Probate & Estate Planning

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Just as a normal family strives to provide funding for opportunities, a family business should consider establishing funds as reserves for particular purposes. According to Ramez A. Baasiri, author of Interrupted Entrepreneurship, these funds will “allow you to cultivate the next generation so they can handle a broad range of interruptions in entrepreneurship and have the peace of mind and skills to enhance their business resources for others to benefit from.” Education Fund. Establishing an…
Our newest Form Vault video walks you through the Notice of Petition for Probate, form DE-121. This is the notice you must use when filing a Petition for Probate using form DE-111. Our previous Form Vault video was on the Petition for Probate, we now cover the notice form you need in this video. You can find links to the California Judicial Council Form here.  And a link to a Notice of Petition for …
THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS VIDEO. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CLICK HERE Hi, this is Keith Davidson at Albertson & Davidson.  And in this video, I want to discuss step-parents.  And I don’t mean to disparage step-parents, there’s a lot of very good step-parent and step-child relationships out there.  But, there’s also some bad ones.  And a lot of times we’re asked, “Can my step-mom or step-dad, can they change the estate plan after…
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The sister of a millionaire who amassed her fortune living a frugal lifestyle has won a court case to prove a postcard she wrote is a valid will. Kathleen Steiner, 59, from Taranaki on New Zealand‘s North Island, died in hospice care in her sister’s arms after a ‘very courageous battle’ in January. Ms Steiner, whose estate was worth $NZ2.8 million ($AU2.1 million) when she died, did not formally prepare her will but wrote various…
Hello Subscribers! Keith A. Davidson here and, I would like to give you a personal big THANK YOU for subscribing to our Blog. Great to have you on board! I’m thrilled to announce that we will be holding LIVE SESSIONS with Q & A every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. During the live sessions, Partner Stewart Albertson and I will discuss recent appellate case decisions in the trust and estate arena and how these…
These are tough times for cemeteries.  Too many planned on a steady revenues from grave sales, and have not trusted enough funds for future maintenance expenses. Grave sale revenues have been dramatically cut by the public’s acceptance of cremation.  Subsequent to the Great Recession of 2008, many of our funeral home clients reported a significant uptick in their cremation rates.  Families could no longer afford to spend $12,000 for a funeral that included a casket…
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Most advisors recommend that a family business have and use a board of directors. In fact, the majority of closely-held corporations are formed with boards of directors, but those boards frequently consist of only a single individual. Moreover, there are very few actions that technically require board approval. So there is always a temptation in a closely-held business to avoid the hassle and complications of appointing a group of individuals to govern the business, calling meetings, taking…
Welcome to our newest video series, the Form Vault. Our Form Vault videos will walk you through how to understand the complete various legal forms and documents. We start by re-doing one of our most popular videos: the California Petition for Probate. The form has changed substantially since partner Keith A. Davidson first did a video on how to complete a Petition for Probate. You can find links to the California Judicial Council Form here…
THE FOLLOWING IN A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS VIDEO. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CLICK HERE Hi, this is Stewart Albertson with Albertson and Davidson and we get this question every now and then, and the question is: Do I really need to hire a lawyer for my trust contest or will contest or can I do it on my own? Can I go order a book from Nolo press or from Amazon and just figure out how…