Estate Planning and Probate Guidance for Cotati, California

Start with the situation you need to address

Estate planning can coordinate a will, trust, financial authority and health-care decisions. These documents address different concerns, so the right starting point depends on what you want to plan: who should handle financial matters, who should make health-care decisions, how property should be addressed, or some combination.

If someone has died, the immediate question changes. Gather the will or trust, if available, and a basic inventory of assets and how each is titled. Trust administration and formal probate depend on the documents and ownership of assets, rather than on a single document name alone.

• Planning while alive: identify the decisions you want documented and the property or responsibilities involved.
• After a death: locate estate documents and records showing how assets were held before deciding what administration may be involved.

Planning during life: match documents to decisions

A useful planning conversation begins with choices, not a checklist of documents. Consider who you would want to make financial decisions if you could not manage them, who you would want involved in health-care decisions, and how you want your property addressed. The documents used for these purposes can be coordinated, but they are not interchangeable.

The available services include wills and pour-over wills; revocable living trusts and other trust planning; financial powers of attorney; and advance health-care directives, living wills and health-care powers of attorney. Other listed services address particular circumstances, including business succession, charitable or pet trusts, special needs trusts, asset protection trusts, irrevocable trusts and gift tax planning. These are distinct options, not a package every family needs.

• Write down the decisions you want reflected and the people you are considering for each role.
• Collect a current list of assets and note how each is owned, along with any existing planning documents.

After a death: distinguish trust administration from probate

The presence of a trust or will does not, by itself, settle which process applies to every asset. The relevant documents and ownership records matter. A trust may require administration, while formal probate may be relevant to property that must be handled through that process. The appropriate path depends on the particular estate and its records.

For example, if a family finds a trust and a separate asset record that appears inconsistent with it, that is a reason to review the documents and ownership together before assuming the trust alone resolves administration. This is an illustration, not a conclusion about any particular estate.

• Gather the complete trust and will, if available, and records identifying the owner of each known asset.
• Keep questions about missing documents, unclear ownership or conflicting records for a focused review of the estate’s circumstances.

Bring useful records and choose a next step

For a planning discussion, bring existing wills, trusts and authority documents, plus a simple asset and ownership list. For an estate after a death, bring the deceased person’s available estate documents and records identifying assets and ownership. A clear list of unresolved questions can make it easier to focus on the decision that matters first.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office in Novato and provides virtual services throughout California, including Cotati. A next step is to organize the records for your situation and identify whether you are planning ahead or responding to a death.

If formal probate is involved

For a probate matter in Sonoma County, the court publishes a probate calendar with hearing categories and department information. Confirm current date, department and case instructions; a general calendar is not a personal hearing notice.