Redding Estate Planning Law Blog

When California residents think about a probate dispute, they may envision family members fighting with each other over who should take what of an estate. While intra-family quarrels are one type of probate issue, and the kind that tends to grab headlines, there are other cases in which litigation can develop after a person dies. For example, despite how much one may try to avoid it, most people may end up dying owing money to another party, be it an individual, a business or a government agency.

Moreover, there are some who will die with large but who may be exposed to legal liability, meaning another party had a right to sue the deceased person. For example, someone who dies behind the wheel in a car accident which also kills or injures other victims may well be at fault and owe compensation.

Many residents of Northern California may wish to leave some or even all of their fortunes to their charities. There are a number of ways in which a person can accomplish this goal. For instance, for some, the best course of action may be to set up a charitable trust.

Charitable trusts can offer a number of important tax incentives to those who set them up. Even if estate taxes or inheritance taxes are not an issue, charitable trusts also offer income tax and capital gains tax incentives, if they are set up properly. Moreover, a charitable trust allows the donor to give money to charity, but maintain some oversight, thus helping the donor ensure that his or her money is being used according to his or her wishes.

This blog has previously talked about how Californians who want to avoid probate can do so. For instance, many residents of Redding may want to rely on trusts to avoid the probate process.

In other cases, jointly held real estate may be a good tool to ensure that a person's loved ones get the person's property with minimal inconvenience.

Like other states, California has laws that specify what happens if a resident of this state dies without a will.

As many Northern Californians who pay attention to the news know, even people who are quite wealthy can from time to time simply neglect their estate planning and then die leaving millions but no will. However, California's so-called intestacy laws would also apply in situations where the only known will gets invalidated or fails to dispose of all the assets that get administered through probate.