Sirkin Law Trust Estate Probate Litigation Attorney

Probate Attorney in Woodland Hills Addresses Common Probate Administration Problems

Probate Attorney Woodland Hills | Sirkin Law Group Probate | Call 818.340.447

As a probate attorney in Woodland Hills, Sirkin Law's attorneys address common probate administration problems on a daily basis. Woodland Hills residents may wonder what the probate process is like in Los Angeles from an attorney's point of view. 

"The most important thing you need to remember about probate is that Probate is a protective proceeding."

1.   The probate process insures that the court supervises the actions of an executor or administrator in the administration of the estate.  

2.  The Probate judge also overlooks the admission of wills and allows a forum for people to question authenticity, or validity of any will or codicil.  Sometimes, a will or codicil cannot be admitted, if it was the result of undue influence, fraud or lack of capacity of the decedent.   The probate process allows for relatives to voice their concerns and objections to a will or codicil via a will contest.

3.   It insures that creditors' rights are protected, and assigns deadlines for creditors to file a claim.

4.   Probate provides a method of transfer of title to property of a decedent.   The final order of the court distributing a property to a particular person, is the equivalent of a deed.

5.   Probate court assign a timeline for an accounting for the executor or administrator, and a time for distribution of the assets of the estate.

How do you file probate in Los Angeles?

The process in Los Angeles begins with appointing an executor or administrator via by filing a Petition for Probate with the Central Court (Downtown). The petition requires that a notice be published in the local newspaper where the decedent resided.   The purpose for the publication and notice requirements is to make sure that any relatives find out about the probate filing, have an opportunity to object, and that creditors can come forward to to file a claim to collect any money due them by the decedent.

Unless there is a will that waives bond, or the court at its discretion waives the bond, the Court requires that an administrator/ executor post a bond. Sometimes, administrators cannot get bonded due to bad creditor, or prior bankruptcies or other reasons.    If a bond is ordered but it it is not posted, the executor/ administrator cannot get appointed unless an alternative method is used.  Bond waivers are getting more rare in Los Angeles and require a personal appearance by the administrator or executor, to request one.

The alternatives to a bond are as follows: A blocked account, or appointment of another person, such as a private professional fiduciary, or a trust company as administrator.

Do you have disagreements regarding certain issues in probate?

While there are many times where there are disputes regarding actions of an executor or administrator, there are great also opportunities for settlement of cases in probate via mediation.    The least expensive way of settling a probate dispute is by mediation.   

Common Probate Problems in Woodland Hills:

Some common problems in probate are:

1.  Death without a will: Intestate succession rules.
2.  Death with a lost will.
3.  Post-Death Contests of the will;
4.  Pretermitted or omitted spouse share challenges;
5.  Disputes about community property transfers by the decedent.
6.  Disputes about whether a property is owned by the decedent or other third parties.   All of the above can delay probate and the distribution of the estate assets.   Call our probate attorney for help.

 

Why hire us?

Mina Sirkin is a nationally recognized probate attorney and has served as a media expert to CNN, MSNBC, Inside Edition, NPR and KTLA regarding probate and estate matters.  She is Certified as a Specialist by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California, in Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Law.   Mina Sirkin is rated 10/10 on Avvo.  Sirkin Law Group's Probate Offices are located in Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, Glendale and Pasadena.  Call: 818.340.4479.  http://WoodlandHillsProbate.com.  Ask us about Problems in Probate Administration in Woodland Hills.

 

Mina Sirkin, Probate Specialist Attorney

818.340.4479

[email protected]

Probate Attorney Los Angeles | Sirkin Law Group Probate | Los Angeles County, Glendale, Woodland Hills

Probate Attorney Los Angeles | Sirkin Law Group Probate | Call 818.340.447

Some of you may wonder what the probate process is like in Los Angeles from an attorney's perspective.  

"The most important fact to know about probate is that Probate is a protective proceeding."

