Asset Protection

When You Have a Beneficiary with a Mental Illness

Mental illness is increasingly common in the world today. If a relative has an illness, it doesn’t make you love them any less or want to take care of them any less. Therefore, your estate plan needs to be able to help you provide the support you want your loved one to have while compensating for the fact that he or she may not be able to manage the money alone. Here are a few tips to help guide you.

• A loyal and compassionate trustee. By appointing the right trustee over any trust that you leave to your loved one, you can ensure that the funds will be used for your loved one at the right times and in the proper amount.
• Controlling what funds can be dispensed for. Perhaps your loved one doesn’t need someone to care for him or her, but is still concerned about things like impulse spending or squandering the inheritance in other ways? Structuring the inheritance so that funds are only released for certain types of expenses is a good way to protect your loved one.
• Covering voluntary treatment costs. You can structure the trust so that your loved one receives a dispensation when he or she seeks medical care relating to the condition. This may move your loved one to see the high value of proper treatment and may provide the funds necessary to get the right care without the guilt of how expensive medical treatment can be in the US.

Discretionary Trusts and Other Estate Planning Methods in California

At Petrov Law Firm in San Diego, our estate planning attorneys will be happy to help you plan for the future needs of your loved ones. To see what types of estate planning are best for your family, contact us today at 619-344-0360.

Will the Right People Benefit from Your Estate?

You cannot just assume that the right people will benefit from your assets when you pass on. Estate planning is required in order to ensure that your wishes are carried out. Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of thinking they can do nothing and that their mate and children will automatically get everything. Here’s the issue with that mentality:

The traditional family structure is becoming less common in the US.

If you and your mate have only ever been married to each other and all of your kids are naturally born to the two of you, you may actually be correct in thinking that your loved ones will inherit everything. But how many families are like that?

If you are raising grandkids, have children from multiple spouses, have adopted children, or have been married more than once, you may have no idea what the line of succession will be for your family. On top of that, family members may have different ideas as to how to care for you medically if you become incapacitated later in life. There can also be fights over funeral arrangements.

Lovingly Caring for the Future of Your Family

The loving way to care for the future of your family is to have an estate plan in place. Petrov Law Firm is your source for estate planning attorneys in southern California. Get in touch with our San Diego and Chula Vista lawyers today by calling 619-344-0360. We can help you plan for your future.

Tips for Personalizing Your Estate Plan

The Internet is filled with generic wills that you can download and just add your information to. However, if you want your estate plan to be personalized, you may require the assistance of an estate planning attorney. Here are a few tips for customizing your estate plan, so that your heirs gain the most benefit.

• Leave something to charity – What is really important to you? By leaving some of your estate to charity, you can show future generations the causes that meant the most to you. Plus, you have the peace of mind of knowing that some of your estate is going to a good cause that can really create a legacy for your family.
• Pass on heirlooms – Rather than just combining all of your physical possessions to leave to a relative in one lump sum, determine some of the things that have the most sentimental value to you and turn them into family heirlooms.
• Create a narrative – By using everything from letters to video recordings, you can tell your story to the next generation. Passing on money is one thing but passing on your knowledge and experience can help the next generation to use the things that you have amassed in a wise manner.

Estate Planning Attorneys in San Diego

To help you customize an estate plan that will meet your needs and benefit future generations, contact Petrov Law Firm today. Our estate planning lawyers can help you to understand how federal and California laws affect your planning efforts. Get started today by calling 619-344-0360.

Building a Legacy with Your Estate Plan

Estate planning is about more than leaving money to your heirs. This is an opportunity to create or pass on a real family legacy. Here are a few ways to ensure that your name will live on long after you are gone.

