Estate Planning and Probate Guidance for Malibu Residents

Start with the decision that is in front of you

Planning while you are alive focuses on choosing who may help with financial or health-care decisions and documenting your wishes. After a death, the first question shifts to the documents and ownership of the assets: those details help determine whether a trustee can administer property under a trust or whether formal probate may be needed.

These are related but distinct tasks. A will, trust, financial authority document and health-care document each address different parts of a plan; having one does not automatically answer every question about the others.

• If you are planning ahead, consider which decisions you want another person to handle and what instructions that person should have.
• If someone has died, gather the available estate documents and a working list of assets and how each is titled before deciding which administration path to explore.

Planning ahead: match documents to decisions

Estate planning can coordinate a will or trust with financial authority and health-care decisions. The useful starting point is not a checklist of documents, but the decisions your plan needs to address: who should act, what authority they should have, and what preferences they should follow.

For example, someone primarily concerned with naming a person to handle financial matters may want to discuss financial power of attorney. Someone focused on health-care choices may want to discuss advance health-care directives or a health-care power of attorney. These are examples of different planning concerns, not recommendations for a particular person.

• Wills and pour-over wills address testamentary planning; revocable living trusts and other trust types raise separate questions about trust structure and administration.
• Other focused topics include business succession, charitable or pet trusts, special needs trusts, asset protection trusts, irrevocable trusts and gift tax planning.

After a death: compare trust administration and probate

A trust may provide for a trustee to administer assets held in the trust. Formal probate is a separate court process. Which path applies depends on the documents and asset ownership, so the name of a document alone is not enough to identify the next step.

A practical first review is to compare the estate documents with the ownership and title information for the assets. If the information is incomplete or does not clearly fit one path, that uncertainty is itself a reason to clarify the administration question before taking action.

• Trust administration is a focused topic when the question concerns a trustee and property held in a trust.
• Probate administration is a separate topic when formal probate may be involved. The Los Angeles Superior Court’s Stanley Mosk Courthouse directory distinguishes probate filing, records and wills services and separately describes probate-note procedures; its listing does not determine the correct courthouse for every county resident.

Choose a focused topic, not every possible service

The related services cover different decisions rather than a required package. Depending on the question, a conversation might focus on a will, pour-over will, revocable living trust, financial power of attorney, health-care authority, or advance health-care directives and living wills. Other topics include trust administration, probate administration and executor or trustee services.

Trust types and planning concerns also vary: the available topics include irrevocable, asset protection, charitable, pet and special needs trusts, plus business succession and gift tax planning. The relevant choice depends on the circumstances and purpose; a list of services does not mean each one is suitable or necessary.

Prepare for a useful first discussion

Bring the question you are trying to resolve, any existing wills or trust documents, and whatever information you have about asset ownership and title. For planning ahead, note the people you are considering for financial or health-care roles and the decisions you want your documents to address. For an administration matter, identify what is known about the documents, the assets and who is currently acting.

These materials can help frame which issue to examine first; they are not a substitute for determining how the documents and ownership apply to the particular situation.