The best way to illustrate the importance of good estate planning is to share stories of what goes wrong when people fail to address this important topic.  Celebrities give us no shortage of estate planning “counter examples.”  I have several posters in my office entitled, “Estate Planning Mistakes of the Rich and Famous,” published by […]

A few weeks ago, Selma opened in theaters across the country.  The movie focuses upon the 1965 voting rights marches led by several civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King.  As reported in an article by Gene Demby entitled, “King’s Family Builds Its Own Legacy of Legal Battles,” published on NPR”s website, the film […]

An essential component of a trust-based estate plan is to ensure that all of your assets – with a few exceptions – are titled to your trust.  Picture your trust as an empty basket and all of your assets as eggs: you need to make sure your eggs are in the basket.  One of the […]

Most comprehensive estate plans center upon a revocable living trust.  However, drafting and executing a detailed and thoughtful revocable living trust is only part of the planning process.  Another key part is making sure that your assets are titled to your trust.  This process of re-titling your assets to your living trust is often referred […]

Even though I grew up on the Monterey Peninsula and have no family connection to the Midwest, I have been a genuine “Cheesehead” Packer Backer since I was in elementary school.  I always enjoyed watching football in the elements, I liked the idea of a major professional sports team in a small town, and I […]

In Tim O’Brien’s famous novel about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried, the soldiers all carry physical trinkets that have symbolic meaning, each revealing deeper truths about their personal stories.  The novel illustrates the fact that items of tangible personal property often have high sentimental value regardless of their actual fair market value.  As […]

Seniors and their families often worry about affording the high costs of long-term care.  By many estimates, the average cost of a nursing home is now more than $80,000 per year.  Naturally, many people hope for better alternatives. An idea that has been floated in chain emails, blogs, and chat rooms for years has been […]

I have two conflicting perspectives when I create estate plans for clients.  First, in drafting the documents, I try to think of every possible contingency in case my clients never revisit their estate plan in the event of changing circumstances.  Second, I try to remind my clients that it is a mistake to believe that […]

Even though I grew up in the temperate climate of the Monterey Peninsula, my favorite sport as a kid was hockey.  I was very close to my paternal grandparents who were refugees from Czechoslovakia.  Prior to World War II, my grandfather – Karel A. Krasa – was a prominent hockey player, coach, and manager.  He […]

An essential element of estate planning is to make your health care wishes clear and legally enforceable.  The most basic method for accomplishing this task is to execute an Advance Health Care Directive (“AHCD”) that features two key components. First, an AHCD allows you to name a health care agent who is empowered to make […]