1.   The process insures that the court supervises the actions of an executor or administrator.  

2.  The Court overlooks the admission of wills and allows a forum for people to question authenticity of any will or codicil.  Sometimes, a will or codicil cannot be admitted, if it was the result of undue influence, fraud or lack of capacity of the decedent.   The probate process allows for relatives to voice their concerns and objections to a will or codicil via a will contest.

3.   It insures that creditors' rights are protected, via a bond.

4.   Probate provides a method of transfer of title to property of a decedent.

5.  It includes a timeline for an accounting for the executor or administrator, and a time for distribution of the assets of the estate.

How do you file probate in Los Angeles?

The process in Los Angeles begins with a Petition for Probate filed with the Central Court (Downtown). The petition requires that a notice be published in the local newspaper where the decedent resided.   The reason for the publication and notice requirements is to make sure that any relatives find out about the probate filing, have an opportunity to object, and that creditors can come forward to collect any money due them by the decedent.

Unless there is a will that waives bond, or the court at its discretion waives the bond, the Court requires that an administrator/ executor post a bond. Sometimes, administrators cannot get bonded due to bad creditor, or prior bankruptcies or other reasons.    If a bond is ordered but it it is not posted, the executor/ administrator cannot get appointed unless an alternative method is used.  Bond waivers are getting more rare in Los Angeles and require a personal appearance to request one.

The alternative to a bond is a blocked account, or appointment of another person, such as a private professional fiduciary, or a trust company as administrator.

What if you can't agree to an issue in probate?

While there are many times where there are disputes regarding actions of an executor or administrator, there are great opportunities for settlement of cases in probate via mediation.    The least expensive way of settling a probate dispute is by mediation.

Why hire us?

Mina Sirkin is a nationally recognized probate attorney and has served as a media expert to CNN, MSNBC, Inside Edition, NPR and KTLA regarding probate and estate matters.  She is Certified as a Specialist by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California, in Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Law.   Mina Sirkin is rated 10/10 on Avvo.  Sirkin Law Group's Probate Offices are located in Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, Glendale and Pasadena. Probate Attorney Los Angeles  

Call: 818.340.4479. Los Angeles Probate Lawyer

Conservatorship of Amanda Bynes: Mina Sirkin quoted on EOnline

Conservatorship of Amanda Bynes: EOnline 

Los Angeles, Califoria Conservatorship of Amanda Bynes

So what's the deal?

"Bynes, 28, remains under a temporary conservatorship that was reinstated on Monday, giving her mom Lynn Bynes control once again over her finances and medical decisions pending a hearing set for Feb. 24, 2015. And since a judge ruled also ruled at the time that it was the right thing to keep her hospitalized, why the quick about-face?

Mina Sirkin, an estate, probate and trust attorney in Los Angeles who's an expert regarding conservatorships, tells E! News that, after a hold is extended for 30 days (Bynes wasinitially admitted Oct. 10 on a 72-hour hold that was subsequently extended for 14 days), the patient "has a right to say why she should not be in an involuntary hold."

READ: The recent turbulent history of Amanda Bynes

"She has the right to have her own expert psychiatrist testify as to why she should not be held against her wishes," Sirkin, who is not involved with Bynes' case, continued. "Mary Shea [Bynes' court-appointed attorney] is a very capable public defender. "She will hire the top psychiatrist to show that Amanda is not so impaired to need to be in a secured facility. She will display her as merely eccentric."

So, even though the hold was technically extended, Bynes had the right to argue her case and was released right not long after her two-week hold was supposed to expire.

 

"Under mental health rules, a person cannot be involuntarily held without a court order beyond the days the statute allows," Sirkin explained. "First, 72 hours, then 14 days, and then 30 days. At the 30th day, a hearing has to be set to keep her longer under the LPS [Conservatorship] rules." 

"At the hearing, a psychiatrist has to testify as to why she remains gravely disabled, meaning that she is of either danger to herself or to others," Sirkin continued. "The conservatorship does not necessarily require hospitalization. Her mental state is what is in question [regarding] whether or not she needs to be in a secured facility against her wishes.  What a Conservatorship over a person means: what a person can and cannot be forced to do. It appears they can't be forced to stay in an institution. 

