California recently enacted its decanting statute. The new law allows an authorized fiduciary to modify the terms of an irrevocable trust without the beneficiaries’ consent or court approval. Nevertheless, the settlor’s intent must be preserved, and no beneficiary can object. Here’s how the law compares to the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (UTDA) and other state decanting statutes.

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.

The statutory scheme for enforcing money judgments against trusts, the limitations on that scheme when facing spendthrift clauses, and ways around those limitations.

Married couples often don’t give much thought to the characterization of their property as community or separate. In general, community property is all real or personal property acquired by a married person during the marriage. Separate property is all property owned by the person before the marriage, all property acquired by the person after marriage by gift, bequest or devise, and the rents and profits from the person’s separate property.

Discussion regarding California’s new Uniform Trust Decanting Act, effective January 1, 2019.

High property values in California highlight the need for careful property tax planning. If you have owned your property for many years, it is likely that your property's assessed value for property tax purposes is significantly lower than today's fair market value. If your property should be reassessed, you or your family members could be faced with a significant increase in the annual property tax.