Estate Planning and Probate Guidance for Inglewood

First decide whether you are planning or administering

If you are making plans for yourself, the task is to coordinate the documents and arrangements that address your wishes, financial authority and health-care decisions. If someone has died, the question shifts to which documents apply, how the assets are owned and whether administration is through a trust or formal probate.

Trust administration and formal probate depend on the applicable documents and asset ownership. That makes the records important: a plan on paper and the way property is actually held need to be considered together. The first step is not to choose every service or document, but to establish which situation you are dealing with.

Use records to make the decision concrete

For an initial discussion, you may find it useful to gather any existing will, trust, financial power of attorney and health-care directive, along with available records showing how major assets are titled. If responding to a death, include the relevant planning documents and a preliminary list of assets. These are optional preparation suggestions, not a statement that every record is required in every situation.

As you review what you have, note what is missing, unclear or inconsistent. For planning during life, identify the decisions you want addressed and which people may need authority to act. After a death, note whether the documents point toward trust administration, formal probate or a question that remains unresolved. Avoid treating the name of a document as a complete answer without considering ownership.

Choose a planning topic based on the question you need to solve

Estate planning may coordinate wills, trusts, financial authority and health-care decisions. Not every family needs every type of document or trust. Start with the practical concern: arranging financial authority, recording health-care preferences, or deciding how a will or trust fits into your plan. The related topics here include Financial Power of Attorney, Advance Healthcare Directives and Living Wills, Healthcare Power of Attorney, Wills, Pour-Over Wills and Revocable Living Trusts.

Other available topics address narrower planning interests: Business Succession Planning, Pet Trusts, Special Needs Trusts, Charitable Trusts, Asset Protection Trusts, Irrevocable Trusts and Gift Tax Planning. Their presence in this service area is not a recommendation that any particular option is appropriate. Identify the purpose you have in mind, then focus the discussion on whether that topic belongs in your circumstances.

After a death, distinguish trust administration from probate

When a trust is involved, Trust Administration is the focused topic for that path. When formal probate may apply, Probate Administration addresses that process. Executor and Trustee Services is a separate topic for people considering responsibilities connected with estate or trust administration. The documents and asset ownership help determine which administrative path is relevant; if you cannot yet tell, gather the records and keep that question open rather than assuming one process applies.

California Courts directs that formal probate be opened in the county where the decedent lived. If the decedent lived outside California but owned property in California, its overview directs filing in the California county where that property is located. A mailing address alone does not assign a personal case. Los Angeles County is relevant when the applicable filing direction points there; Inglewood residence by itself should not be treated as a determination of the correct courthouse.

Ancillary Probate is also listed as a separate topic for further consideration. To decide what to explore after a death, begin with the person’s residence, the property involved, the ownership records and the estate-planning documents.

Bring the unresolved question into focus

A useful next step is to bring the documents and ownership information you have, together with a short list of uncertainties. For planning, that might mean identifying the decisions you want to arrange and the authority you want addressed. For administration, it may mean identifying what documents exist, what assets are involved and whether you are considering trust administration or formal probate.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. serves clients virtually throughout California from its one in-person office in Novato. A focused discussion can begin with your situation and records, rather than assuming that one plan or process fits every family.