• Trusts – You can create trusts that are dispensed when certain conditions are met. For example, you can create an education trust so that your grand kids can attend the university of their choice. You can even create trusts that provide incentives to reach goals, such as a trust that becomes available to your niece when she opens the new business she has been talking about venturing into. Knowing that the capital is there to get the business off the ground may be just what she needs to decide to give it a try.
• Letters and Old Photographs – While many modern personal documents and photos all exist in the cloud and are easy to pass on, your family may still have a treasure trove of old letters and printed photos. From pictures of your parents and grandparents to love letters that passed between relatives back in the 19^th century, you can leave a wealth of family history to the next generation.
• Video and Audio Files – Your knowledge and experience can prove beneficial to future generations. But what if you are worried that the modern generation won’t care about your handwritten or typed letters? Why not try creating digital recordings of your advice or, better yet, video recordings. These can be preserved for years to come, allowing generations of the family to benefit and to see your face and hear your voice even if they never got to meet you in person.

Let Us Help You Establish Your Family Legacy

At Petrov Law Firm, we specialize in estate planning and can help you to leave behind a legacy for future generations. To learn more, contact us today at 619-344-0360. We look forward to helping you ensure that your future is well taken care of.

Irrevocable Trusts: When They Become Irrevocable

You may have heard of the term irrevocable living trust, but the irrevocable part doesn’t necessarily come into play until later. Here are the elements of California law that you need to know regarding this popular form of estate planning.

• You are usually the trustee of your own living will. You select a successor trustee to care for the trust if you die or become incapacitated.
• You can designate the trust as irrevocable, even while you are alive. However, most people do not do this because they want to maintain full control over the trust while still alive.
• When you die, the trust becomes irrevocable. Your successor trustee cannot revoke the trust on your behalf.

An irrevocable living trust gives you control and benefits while alive and creates a good environment for your beneficiaries when you pass away since the trust does not have to go through probate. These are the primary reasons that people choose this method of estate planning.

San Diego Estate Planning Attorneys

If you are planning for your future in the state of California, please contact the experienced estate planning attorneys at Petrov Law Firm by calling 619-344-0360 today. We can help you to take control of your estate and dispense it according to your wishes. Planning for the future is important, and we want to help you ensure that your wishes are carried out properly. Whether you are starting your first estate plan or revising an existing one, contact Petrov Law Firm for the legal advice you need.

How Does Getting a Divorce Affect Your Estate Plan?

Any time you have a major change in your life circumstances, you should review your estate plan, and a divorce certainly counts. Here are a few things to consider regarding your estate plan if you recently or currently are going through a divorce.

• Don’t forget the kids if you remarry – If you get remarried there is a risk of all of your estate going to the new mate and children, so don’t forget to include any kids from the previous marriage when you plan your estate.
• Changing beneficiaries – Not everything goes through probate, so if you have retirement accounts, a life insurance policy, or trusts with a named beneficiary, you want to be sure you change the primary beneficiary to reflect your new situation.
• Settling quickly – If a divorce settlement is still in progress when you pass away, this can tie up your estate indefinitely in probate court, so be sure to clear up and potential legal conflicts with a finalized settlement as soon as possible.

Help in Developing or Updating Your California Estate Plan

The experienced estate planning attorneys at Petrov Law Firm can help you to plan for your future with a comprehensive estate plan that takes good care of your beneficiaries. We can also help you to update an existing estate plan whether due to a change in circumstances, like a divorce, or even something simple such as being a recent move-in into the state of California. Call 619-344-0360 today to schedule an appointment and get your affairs in order.

Bank Accounts Versus Probate Court

The words probate court probably have you envisioning huge wait times and losses for your heirs. While this is not always the case, it can be, so we’re going to look at a simple way to cut out the middleman, as it were. Here is how you can use bank accounts to avoid probate.

• POD Accounts – You can set a bank account to be payable on death. This allows the account to transfer directly to the named beneficiary without going through probate. Keep in mind that you need to remember to change the beneficiary if you have a change in circumstance and want a different person to inherit the account. Otherwise, this will go to the named beneficiary, regardless of how your wishes may have changed.
• Retirement Accounts – Retirement accounts generally require a named beneficiary. These also transfer automatically when the account holder passes away. This is another situation that involves reviewing and updating your estate plan regularly to ensure the right people are listed as your beneficiaries.
• Shared Bank Accounts – Anyone you share an account with would obviously still have access to it if you pass away. The main downside to this type of account is that the other individuals could do whatever they want with the money even while they are still alive.

