Estate Planning and Probate Guidance for Hillsborough Families

First clarify the decision in front of you

The right starting point depends on timing. If you are planning while alive, consider how your will, trust, financial authority and health-care decisions fit together. If someone has died, first identify the documents in place and how the assets are titled; those facts help distinguish trust administration from formal probate.

Before relying on a document or beneficiary arrangement, ask: What asset or decision is it meant to address? Who has authority to act, and when? Does the document fit the asset’s ownership and the rest of the plan? These are practical questions for organizing a review, not a conclusion that a particular document or process is required.

• Planning for yourself or a family member while alive: consider the documents and authority needed for future financial and health-care decisions.
• Responding to a death: gather the estate-planning documents and an asset list, then assess whether trust administration, formal probate, or both may be relevant.

Planning during life: choose only the pieces that fit

Estate planning can coordinate a will or trust with financial authority and health-care decisions. The useful question is not how many documents to collect, but whether the chosen documents address the decisions and assets that matter to you. A document should be considered alongside asset ownership rather than in isolation.

The related planning topics include wills and pour-over wills; revocable living trusts and other trust types; financial powers of attorney; advance health-care directives and living wills; and health-care powers of attorney. Depending on a person’s circumstances and goals, the broader set of topics also includes business succession, charitable planning, gift-tax planning, pet trusts and special-needs planning. These are separate considerations, not a checklist every family must complete.

After a death: distinguish trust administration from probate

Trust administration and formal probate are not interchangeable labels. Which process applies depends on the documents and asset ownership. Review the trust and will, if any, alongside information about how assets were held; do not assume that the presence of a trust alone settles what must happen with every asset.

When a San Mateo County probate matter is involved, the Superior Court’s Probate Division handles decedent estates and trusts. Use the division’s current instructions for the matter. That court resource is relevant to probate and trust matters, not a routine approval step for documents prepared as part of lifetime planning.

Prepare for a focused review

Bring the question you need answered into focus: are you creating a plan, checking whether existing documents still fit, or responding to a death? A practical first step is to assemble copies of available wills and trusts, relevant financial or health-care authority documents, and a working list of assets with the ownership information you have. Note questions about who is expected to act and what each document is intended to cover.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office in Novato and provides virtual services throughout California. A discussion can begin with your immediate concern and the documents or asset details available, then identify which planning or administration topic is most relevant.