Estate Planning and Probate Guidance for Lakewood

Start with the documents and asset ownership

Gather any will, trust, financial power of attorney, and health-care directive you already have, along with available records showing how major assets are owned. These documents serve different purposes: some address who may make financial or health-care decisions, while others guide the distribution or administration of property. A will or trust cannot be evaluated in isolation from asset ownership.

A useful first question is what you want to change: decision-making authority during your lifetime, instructions for handling property at death, or administration that is already underway. Comparing the documents together can help identify where they coordinate and where further discussion is needed.

• Bring the latest versions you can locate, including amendments or restatements.
• Make a simple list of major assets and note how each is titled, if known.
• Write down the decisions or concerns prompting you to revisit the plan.

Planning choices while you are alive

If your concern is who could act for you or what guidance would be available about care, focus first on the financial and health-care documents. If your concern is how property should be managed or distributed, compare the will and any trust with the way assets are currently owned. Estate planning may coordinate these documents, but they address distinct needs.

The available planning topics include wills and pour-over wills; revocable living trusts and other trust planning; financial powers of attorney; advance health-care directives, living wills, and health-care powers of attorney. Other focused topics include business succession, charitable planning, pet trusts, special needs trusts, asset protection trusts, irrevocable trusts, and gift tax planning. These are possible areas to evaluate—not a checklist every person must complete.

After a death: trust administration or probate?

When someone has died, the practical question shifts from creating a plan to determining how property is administered. Trust administration and formal probate depend on the governing documents and asset ownership. A trust document alone does not answer every question about which process applies; the assets and the documents must be considered together.

Trust administration and probate administration are distinct service areas. An executor or trustee may have an administrative role under the applicable documents or process, but the appropriate route cannot be chosen just by looking at a family’s preference. If administration has begun, gather the will or trust, any amendments, and asset-ownership information so the circumstances can be assessed.

• For planning before a death, compare documents and ownership to understand how they are intended to work together.
• After a death, identify which documents exist and how relevant assets were held before deciding what administration to explore.

Choose the next conversation by your situation

For a plan review, bring the documents and identify the change you want to address. For a new plan, begin with the decisions you want covered and the people or property involved. For an existing administration, bring the documents and ownership information tied to the person who died. These preparation steps help focus the discussion; they are not legal prerequisites.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office in Novato and provides virtual services statewide, including for Lakewood residents. A focused first step is to identify whether your question concerns lifetime planning, trust administration, or probate, then compare the documents relevant to that situation.