Estate Planning and Probate Guidance for Rialto Residents

Start with the responsibility you need to address

Planning while you are alive can coordinate documents for financial authority, health-care decisions and what happens to property after death. These documents serve different purposes: naming someone for one responsibility does not automatically give that person authority over every other matter.

After a death, the next question is not simply whether a will exists. The documents and ownership of the assets help determine whether a trustee administers property under a trust or whether formal probate is needed. A will is part of the planning picture, but the presence of a will alone does not settle which process applies to every asset.

While you are alive: match each document to its job

Consider first which decisions you want someone to handle if you cannot act for yourself. Health-care directives and powers of attorney address different kinds of decisions; they should not be treated as interchangeable. Separately, consider how your will or trust fits into your plan for property after death.

A useful preparation step is to list the decisions you want help with, the people you are considering for each role, and the assets or accounts you want to discuss. This can clarify where you need an appointed decision-maker and where you need a plan for transferring or administering property.

After a death: identify the role and the authority

A person named in a trust may have trustee responsibilities, while a person named in a will may be identified for an executor role. The title in a document is not a substitute for checking what the document provides and what authority is needed for the particular asset or task. Trust administration and formal probate depend on both documents and asset ownership.

For example, if some property is held in a trust and other property is not, the family may need to examine each asset rather than assume one process handles everything. This is an illustration, not a conclusion about any particular estate. Gather available estate-planning documents and a general inventory of property, then discuss the appropriate next step with counsel.

Choose a focused area of help

Not every family needs every planning document or administration service. Use the related topics below to identify the question you want to address; a focused discussion can help distinguish planning for life, planning for property after death, and administration that has already begun.

• Planning for decisions during life: advance health-care directives and living wills, healthcare powers of attorney, and financial powers of attorney.
• Planning for property and particular circumstances: wills, pour-over wills, revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, asset protection trusts, charitable trusts, pet trusts, special needs trusts, gift tax planning, and business succession planning.
• Responsibilities after a death: executor and trustee services, trust administration, probate administration, and ancillary probate.

When probate is part of the question

For a matter involving San Bernardino County probate filing, the court publishes electronic-filing requirements, a FAQ and a list of documents that are ineligible for electronic filing. Its information distinguishes attorney filing requirements from options for people representing themselves, and document eligibility should be checked against current court information. This filing resource is relevant to probate; it does not determine whether a particular estate requires probate or replace review of the documents and asset ownership.