The blog "Estate Planning in California," published by the Law Offices of Shahram Miri, Inc., focuses on legal issues related to estate planning and probate within California. It covers topics such as the duties and options of successor trustees managing decedents' businesses, nuances of estate tax exemptions and rates, jurisdictional questions in opening probate cases involving in-state and out-of-state property, methods of will revocation including express and cancellation approaches, and procedural aspects of probate litigation such as consequences of missing court hearings. The blog discusses relevant California statutes, case law, and practical implications for trustees, beneficiaries, and estate planning practitioners.
In 1998, husband promises wife to leave the marital condo to wife should wife pay off the outstanding mortgage on the marital condo. Wife then pays off the outstanding mortgage in June 1998. However, husband does not execute a valid…
When a witness testifies, a key consideration when determining the testimony’s weight is the testimony’s source. Typically witnesses are either interested or disinterested, i.e. they personally benefit from their own testimony or have no interest in the case’s outcome. A trial…
A frequent point of contention in a probate case is the disposition of the decedent’s residence. Assuming of course that the decedent owned a residence at death. One party may want to retain the residence for sentimental reasons and move…
A recent appellate opinion addressed the following issue: “when a party in a pending marital dissolution serves a notice of trust revocation as required by the trust and the other party receives actual notice of it, does the failure to…
In law, phrases can be similar but nonetheless distinct. For example, in the probate context, Letters of Administration can be issued as well as Letters of Special Administration. The former typically permits a person to administer an estate with general…
Probate Code
§6451 provides that(a) An
adoption severs the relationship of parent and child between an adopted
person and a natural parent of the adopted person unless both of the
following requirements are satisfied:
Usually when a party loses a case, they do not compound their loss by continuing to litigate. In other words, “if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” Alas one litigant in a recent unpublished appellate option did not heed…
One method to invalidate a revocable transfer on death deed (TOD) is by proving undue influence. Obviously the beneficiary of a TOD will have some influence over the drafter of the TOD. For example, in the case of a child and…
In order to be validly executed, a will needs to be signed by the testator, by some other person in the testator’s presence and by the testator’s direction or the testator’s conservator pursuant to a court order. Probate Code §6110(b). Typically…
The marital status of a person occasionally changes over time. For example, a person could be married one year, divorced the next year and then re-marry the following year. With the change in marital status, there are estate planning implications…
