John A. Hartog recognized as “Best Lawyer of the Year, 2020” for work in Trusts and Estates and Trusts and Estates Litigation.

Clients, friends and colleagues often ask me "how often should I update my estate plan?" Estate planning attorneys commonly recommend that you review your estate plan documents - i.e., your will, revocable "living" trusts, power of attorney for financial matters, and advance health care directives - at least every five years.

If you practice in parts of the United States where wealth is more concentrated, such as New York, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, you may very well have clients with taxable estates.

Many trustees employ counsel to provide advice on dealing with and responding to inquiries from beneficiaries. Trustees may believe that their communications with and advice from counsel are confidential and cannot be disclosed to the beneficiaries without their consent. The recent court decision in Fiduciary Trust International of California v. Klein (2017) 9 Cal. App. 5th 1184 is a cautionary tale that warns trustees against assuming that all communications with an attorney are confidential.