Rancho Palos Verdes, CA Estate Planning Attorneys

Trusted Estate Planning Lawyer Serving Families in Rancho Palos Verdes, California

When you have built up assets through years of effort, sacrifice, and careful decision-making, you will want to make sure you and your family are protected. You can do so by ensuring that you have a comprehensive estate plan in place. Without proper planning, you and your loved ones may encounter difficulties. Your family may be forced to spend months dealing with legal issues and court procedures that thoughtful planning could have prevented entirely.

At the Law Offices of Russell M. Ozawa, our lawyer helps families in Rancho Palos Verdes build estate plans that reflect their values and protect their loved ones. He works closely with every client, taking the time to understand their circumstances and goals before translating those goals into legally sound, carefully coordinated documents that provide genuine protection.

What a Comprehensive Estate Plan Covers

A complete estate plan is a set of legal documents that addresses two broad categories of concern. The first is testamentary planning, which will determine what will happen to a person's assets and their legacy after their death. The second is incapacity planning, which can determine who will make decisions about a person's finances, property, and medical care if they need assistance or become incapacitated during their lifetime.

Creating Wills

A last will and testament is the cornerstone document of most estate plans. It will allow a person to specify how their assets will be distributed to different beneficiaries after their death. They can also name a person known as an executor who will manage and distribute the assets in their estate. Parents of minor children can use their will to name a guardian who will raise the children if they die unexpectedly.

Why a Will Is Important

Without a valid will, California's intestate succession laws will determine how a person's estate will be distributed to their heirs. These laws will divide assets based on family relationships, but they will not take a deceased person's wishes into consideration. A will gives a person control over these decisions, ensuring that the distribution of their assets reflects their true intentions.

Drafting a Will

The value of a will depends on how well it is drafted. A will that uses vague language or fails to account for all of a person's assets can lead to disputes among beneficiaries. Our attorney can help clients think through each major decision their will must address, including who will receive what property, in what proportions, and under what conditions. For parents, he can help ensure that the proper guardianship designations are included in a will.

Our lawyer will also ensure that a will satisfies all legal requirements, ensuring that it will hold up to scrutiny. A will that fails to meet the proper requirements may be challenged during the probate process, or it may be found to be invalid.

Setting up Trusts

For many families, a will alone is not enough to address their estate planning needs. Trusts offer some additional options that wills cannot provide, including the ability to avoid probate, plan for incapacity, protect assets, provide for beneficiaries with special needs, and a greater degree of control over how and when assets will be distributed.

Our attorney can provide guidance on the types of trusts that may be used for different purposes. He will take steps to ensure that clients understand how different types of trusts work, what they may be designed to accomplish, and how they interact with other parts of an estate plan.

Revocable Living Trusts

When a person creates a living trust, they will typically be able to serve as the trustee and maintain control over their assets. A revocable living trust can include terms that will ensure that assets will be managed correctly if the person becomes incapacitated. A successor trustee can immediately assume control of the trust, and there will be no need for court intervention. By providing instructions for the distribution of the trust's assets, a person can help avoid the complications and delays involved in the probate process while maintaining privacy for their family.

Special Needs Trusts

In a situation where a family member or other loved one has a physical or developmental disability, leaving an inheritance to this loved one or giving them assets outright could disqualify them from receiving certain types of public benefits. A special needs trust can avoid this by holding assets for the benefit of a person with a disability and ensuring that these assets are used in a way that will supplement government benefits rather than replacing them.

Irrevocable Trusts

Once an irrevocable trust is established, its terms generally cannot be changed, and the assets transferred into it will no longer be considered part of a person's estate. By giving up control over assets, a person can achieve a number of legal and financial benefits.

Because assets in an irrevocable trust are not part of a person's taxable estate, this can help to reduce potential estate taxes that may apply after a person's death. Assets in irrevocable trusts may also be protected from claims by creditors, as well as other types of losses that could affect beneficiaries.

