Sirkin Law Trust Estate Probate Litigation Attorney

What Are the Best Litigation Resolution Tools for Trustees in Los Angeles California?

Skilled trust counsel can provide the best estate and trust litigation resolution and settlement tools for trustees in Los Angeles County California and those tools are in fact very simple in nature.   In essence, inheritance law trust settlement tools allow for communication with the beneficiary or heir which opens the door for settlements.

Taking the time to offer the simple settlement tools in trust and probate cases is well worth it, as it may save you lots of money in litigation.  Management of trustee and beneficiary disputes and their resolution involve many factors.    Just as beneficiaries are given the ability and many tools which protect them against malfeasance by trustees, so have the trustees who sometimes deal with unreasonable beneficiaries.  ADR or alternative dispute resolution works quite well in the trust litigation arena.

California fiduciaries are held to a standard of care.   Trust documents often describe the standard of care of the trustee, but where they fail to specify the care, California law states that the trustee is held to a reasonable trustee standard.   A very detailed look at the standard of care described in the trust can eliminate most issues in litigation. Many times, the trust states that the trustee is not liable for damages unless the loss has resulted from gross negligence. Gross negligence is not the same as negligence.

At the same time, where the trustee has special skills, the courts can expect the trustee to use his special skills in managing the assets of the trust.   Trustees who invest the trust's assets are held to a prudent person (Prudent Investor Rule) standard in California unless the trust specifically relieves them of that specific standard.

For example, the trust may specify that the trustee may hold a property vacant for a period of time after the death of the settlor.  

Litigation can occur where the parent has left no specific instructions before death and one child lives in the property of the parent and refuses to pay rent.

Managing expectations of the beneficiaries where one child may live in the property of the parent can be a simple task, if done when the parent is alive and competent.   For example, the trust instrument may allow any beneficiary to live in the property for a specific period of time after death of the settlor rent-free, or at a low rent.

What can a Los Angeles trustee do to manage potential disputes among a successor trustee and beneficiaries?

1.   Give Notice of Proposed Action.   For example, a trustee who seeks to charge a beneficiary rent during the period of administration, but before distribution should give Notice of Proposed Action to determine the level of potential disputes.

2.   Give Notice of Proposed INACTION.   California law allows a trustee to give Notice of Inaction where the trustee seeks not to take action on a particular issue.   For example, this can mean that even though the beneficiary may expect the trustee to rent the house, the trustee will not be renting it, because the cost of bringing it up to rent standards is too high.

3.   Seek pre-litigation mediation.    Trustees and beneficiaries who may not agree on certain issues, such as sales price, sale date and distribution date can often prevent future disputes when parties realize the cost of litigation and want to act timely to prevent harm in a declining market. There are many times in a declining market where the beneficiaries do not recognize market value as a result of a failure in communication and an early agreement regarding sales price and sales timing.

4.   Obtain instructions from the court.   A Petition for instructions is sometimes the best remedy for preventing litigation.  Before a trustee takes action, he or she can seek instructions from the court.    This can be an especially useful tool where the trustee expects disputes regarding the manner of distribution or trustee's compensation.

5.   Present a settlement agreement early.   Early mediation and early settlement offers resolve cases. Settlement agreements which involve specific actions of the trustee can be drafted quickly and prevent future inheritance law disputes on single issue disputes.  Once entered, the trustee and beneficiaries can limit the scope of the settlement, but agree on its enforcement and admissibility in the event there is a future disagreement on that issue.   A settlement agreement can be presented before mediation or during mediation and often protects all parties from significant legal fees which can be expended during litigation.

Mina N. Sirkin is a Trust and Estate Litigation Attorney in Los Angeles, California.   Ms. Sirkin is a Board Certified Specialist Attorney in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California.   For consultation appointments about settling probate and trust cases or litigation prevention in trust and estates, call Karen Reyes at 818-340-4479.   http://SirkinLaw.com/attorneys.html  

Mina N. Sirkin, Specialist in Trust and Probate

Law in Los Angeles Ca

Call: 818.340.4479

Email: [email protected]

"We help our clients negotiate and settle estate inheritance law cases in Los Angeles California."

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What kind of lawyer do you need for someone with dementia? Sirkin Law Group

What kind of lawyer do you need for someone with dementia? Sirkin Law Group | 818.340.4479

A person with dementia may need several kinds of attorneys at the same time, depending on the circumstances:

1.  Sometimes, the person who is taking care of the person with dementia looks for an estate lawyer.   In the early stages of dementia, a good estate planning attorney can create documents which can avoid a conservatorship.

2.  Other times, a Conservatorship attorney should be hired by the person taking care of the alzheimer/ dementia patient to evaluate the need for a conservatorship.

3.  An elder abuse attorney is sometimes needed to assert the claims of the elderly whose assets have been wrongfully taken by another person.

4.  A Medi-Cal planning or elder law attorney is also someone who may be consulted to determine if the elder may be qualified for longterm care Medi-Cal and asset protection.

At Sirkin Law Group, our attorneys are well-versed in all of the above areas.   We strive to provide all legal services needed by elderly and families affected by dementia or Alzheimers.   Call our Certified Specialist Attorney, Mina Sirkin, at 818.340.4479 to assist you with the exact services needed.  Our Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley offices can help you.  Woodland Hills, Glendale, Pasadena, Los Angeles CA. Los Angeles Probate Lawyer

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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.  

 

Trust Administration and Litigation Lawyer, Los Angeles California

Trust Administration and Litigation Lawyer, Mina Sirkin advises clients regarding the most important aspects of estate planning and trust administration in preventing litigation in Los Angeles, California.

Some of the most important aspects of trust administration involve preventative actions by the trustee or successor trustee of a trust which reduce risks of litigation.   Many beneficiaries believe that their needs are not being addressed by the successor trustee.   Some of those needs are easily identified by the trustee by simply conducting a survey of the beneficiaries at the start of administration.

For example, a trustee who is in the process of trust administration, may want to ask the beneficiaries the following:

1.  Do you want the trustee to sell the trust property?

2.  What do you think is a reasonable price for the sale of the trust assets?

3.  What is your expectation of the time it takes to distribute the trust's assets?

4.   What is your expectation of the cost of administering the trust?

By conducting a survey, the trustee can gauge his or her actions in line with beneficiaries' expectations and avoid possible conflicts by early mediation or a vote of beneficiaries on issues which may result in conflict.

Mina N. Sirkin is a Trust Administration and Litigation Lawyer in Los Angeles, California.  She is Certified as a Specialist Lawyer in Trust Law, Probate and Estate Planning in Los Angeles, California. 818-340-4479.  [email protected]. http://www.SirkinLaw.com