The holidays are wonderful opportunities to be with warm friends and family. Our lives are so busy now that many of us only see our parents, grandparents, and other aging loved ones once or twice a year, often during the wintry months. It is during these holiday visits that you might come to a tough realization. That realization is that your mom or dad, aunt or uncle, grandma or grandpa isn’t as sharp as they used Read More

As California estate planning attorneys, the team at Solan, Park & Robello has seen it all. We stress the importance of crafting a thorough estate plan to prevent risk through the probate process. In the end, even the perfect plan can end up in dispute by people who feel like they’re being wronged by the estate. There are multiple ways of handling such disputes, including getting the dispute outright Read More

Whether your kids are in grade school or off to college, California’s back-to-school season is the ideal time to consider whether your estate plan is fulfilling the needs of your whole family or not. This time of year has families scrambling to ensure schedules are set and everybody has what they need to succeed in the next steps of their lives. So, what parts of your estate plan specifically need Read More

We must all take time to plan for the future. The work we put in today should serve us for years to come, and, ultimately, should serve our loved ones when we’re gone. Sitting down with a financial planner and getting your finances in order is an essential part of financial wellness, but do you have a plan for what happens to all this time and effort when you’re gone? Your financial plan and your estate plan Read More

Raising children is a commitment. We know it’s our responsibility to guide them through life’s biggest ups and downs. We have to teach them how to walk, how to talk, how to eat, and so much more. As they grow into their teenage and young adult years, we have to sit down and talk with them about how to act in certain situations. One of the talks you should have with your growing teenagers is about estate planning. Read More

Conservatorships have long been an important legal tool for families and individuals. While they’ve been around for far longer, the term has been popular in the media over the last few years with high-profile cases like Britney Spears catching attention. A conservatorship itself is a legal status assigned to a person who will manage important affairs for a minor or person who needs such management. The most common Read More

We’ve talked about the many types of trusts and how trusts avoid probate, but there’s one key caveat: your trust has to be fully funded in order to be exempt from the probate process. As a quick refresher, probate is a court-mandated process of sifting through the details and assets of an estate and legally distributing those assets. If your estate goes through probate, it can cost beneficiaries time, money, and Read More

Getting your estate plan in order is a huge task, so when you’re finished it can feel relieving and fulfilling. Congratulations on putting the important work in to protect your assets and secure the future of your hard work, but the work doesn’t stop there! Your estate plan will evolve over time and should be on your mind whenever you and your loved ones go through major life changes. Whether you sell off assets, Read More

One of the best ways to keep your business and family in order is to make sure you’re ready for the unexpected. Estate planning is a guide to ensure your hard work is left in the right hands after you’re gone, but it also serves as an important tool for when you’re incapacitated and unable to handle everything on your own. We want to make sure you’re prepared for everything. Incapacity planning can start at any Read More

Last year, we wrote about 3 types of Trusts that could help your loved ones avoid probate. When someone dies without a trust their estate often enters into probate, where a Judge will determine what happens to the belongings and money they left behind. If they create a Will, the Judge will follow the included wishes on what to do. However, court fees, taxes and attorney fees are all payable from the probate estate Read More