"Conservatorship of the person allows for the conservator to make medical decisions for her, but a locked-facility or secure-facility order require special circumstances of grave disability."

So between now and February...

"She will be out, unless she has another episode which requires her to go in under another 72-hour hold, called a 5150 hold," Sirkin said. "The spending issues are related only to the conservator of the estate and cannot affect the decision to release her."

Meanwhile, Bynes did not show up in court this afternoon, though her parents, Rick and Lynn, did with their attorney, as did a lawyer whom the judge ultimately refused to accept as Amanda's counsel, saying the actress turned fashion student lacked the capacity to form a contract (common conservatorship-related language). 

..."

Mina N. Sirkin is a Los Angeles Conservatorship Attorney, and Board Certified Specialist Attorney in Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Law in Los Angeles, California.  She can be reached at 818.340.4479 or by email at [email protected].

 Glendale Conservatorship

 

 

 

Los Angeles Probate Attorney, Mina Sirkin quoted in Rollingstone re Jackson v. AEG Trial

Rollingstone quotes Mina Sirkin, Los Angeles Probate Attorney, re Jackson v. AEG

By Steve Knopper

April 10, 2013 11:05 AM ET

"The latest super-trial involving Michael Jackson will hinge on a few key questions: Did executives from AEG Live, Jackson's concert promoter, hire Dr. Conrad Murray? And did they pressure Murray into pumping Jackson full of drugs so he could sleep properly and be ready to perform his scheduled multimillion-dollar shows at London's O2 Arena?

Jackson's family – mother Katherine and children Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket – argue that AEG is at fault for the singer's unexpected death after an overdose of sleep medication on June 25th, 2009. They're suing AEG for $40 billion, claiming wrongful death. "The truth about what happened to Michael, which AEG has tried to keep hidden from the public since the day Michael died, is finally emerging," the family's attorney, Kevin Boyle, said earlier this year. "We look forward to the trial where the rest of the story will come to light." (Attorneys for the family and AEG would not comment to Rolling Stone.)

Video: Conrad Murray Sings During TV Interview

The trial began last week with jury selection. It could last from two to four months, with potentially dramatic testimony from all three Jackson children as well as high-profile witnesses such as the musicians Prince, Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, Lisa Marie Presley, Jackson's brothers and Sharon Osbourne.

The family's goal is to make an emotional case to the Los Angeles Superior Court jury, painting AEG as a money-hungry promoter. The $40 billion claim may be to draw attention to the case for public-relations purposes, or to create a strong starting point for a settlement negotiation – or it may actually be what the Jacksons believe they can win. "They may feel they're going to fight this to the bitter end because [AEG] killed Michael," explains Stan Goldman, a Loyola Law School law professor who teaches criminal law and legal ethics and has closely followed trials involving Michael Jackson over the years. "They may feel as strongly about getting them punished as they did about Conrad Murray being punished." (Murray is in prison after a 2009 involuntary manslaughter conviction.)

Supporting the Jacksons' case are emails reportedly sent by AEG executives in the 2009 run-up to Jackson's O2 shows. In March 2009, Randy Phillips, the company's president, wrote in an email to his superiors, "MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent. I [am] trying to sober him up. I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking. He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time." At the time, Phillips was offering a very different sentiment in public: "In order to do this deal, Michael had to submit to a five-hour physical by an independent, third-party physician picked by the insurance carrier," he said then. "He passed with flying colors."

The family is likely to argue that the emails show AEG officials not only knew about Jackson's inability to perform, but they pushed him to do so anyway. While AEG's attorneys argue vehemently that it was Jackson himself, and not AEG, who hired Murray, one internal email suggests otherwise. "We want to remind [Murray] that it is AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary," the company's co-chief executive, Paul Gongaware, wrote 11 days before Jackson's death. "We want to remind him what is expected of him."

It's unclear how much credibility these emails will have to a jury, or whether Judge Yvette Palazuelos will find them admissible. "Just one email isn't by itself enough," says Mina Sirkin, a Woodland Hills, California lawyer who specializes in estate planning and trusts. "But if it does get admitted during trial, it could be pretty damaging."

