Estate Planning and Probate for San Rafael Residents

Start with the timing: planning or administration

If you are planning while alive, the focus is on coordinating documents for your wishes, health-care decisions, and financial authority. A will or trust may be part of that plan, alongside documents addressing who can act on your behalf. The right combination depends on your goals and circumstances; not every family needs every planning tool.

If a death has occurred, the immediate question is how the decedent’s documents and asset ownership affect administration. Trust administration and formal probate are different routes, and the documents and ownership of particular assets matter to that choice. A trust does not, by itself, establish that every asset can be handled outside probate.

Make the decision concrete with a records inventory

Before discussing options, gather what exists rather than assuming a document is current or that an asset is held in a particular way. A practical starting point is to collect wills and trust papers, records showing how significant assets are titled, and any financial or health-care authority documents. If someone has died, include available records about the person’s assets and any documents naming someone to act.

A simple list can help: identify each document or asset, where its record can be found, and any questions about ownership or the person named to act. This is preparation for a focused discussion, not a checklist of legal requirements. Where records are missing or inconsistent, that uncertainty is itself useful to raise.

Choose a focused planning path

Planning topics can be grouped by the decision they address. Wills and Pour-Over Wills concern will-based planning; Revocable Living Trusts and Irrevocable Trusts concern trust planning. Financial Power of Attorney addresses financial authority, while Advance Healthcare Directives and Living Wills and Healthcare Power of Attorney concern health-care planning.

Other focused topics include Business Succession Planning, Asset Protection Trusts, Charitable Trusts, Gift Tax Planning, Pet Trusts, and Special Needs Trusts. These are not automatic additions to a plan. Begin with the people, decisions, and assets you want your documents to address, then consider whether a particular planning topic fits.

After a death: distinguish trust administration from probate

If you are helping with an estate, first identify the available will or trust documents and compare them with records showing asset ownership. Those facts help frame whether trust administration, formal probate, or further review of particular assets may be relevant. The label on a document alone does not settle how every asset will be handled.

Trust Administration and Probate Administration are distinct service areas. Executor and Trustee Services is another related topic for people considering the responsibilities associated with those roles. The practical next step is to organize the records and clarify what authority or process may apply, rather than assuming that one route fits the whole estate.

Discuss your situation with the firm

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, and provides virtual services throughout California, including for people in San Rafael. To make an initial discussion productive, bring or identify the records you have and note what remains uncertain. The conversation can then focus on whether you are planning ahead or addressing an estate, and which documents or ownership questions need attention.