value at death. For the vast majority of California families, that also means no federal estate […]
Myth vs. Reality: Once I Sign My Documents, I’m Done Forever
So this myth we hear a lot, and I think it was the traditional thought that you would get your estate plan done, tuck it away in your safe deposit box or somewhere safe in your house, and then when you need it, pull it out, and it would magically come to life and carry […]
Gray Marriages: Late-in-Life Unions
The growing trend of “gray marriages” refers to those who are remarrying or marrying for the first time in their 50s or older. Marrying later in life makes a lot of sense regarding being able to pool retirement income and share financial responsibilities. In addition to having greater spending power, companionship in your retirement […]
Before You Write a Handwritten Will, Watch This Video
The answer to that is, which is a pretty common attorney answer, is it depends. So many people think that just kind of jotting down their wishes on a piece of paper is enough to create a valid will. And that is not necessarily true. So in general, states have pretty strict laws and formalities […]
When Estate Planning Documents Say One Thing—and Mean Another
Two recent conversations at Summit, one about blended family planning and one about trust language, highlight a challenge that shows up more often than attorneys might expect: clients and even attorneys sometimes read estate planning documents more literally than the drafters intended. This article explores how terms like “equal” and “irrevocable” can create real confusion and why helping clients understand how a plan actually functions matters just as much as how carefully it was drafted.
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