Nonetheless, AEG's goal will be to insist that Jackson himself hired Murray and gave him instructions. "I don't know how you can't look to Mr. Jackson's responsibility there. He was a grown man," the company's attorney, Marvin Putnam, told CNN. "Mr. Jackson is a person who was known to doctor-shop. He was known to be someone who would tell one doctor one thing and another doctor something else."

Jackson's death was due to a fatal dose of propofol, a powerful anesthetic; Murray gave it to him after Jackson begged for the drug he called "milk." In a bizarre phone interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper last week, which involved the doctor singing Nat King Cole's "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" at length on cable television, Murray suggested he might not take the Fifth Amendment if called to the stand during the AEG trial. "If I testify, I'll testify very honestly," he said. "Michael said to me, 'I no longer want to be a band for my family,' but all you see today is a continuation of that."

AEG's attorneys will try to paint Jackson as a drug-addicted pop star who would have demanded and received the sleep-inducing drugs regardless of outside influence. Putnam has suggested AEG will drag the star's child-molestation accusations into the trial because they "resulted in an incredible increase in his drug intake." Adds Loyola's Goldman, "Some of the more sensational stuff would be coming out with the defense case. They're the ones who want to bring out the child-molesting [trial] and the toll it took on him."

So far, the biggest decision Judge Palazuelos has made in the trial has been to ban CNN cameras from the courtroom, thus preventing an O.J. Simpson-style legal circus. Says Sirkin, "They just don't want this to become another public fiasco." It might already be too late for that."

Related

• Michael Jackson Wrongful Death Trial Begins in Los Angeles
• Conrad Murray Sings During TV Interview
• Michael Jackson Promoter Withdraws Insurance Claim Over Singer's Death

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/michael-jackson-trial-may-hinge-on-conrad-murray-testimony-20130410#ixzz2Q5042ju9 
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Copyright Rollingstone.com

Mina N. Sirkin, Los Angeles Probate Attorney quoted in Rollingstone re Jackson v. AEG.  To reach Mina Sirkin, Email [email protected] or [email protected].  Tel.: 818-340-4479.   http://SirkinLaw.com

Beneficiary Rights in California Trust and Probate Matters

Probate Attorney Los Angeles: Mina Sirkin is a Los Angeles Certified Specialist lawyer who handles beneficiary rights, trust and probate litigation matters in California:

Estate and trust beneficiaries often do not know their rights under California law.

Protecting a beneficiary's claims and objections in trust and probate litigation matters involves taking immediate action.   Waiting too long to respond or object to petitions can often detrimentally affect the rights of beneficiaries.

If you are a trust or estate beneficiary, you should know about the following rights:

1.   Right to receive advice from an independent attorney.   Do not rely on advice given by the trustee or executor's attorney who does not represent you.

2.  Remember that if you don't question an action by a trustee or executor, you will waive your rights as to that action.

3.  Review the trust or will with an experienced trust and probate attorney for impact on your interest.

4.  File any necessary objections timely and watch for no contest clauses. 

5.  Ask for an accounting in writing and keep a copy of your letter requesting the same.

6.  If you don't get a response to a request for an accounting, call your lawyer immediately.  

When needing counsel to review your documents, contact Beneficiary Rights Lawyers, Sirkin and Sirkin.  Our Certified Specialist in Probate Litigation in Los Angeles, California can assist you.   Contact us at: 818-340-4479.  http://www.SirkinLaw.com.   Probate Attorney Los Angeles.

Probate Attorney Los Angeles

Living Trust Consultation 

Living Trust Attorney Los Angeles

Conservatorship Attorney Los Angeles

Conservatorship Los Angeles

Glendale Special Needs Trusts

Glendale Conservatorship

Trust Litigation Attorney Los Angeles

Probate Litigation Attorneys Los Angeles

Probate Mediation Los Angeles

Special Needs Trust Attorney Los Angeles