Planning for Your Estate and Probate in California

To help money transfer quickly and seamlessly to your heirs in California, contact the Petrov Law Firm today. You can speak to an experienced estate planning attorney in San Diego by calling 619-344-0360 and scheduling an appointment.

Can I Have a Digital Estate Plan in California?

The short answer is no. For legal purposes in the state of California, all of your documents need to be printed and signed. California courts will only accept the original documents as evidence. So does that mean you shouldn’t have an electronic copy of your estate plan?

The Simple Way to Review Your Estate Plans

The fact is that you should be reviewing your estate plan annually to ensure everything is in harmony with your current desires. This also allows you to account for major life or income changes. If you get married, divorced, have a child, lose a business account, gain a large sum of money or a piece of property, or experience any other major change, the first thing you should do is go over your future plans. A digital copy of your estate plan can make it simple for you to review matters without having to get your planning documents from a fireproof safe, safety deposit box, or wherever you may store the original documents.

Planning for Your Estate in the State of California

To understand estate planning in California, all you have to do is call the professional estate planning attorneys at the Petrov Law Firm. We are happy to put our experience to use in assisting you to ensure your final wishes are met and that your estate assets are distributed just as you desire. To learn more, call our San Diego office at 619-344-0360 and schedule a consultation.

California Probate: What You Need to Know When Planning for Your Estate

Probate is the process that determines how a person’s assets and properties are distributed after he or she passes away. When a person dies without an estate plan, California probate court makes the decisions regarding what happens with a person’s belongings.

A last will and testament allows you to designate an executor who acts as a go-between for your beneficiaries and the court system. This can help to speed up the process and may save some of the estate from going on legal fees. It also gives you more control over who your estate is assigned to and how it is distributed.

However, if you want to avoid the time and expense of the probate process altogether and give your beneficiaries a larger cut in a more expedient way, you can set up a revocable living trust. While you are alive, you can control what goes into the trust and who it is left to. You can also designate a successor trustee who takes control of the trust and the proper distribution of it when you die. This is often the preferred way to leave a larger estate to heirs.

Planning for Your Estate in Southern California

To plan ahead successfully for your future, be sure to enlist the help of the estate planning attorneys at Petrov Law Firm. We have the knowledge and experience to help California residents meet their estate planning goals. To learn more, call 619-344-0360 today!

Life Insurance – Is Your Revocable Trust a Good Beneficiary?

The short answer is: It can be. The fact is that many estate planning options provide different benefits depending on your specific situation. So we prefer to offer the best options to each client individually once we have a consultation to learn about your specific needs. However, we can provide you with a few of the benefits of naming your revocable trust as the beneficiary for your life insurance policy.

• Protects your assets against the simultaneous death of your beneficiary – What if you are in a fatal car accident with your spouse who is listed as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy? Now that money will have to go through probate court to determine who it belongs to.
• Protects estate from executor and attorney fees – In California, much of your estate can end up going to the executor and the required lawyer if your insurance policy ends up tied up in probate court for a significant amount of time. There are also additional out of pocket expenses for loved ones if the life insurance is tied up for months.
• Protects minor children – Your kids won’t get the life insurance policy right away if they lose both their parents before they turn 18. You can set a revocable trust to make annual disbursements, so the kids have funds before the entire trust becomes available.

Estate Planning to Meet Your Personal Needs in Southern California

At Petrov Law Firm, we understand that each of our clients will have different estate planning needs, so rather than offering you a cookie cutter approach, we take your personal needs and wants into consideration when making recommendations. To start planning for your future, call us today at 619-344-0360.