Sirkin Law Trust Estate Probate Litigation Attorney

Life Stages and Life Changes that Affect Your Estate Plan: Estate Planning in Los Angeles

Life stages and life changes affect your estate plan and your family's inheritance.  When there are changes in a person's life, a preexisting estate plan needs to be reviewed in light of the changes.

It is wise to have your will, trust and power of attorney reviewed when some or all of these changes have occurred:

a.  You went through a divorce.

b.  Your spouse is ill.

c.  You are ill or have a diagnosis of a chronic disease.

d.  You are about to end a business relationship, or partnership.

e.  You are thinking of retiring and need to find a successor to your business.

f.   You have a child or a grandchild who is disabled, or on Medi-Cal or has a serious medical condition.

g.  You have a child who spends too much, or has a drug or alcohol problem.

There are many other changes which require a visit to your estate planning attorney.   A review can save your estate from unintended consequences.   Call us for an effective and efficient review, if you have life a life stage change, or something in your life has changed.   Don't think that your old estate plan is enough.   Just as you review your health, you should review your estate plan.

Mina Sirkin is an expert in estate planning and estate litigation in Los Angeles County, California. With our legal offices in Woodland Hills, Glendale, and West L.A., we can help you determine what is best for your circumstances.  818.340.4479 or Email:  [email protected]

Mina N. Sirkin

Probate Specialist Attorney

Los Angeles & Woodland Hills California

Learn about Life Stages and Changes that Affect Your Estate Plan, and in Planning your Estate.

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Do you Have Questions About Wills Trusts & Probate in Los Angeles? San Fernando Valley

Frequently Asked Questions about Wills, Trusts & Probate

• By: Mina N. Sirkin
• Certified Specialist Estate Planning Lawyer Los Angeles
• Sirkin Law Group, P.C.
• 21550 Oxnard St. #300
• Woodland Hills, CA 91367
• 818-340-4479
• Email: [email protected]
• http://LosAngelesProbateLawyer.com

What happens if you die without a will?

• In California, if you die without a will, you are said to have died intestate.
• California has a set of default rules for who gets the estate if there is no will.
• Generally, as to community property, the surviving spouse gets 100% of the community property if there is no will in California.
• As to separate property, the children and spouse share it depending on whether there are any children, and the number of children.

The Default Estate- No will

Community Property: 100% to Spouse, or  Registered Domestic Partner, if any.

Separate Property:

If there are no children, the spouse (Domestic Partner) gets it.

If there are children, ½ to spouse, and ½ if only one child. If more than one child, then 1/3 to spouse and 2/3 split among the children.

What is the Cost of Probate Administration in Los Angeles

• Generally, there are several categories of fees and costs.
• Statutory Fees and for Personal Representative and for the Attorney for the Personal Representative
• Extra-ordinary Fees for Personal Representative and his/her lawyer.
• Bond (if not waived)
• Filing Fees for Petitions
• Probate Referee’s Appraisal Fees
• Miscellaneous Costs of Letters and Certified Orders
• Translation of California Statutory Fees

Estate Size            Statutory Fees for Each Personal

                                  Representative and his/her attorney

$100,000              $4,000

$200,000              $7,000 

$500,000             $13,000

$800,000            $19,000

$1,000,000        $23,000

$2,000,000       $33,000 

$3,000,000      $43,000

How long does it take to close a probate estate in Los Angeles?

• A nice probate without any litigation in Los Angeles can take about a year.
• Most cases take somewhere between 1-2 years to complete.
• Complications can happen when there are undiscovered assets or assets which have escheated to the State of California or other states.
• What if there is not enough money to pay cash gifts in a will?
• Cash gifts usually get paid first before the residue.
• If there is no residue, and the cash gifts exceed the size of the estate, the cash gifts get reduced (called abated.

What happens if the deceased left more than one will?

• If the decedent left more than one will, generally, there is a presumption that the last one governs, unless:
• You can show there was fraud, duress, mistake, undue influence, or lack of capacity at the time of execution of the will.
• In that case, there will be a will contest and the court will set the case for a trial as to which will is valid.

What are the best ways to prevent
gold diggers from getting to your trust assets?

• Preventing undue influence can be effectuated by:
• Naming a Professional Fiduciary as Successor Trustee
• Setting up an automatic change in the trustee to a professional, once trustor reaches a particular age
• Creating an Exclusive Method of Revocation for the Trust.
• Creating an Exclusive Method of withdrawal and transfer of property from the Trust.

About Mina Sirkin, Los Angeles Probate Lawyer

• Mina N. Sirkin has been practicing probate law in Los Angeles County since 1992.
• Ms. Sirkin is a Board Certified Specialist in Probate, Estate Planning, and Trust Law in California.
• Frequent Media Expert on Estate and Conservatorship Cases in Los Angeles
• Appeared on CNN, CNBC, Inside Edition, RollingStone.com, KCET, NPR News

What happens to your Google Account when you die? Probate Attorney Los Angeles

What happens to your Google Account when you die?

Mina Sirkin, a Probate Attorney in Los Angeles says that Google will consider your account an inactive account, but has implemented a way for you to set up a Trusted Contact person who will be able to download parts of your account data if your account is inactive for a period of time.

Here's Google's policy on inactive accounts and what you can do to protect yourself:

"Inactive Account Manager is a way for users to share parts of their account data or notify someone if they’ve been inactive for a certain period of time. To set up Inactive Account Manager, go to www.google.com/settings and click on the setup link under Account Management.

How do we detect activity?

We look at several signals to understand whether you are still using your Google Account. These include your last sign-ins, your web history, usage of Gmail (e.g., the Gmail app on your phone) and Android check-ins.

What happens when your account gets deleted?

Deleting your Google Account will affect all products associated with that account (e.g., Blogger, AdSense, Gmail), and affect each product differently. You can review the data associated with your account on the Google Dashboard. If you use Gmail with your account, you'll no longer be able to access that email. You'll also be unable to reuse your Gmail username.

Why do I need to provide a phone number for a trusted contact?

We'll use the phone number for the sole purpose of ensuring that only the trusted contact can actually download your data. Verifying the identity using a mobile phone number prevents data access from unauthorized people who might get hold of the email we send to your trusted contact.

What will trusted contacts receive?

Contacts will only receive notification once your account has been inactive for the specified amount of time -- they will not receive any notification during setup. If you chose to only notify your contacts of your inactive account, they'll receive an email with a subject line and content that you wrote during setup. We'll add a footer to that email, explaining that you've instructed Google to send an email on your behalf after you've stopped using your account. This footer might say something like this:

John Doe ([email protected]) instructed Google to send you this mail automatically after John stopped using his account.

Sincerely,
The Google Accounts Team

If you chose to share data with your trusted contact, the email will additionally contain a list of the data you have chosen to share with them, and a link they can follow to download the data. An example of such message could be:

John Doe ([email protected]) instructed Google to send you this mail automatically after John stopped using his account.

John Doe has given you access to the following account data:

• +1s
• Blogger
• Drive
• Latitude
• Mail
• Picasa Web Albums
• YouTube

Download John's data here.

Sincerely,
The Google Accounts Team

Learn more about how you can share your data with trusted contacts."

Above was quoted from Google's support page.

Mina N. Sirkin is a Probate Attorney in Los Angeles.  She is a Certified Specialist Attorney in Trusts, Estate Planning and Probate. Tel.: 818-340-4479.