Estate Planning and Probate for San Anselmo Residents

Start with the decision in front of you

If you are planning for yourself, consider how your documents should address assets, financial authority, and health-care decisions. Estate planning may coordinate wills, trusts, financial authority, and health-care decisions, but the documents should fit together rather than be selected as an unrelated checklist.

If someone has died, the immediate question is different: what documents exist, how are the assets owned, and what process applies to them? Trust administration and formal probate depend on the documents and asset ownership. A family may need to review those facts before deciding which path to pursue.

Planning while you are alive

A useful starting point is to identify what you want handled, who you may want to act, and which decisions need written direction. Then consider whether a will, trust, financial authority document, health-care directive, or a coordinated set of documents addresses those priorities. Choosing a document by name alone does not establish how it will work with your assets or other plans.

The related topics include Wills, Revocable Living Trusts, Pour-Over Wills, Financial Power of Attorney, Advance Healthcare Directives and Living Wills, and Healthcare Power of Attorney. Other topics may be relevant to particular goals: Business Succession Planning, Charitable Trusts, Pet Trusts, Special Needs Trusts, Asset Protection Trusts, Irrevocable Trusts, and Gift Tax Planning. These are options to evaluate, not a list every person needs.

After a death: trust administration or probate

When a trust is involved, review its terms and the ownership of each asset to determine whether trust administration is appropriate. When formal probate may apply, the relevant documents and asset ownership also matter. Do not assume that having a will automatically means a trust is being administered, or that having a trust automatically resolves how every asset is handled.

Trust Administration and Probate Administration address these distinct post-death processes. Ancillary Probate may be a separate topic to discuss when a matter involves more than one jurisdiction. Executor and Trustee Services concerns the roles involved in carrying out an estate or trust; identify the role and responsibilities at issue before deciding what assistance is needed.

Prepare for a focused discussion

Before meeting, gather any existing will, trust, power of attorney, or health-care planning documents, along with a general list of assets and how they are titled. Note who is expected to act, what questions are unresolved, and whether the matter concerns planning during life or administration after a death. This helps focus the conversation on the documents and ownership facts that shape the available path.

For San Anselmo residents, the firm offers virtual services statewide and has its in-person office in Novato. The practical next step is to identify the decision you need to make and discuss which documents or administration process may fit the circumstances.

Understand what the choice does—and does not—settle

A will, trust, or authority document serves a different planning purpose; selecting one does not by itself answer every question about asset ownership or administration. Likewise, the presence of a trust does not guarantee that every asset will be handled through trust administration or that formal probate will be unnecessary. The relevant documents and ownership details must be considered together.