Estate Planning and Probate for Pleasant Hill Residents

Start with the decision you need to make

If you are planning for yourself, consider which documents should address your wishes, authority over finances, health-care decisions, and the transfer of property. These documents can work together; reviewing one in isolation may leave important questions unresolved.

If someone has died, the immediate question is different: should the estate be handled through trust administration, formal probate, or another process? The documents and ownership of the assets matter to that decision. A will or trust is not, by itself, enough to determine the process without considering the property it covers.

• Planning while alive: compare wills, trusts, financial authority, and health-care decisions.
• After a death: compare the estate documents with asset ownership before deciding how administration may proceed.

Compare the documents before changing them

Gather the current will, any trust documents, financial power of attorney, and health-care directive or related health-care documents. Note which questions each document is meant to address and whether your circumstances or wishes have changed. This is a practical way to prepare for a focused discussion, not a legal requirement.

For example, someone considering a change to a will could first compare it with any existing trust and the way relevant assets are held. That comparison can help identify whether the concern is about instructions in a document, the role of a financial or health-care decision-maker, or the administration of assets after death.

• Make a simple inventory of major assets and note how each is currently owned, if known.
• Write down the decisions or changes you want to discuss, including who you want to act and what outcomes matter to you.

Choose a focused planning conversation

A will and a trust are not interchangeable choices for every person or asset. The relevant question is how the documents fit together and how property is owned. A revocable living trust, a will, and a pour-over will are distinct planning topics; the appropriate discussion depends on what you already have and what you want your plan to address.

Financial authority and health-care decisions also call for separate consideration. A financial power of attorney concerns financial authority, while advance health-care planning concerns health-care decisions. Selecting one does not answer every question addressed by the other documents.

• For instructions about property at death, explore wills, revocable living trusts, and pour-over wills.
• For decision-making authority, explore financial powers of attorney and advance health-care directives.
• Specialized topics—including business succession, charitable, pet, special-needs, asset-protection, irrevocable-trust, and gift-tax planning—are separate options to consider only when relevant to your circumstances.

When a death has occurred

Trust administration and formal probate are different routes, and the applicable route depends on the estate documents and asset ownership. Identifying the documents and property involved is a useful first step; the presence of a will or trust alone does not establish that every asset follows the same process.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and provides virtual services throughout California, including Pleasant Hill. A useful next step is to gather the documents you have and make a list of the questions you want answered about planning or estate administration.