Estate Planning and Probate in Walnut Creek, CA

Start with timing and purpose

If you are planning while alive, consider how your documents should address property, financial authority, and health-care decisions. These subjects can be coordinated, but they serve different purposes; a health-care decision document is not a substitute for planning how property is handled.

If you are dealing with a death, focus first on what documents exist and how relevant assets are owned. Trust administration and formal probate depend on those details, so a family should not assume that having a will—or hearing that a trust exists—settles which process applies.

If you are planning during life

Make the plan fit the decisions you actually need to address. A useful starting point is to identify who should make financial decisions if you cannot, who should communicate or act on health-care matters, and how you want your property plan to work. The relevant documents may include a will or trust, financial authority, and health-care decisions.

• Health-care planning: Advance Healthcare Directives and Living Wills; Healthcare Power of Attorney.
• Financial authority: Financial Power of Attorney.
• Wills and trusts: Wills, Pour-Over Wills, and Revocable Living Trusts.
• Other planning topics: Business Succession Planning, Asset Protection Trusts, Charitable Trusts, Gift Tax Planning, Irrevocable Trusts, Pet Trusts, and Special Needs Trusts.

If someone has died: identify the administration path

Gather the will, trust documents, and a current picture of assets and how they are titled. Compare those records rather than relying on a single document or a general description of the estate. The documents and asset ownership help determine whether trust administration or formal probate is relevant.

For example, if a family finds a trust document but is unsure whether particular property is held in the trust, the ownership records are a practical place to begin. That example illustrates a question to investigate; it does not determine the outcome for any particular estate.

• Trust administration: Trust Administration.
• Court-supervised estate process: Probate Administration.
• A matter involving property connected to another jurisdiction: Ancillary Probate.
• Questions about executor or trustee roles: Executor and Trustee Services.

Prepare records that make the choice concrete

Before discussing options, collect the documents you have and note what remains unknown. A short inventory can help distinguish planning questions from administration questions and identify which records need closer attention.

• List known assets and note how each is titled, if you know.
• Collect any will, trust, financial-authority, and health-care documents.
• For an administration matter, note whether a death has occurred and which documents or ownership details are uncertain.
• Write down your main decision: planning ahead, understanding trust administration, or determining whether probate may be involved.

Discuss the records and the decision

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office in Novato and provides virtual services throughout California. Bring the documents you have and the questions they raise so the discussion can focus on your circumstances and the appropriate next step.