Estate Planning
Securing your legacy and protecting your family's future
Planning for Tomorrow, Today
Estate planning is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your loved ones and ensure your wishes are honored. With over 30 years of experience, Richard Marcus helps individuals and families create comprehensive estate plans that provide peace of mind and financial security for generations to come.
A well-crafted estate plan does more than distribute assets—it protects your family from unnecessary taxes, avoids the delays and costs of probate, and ensures that your healthcare and financial decisions are handled according to your wishes if you become incapacitated.
Estate Planning Services We Offer:
- Wills and living trusts
- Powers of attorney (financial and healthcare)
- Advance healthcare directives
- Beneficiary designations review
- Asset protection strategies
- Trust administration and funding
- Estate plan updates and amendments
Why Estate Planning Matters
Without a proper estate plan, California law determines how your assets are distributed, who makes decisions on your behalf, and who cares for your minor children. This may not align with your wishes and can create unnecessary hardship for your loved ones during an already difficult time.
Richard Marcus takes a personalized approach to estate planning, taking the time to understand your family dynamics, financial situation, and long-term goals. Whether you need a simple will or a comprehensive trust-based plan, we create solutions tailored to your unique circumstances.
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Ready to protect your family's future? Contact us today to discuss your estate planning needs.
Contact UsCalifornia Estate Planning Guide
A comprehensive guide to understanding estate planning in California and protecting your family's future
1. Why You Need an Estate Plan
Estate planning is not just for the wealthy—it's essential for anyone who wants to protect their loved ones and ensure their wishes are honored. Without an estate plan, California's intestacy laws will determine how your assets are distributed, which may not reflect your intentions.
Key benefits of estate planning include:
- Avoiding probate court delays and expenses
- Minimizing estate taxes and protecting assets
- Ensuring minor children are cared for by guardians you choose
- Protecting your family from disputes and confusion
- Maintaining privacy (trusts avoid public probate proceedings)
2. Essential Estate Planning Documents
Last Will and Testament
A will is a legal document that specifies how your assets should be distributed after your death and names guardians for minor children. In California, wills must be properly executed with witnesses to be valid.
Important: Wills must go through probate court, which can take 9-18 months and cost 4-7% of the estate value in California.
Revocable Living Trust
A living trust allows you to transfer assets into a trust during your lifetime, with you as the trustee. Upon your death, assets pass directly to beneficiaries without probate. This is the most popular estate planning tool in California.
Advantages: Avoids probate, maintains privacy, allows for incapacity planning, and provides flexibility to modify during your lifetime.
Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
This document appoints someone to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. Without it, your family may need to go to court to obtain conservatorship, which is expensive and time-consuming.
Advance Healthcare Directive
This combines a healthcare power of attorney (naming someone to make medical decisions) with a living will (stating your end-of-life care preferences). California law requires specific language and execution requirements.
HIPAA Authorization
This allows designated individuals to access your medical information. Without it, even your spouse may be denied information about your condition.
3. Understanding California Probate
Probate is the court-supervised process of distributing a deceased person's assets. In California, probate is particularly expensive and time-consuming compared to other states.
California Probate Costs
California law sets statutory fees for attorneys and executors based on the gross estate value:
- • 4% of the first $100,000
- • 3% of the next $100,000
- • 2% of the next $800,000
- • 1% of the next $9 million
- • 0.5% of the next $15 million
Example: A $1 million estate would incur approximately $23,000 in statutory fees, plus court costs and additional expenses.
Assets that avoid probate:
- Assets held in a living trust
- Jointly owned property with right of survivorship
- Life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries
- Transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts and payable-on-death (POD) accounts
4. Trust Funding: The Critical Step
Creating a trust is only half the battle—you must also fund it by transferring assets into the trust's name. Unfunded trusts don't avoid probate.
Real Estate
Transfer property by recording a new deed with the county recorder. In California, this doesn't trigger property tax reassessment if done correctly.
Bank and Investment Accounts
Contact financial institutions to retitle accounts in the trust's name. Most banks and brokerages have standard trust account forms.
Business Interests
Transfer ownership of business entities, stocks, and partnership interests through assignment documents.
Personal Property
Use an assignment of personal property to transfer vehicles, jewelry, art, and other valuable items.
5. Estate Tax Planning in California
California does not have a state estate tax or inheritance tax. However, federal estate tax applies to estates exceeding $13.61 million per individual (2024) or $27.22 million for married couples.
Tax Planning Strategies
- Portability: Surviving spouses can use their deceased spouse's unused exemption
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs): Remove life insurance proceeds from taxable estate
- Annual Gifting: Give up to $18,000 per person per year (2024) tax-free
- Charitable Trusts: Reduce estate taxes while supporting causes you care about
6. Special Considerations for Blended Families
Blended families with children from previous marriages require careful planning to ensure all family members are provided for while avoiding conflicts.
QTIP Trusts
Qualified Terminable Interest Property trusts provide for a surviving spouse while ensuring assets ultimately pass to children from a previous marriage.
Life Insurance Solutions
Use life insurance to equalize inheritances or provide for children who won't inherit certain assets.
Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
These agreements can clarify property rights and inheritance expectations, reducing potential conflicts.
7. Planning for Incapacity
Incapacity planning is just as important as planning for death. Without proper documents, your family may need to petition for conservatorship, which is expensive, public, and time-consuming.
Essential Incapacity Documents
- Durable Power of Attorney: Allows someone to manage finances and legal matters
- Healthcare Power of Attorney: Designates medical decision-maker
- Living Will: States preferences for end-of-life care
- Revocable Living Trust: Successor trustee can manage trust assets if you're incapacitated
8. Updating Your Estate Plan
Estate plans should be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect life changes and legal developments.
Review your estate plan when:
- You marry, divorce, or remarry
- Children are born or adopted
- You acquire or sell significant assets
- You move to a different state
- Named fiduciaries (trustees, executors, guardians) die or become unsuitable
- Tax laws change significantly
- Every 3-5 years as a general practice
9. Common Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid
Failing to Fund Your Trust
The most common mistake—creating a trust but not transferring assets into it. Unfunded trusts don't avoid probate.
Not Updating Beneficiary Designations
Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance override your will or trust. Keep them current.
Using DIY Estate Planning for Complex Situations
Online forms may work for simple situations, but complex estates, blended families, or business ownership require professional guidance.
Naming Minor Children as Beneficiaries
Minors can't inherit directly. Use trusts to hold assets for children until they reach an appropriate age.
Forgetting Digital Assets
Include provisions for digital assets like cryptocurrency, online accounts, social media, and digital photos.
10. Working with an Estate Planning Attorney
While simple estate plans can sometimes be handled with online tools, working with an experienced attorney ensures your plan is legally sound, tax-efficient, and tailored to your unique situation.
What to Expect
- Initial Consultation: Discuss your goals, family situation, and assets
- Document Preparation: Attorney drafts customized estate planning documents
- Review and Signing: Review documents and execute them with proper formalities
- Trust Funding Assistance: Guidance on transferring assets into your trust
- Ongoing Support: Updates and amendments as your life circumstances change
Next Steps: Protect Your Family's Future
Don't leave your family's future to chance. With over 30 years of experience, Richard Marcus provides personalized estate planning services tailored to your unique needs and goals. Schedule a consultation today to discuss how we can help you create a comprehensive estate plan that provides peace of mind for you and security for your loved ones.
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