Estate Planning and Probate Guidance for McFarland

Start with the decision you need to make

If you are planning for yourself, consider which decisions need attention: who may handle financial matters, who should make health-care decisions, and how you want your affairs organized. Wills, trusts, financial authority and health-care decisions can be coordinated as part of estate planning; the right combination depends on your circumstances and goals.

If you are dealing with a death, begin with the documents that exist and how assets are titled or otherwise owned. Trust administration and formal probate depend on those details. A trust does not, by itself, establish that every asset is handled through trust administration or that probate is unnecessary.

• Planning while alive: identify the decisions and documents you want to discuss.
• After a death: gather documents and asset-ownership information before assuming which process applies.

Organize the planning topics that fit your situation

The available planning topics cover different needs; they are not a checklist that every family must complete. Health-care planning includes advance health-care directives and living wills, as well as health-care powers of attorney. Financial powers of attorney address financial authority. Wills and pour-over wills are separate planning topics, while revocable living trusts and other trust types address different planning questions.

Other topics include business succession planning, asset protection trusts, charitable trusts, gift tax planning, irrevocable trusts, pet trusts and special needs trusts. Executor and trustee services is also a listed topic. Which, if any, is relevant depends on your circumstances; the names of these topics alone do not determine what a particular document or arrangement will accomplish.

If you are handling affairs after a death

Trust administration and probate are not interchangeable labels. Documents and asset ownership matter when determining how affairs are handled, and a case may require looking at more than one asset or document before the path is clear. Do not assume that the existence of a will, a trust, or either one alone answers what process applies.

Kern County Superior Court publishes a Wills, Estates & Probate self-help resource. It is a useful starting point for official information, but it does not establish that a particular estate qualifies for a shortcut or determine the appropriate process for your circumstances.

Prepare for a remote consultation

Before a virtual conversation, collect any existing wills, trusts and related planning documents; a list of assets and how each is owned; and a short account of the decisions or questions you want to address. If you are responding to a death, note which documents you have and what you know about asset ownership. These materials can help focus the discussion on the documents and ownership details relevant to planning or administration.

It is also useful to separate confirmed information from questions. For example, label an asset’s ownership as unknown if you have not verified it rather than assuming it belongs to a trust. Bring questions about which planning topics fit your goals, or what information is needed to assess trust administration versus probate.