Estate Planning

Whether you are seeking to create a trust, need advice about whether you need one, or need to challenge a trust, you want attorneys who are experienced in this area of law and familiar with trusts. The Keller Law Firm is ready to be your family’s law firm as you plan for the future.

What is included in a California trust?

There are four important elements for a trust to be valid in California:

There must be an intention to create a trust

There must be property in the trust

The trust must have a reason or purpose

The trust must have a beneficiary

A revocable trust is one that can be changed and effected by the trust-maker. An irrevocable trust cannot be changed or altered once it is created. The Keller Law Firm is prepared to create a trust that carries out your intentions and is also able to administer trusts.

Read More 

Creating your will is an important part of planning for your family’s future. Deciding how to divide your assets and belongings can be a complicated process. If you have minor children, choosing a guardian is another important hurdle. The Keller Law Firm works with you to create a will that completely expresses your wishes and needs.

What are the requirements for a California will?

In California you can handwrite your will, but the best choice is to have a will drafted by an attorney so that it completely expresses all your intentions in a legally enforceable way. To be valid, a will should:

Be in writing and be dated

Be executed (completed) by a person who is legally competent

Not be completed under duress, fraud or undue influence

Be signed by the testator (person making the will)

Be witnessed by two people who are not interested parties in the will

Wills generally include specific bequests to certain people, the naming of an executor (the person who carries out the will), the naming of a guardian for minor children, as well as instructions about burial. There is very specific wording that must be used to ensure that your wishes are carried out, so it is important to work with a law firm that is experienced in wills’ drafting and estate planning.

Read More 

A power of attorney is a legal document giving someone else the authority to make decisions for you about legal and financial matters.

General Durable Power of Attorney — This document becomes active either immediately or upon your becoming incapacitated (you specify the type).

Springing Power of Attorney — This type becomes active only when a specific event occurs.

These documents remain in effect until you cancel them, until a specific date you set in the document, until a certain action is taken or until your death, depending on your designation. They do not prevent you from making your own decisions but give someone else the power to act for you. A power of attorney is different from an advance healthcare directive, which gives someone the authority to make healthcare decisions for you.

You can get a power of attorney by meeting with your attorney, discussing your wishes and signing a document that carries them out. A power of attorney is an essential part of your estate planning process, and The Keller Law Firm helps you complete comprehensive planning for your future and that of your family.

Read More 

An advanced care directive is a legal document that specifies your decisions about your healthcare in the future. The document identifies the people to whom you give authority to make decisions should you become unable to do so.

A healthcare directive is completely different from a power of attorney for property, which only covers legal and financial matters. The person or persons you choose in an advance health directive will be responsible for critical healthcare decisions. It is important for you to talk with the person or people you have chosen and carefully specify your wishes. The Keller Law Firm regularly prepares advance healthcare directives and is ready to help you with yours.

Read More 

Description goes hereIs your joint estate large enough to be subject to the federal Estate Tax? If you have a fairly large estate, then you should consider taking some additional steps to protect your heirs from this tax. Good estate tax planning can save your heirs thousands of dollars in taxes on your passing.

There are a number of ways to minimize or eliminate altogether the estate tax. Many of them involve some form of lifetime giving, either outright or in trust. Some of these gifts are so easy that you won’t need to feel depleted or impoverished at all as a result. These gifts can be leveraged to result in even more savings through the use of gifts to churches, charities, foundations, insurance and other entities.

DescPlanning for your estate now will allow for a smoother transition for your family and loved ones when you are gone. Estate planning allows people to create wills to pass on assets and belongings. A trust allows you to control how the funds are managed and allows for them to be dispersed at specific times in the future. A trust allows you to have control over your assets after your death. Trust administration is the legal process of managing the assets in the trust and handling the distribution of the income and assets from the trust.

A trustee is the person or entity responsible for managing the trust.

Read More 