Charitable Trusts

Many people and families plan to donate money or other assets to charity, and trusts can be used to make the most of these donations. A person may create a charitable remainder trust that will provide them with income for a certain number of years or for the rest of their life, and any remaining assets will be donated to charitable organizations. Charitable lead trusts may also be used to make donations to charity over a certain time period, after which the remaining assets will pass to family members or other beneficiaries.

Ensuring That Trusts Are Created and Funded Correctly

A trust that is not properly drafted or funded will not be effective. One of the most common estate planning mistakes involves creating a trust document but failing to transfer assets into the trust. In these cases, assets would be subject to probate, and complications may arise as they are distributed to beneficiaries.

Our attorney can help clients understand which assets should be transferred into trusts, and he can assist with the legal steps required to retitle real estate, bank accounts, and investment accounts. He can also provide guidance on how to coordinate beneficiary designations on life insurance policies and retirement accounts with trusts and other estate planning documents.

Incapacity Planning

A comprehensive estate plan will prepare for the possibility that a person may encounter a situation where they are unable to manage their own affairs. While planning for incapacity may be important for older adults who may experience deterioration of their physical and mental health, it can also address other situations, such as accidents that result in serious injuries or unexpected illnesses. With the right legal documents in place, a family can be prepared for a crisis and avoid the need to establish conservatorship for a person.

Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Matters

With a durable power of attorney, a person can grant a trusted agent the legal authority to manage financial concerns and related matters on their behalf. When a power of attorney is durable, the agent's authority will remain in effect after a person's incapacitation.

The terms of a financial power of attorney can be tailored to a person's specific circumstances. A person may choose to authorize their agent to manage all of their financial affairs, or a more limited document may restrict the agent's authority to particular accounts or types of transactions.

Advance Health Care Directives

An advance health care directive can address medical decision-making during a person's incapacity. This document can designate a health care agent through a power of attorney for health care. The health care agent will be given the authority to make certain types of decisions about a person's care, while following the wishes the person has set down in the directive.

An advance medical directive may also provide specific instructions about medical treatment. A person can include decisions about whether they want treatment that will keep them alive if they are terminally ill or whether they want to receive treatment that will minimize their pain and discomfort and ease their passing. Documenting these wishes clearly can help family members avoid disputes as they make difficult decisions about the appropriate care.

Keeping an Estate Plan Current

An estate plan should be a set of living documents that will be revisited and updated as a family's circumstances and a person's goals evolve over time. Our lawyer can work with clients to ensure that their estate plans keep pace with the changes in their lives.

Life Events That May Require Changes to an Estate Plan

Marriage is a common reason for an estate plan review. A new spouse may need to be added as a beneficiary, or provisions may need to be revised to reflect the new relationship. Divorce may also need to be addressed, ensuring that the terms of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, or other documents are revised to remove an ex-spouse.

The birth or adoption of a child is another reason to make updates to estate planning documents. Parents will want to ensure that children are included as beneficiaries, that the proper guardianship designations are in place, and that trusts are structured to provide for their child's needs.

The death of a person named in an estate plan, including a beneficiary, executor, trustee, or health care agent, will require documents to be updated. This can ensure that the proper roles will be filled by the right people. It can also help prevent confusion about who should receive different assets.

Changes in Assets

When the nature or value of the assets owned by a person and family have changed, this may affect an existing estate plan. When real estate property is acquired, it may need to be titled in the name of a trust to ensure that it will pass to beneficiaries outside of probate. The establishment of a business, the receipt of an inheritance, or a substantial increase in wealth may also require changes to different estate planning documents. Our attorney can help clients assess their financial situation and make updates to address new assets and new financial circumstances.

Contact Our Rancho Palos Verdes, California Estate Planning Attorney

When addressing concerns related to your estate plan, the attorney at the Law Offices of Russell M. Ozawa is ready to help you. He can advise you on the best steps to take to protect what matters most to you. Set up a free consultation by contacting our Rancho Palos Verdes estate planning lawyer at 626-499-4500.