The Law Office of Lauren N. Peebles

Face Coverings Policy

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 08:50:00 GMT

Note: This policy takes effect on June 15, 2021 and will supersede all prior face coverings guidance.

For additional information, individuals should refer to CDC Recommendations for Safer Activities (see CDPH Masking Guidance Frequently Asked Questions for more information).

Exemptions to masks requirements

The following individuals are exempt from wearing masks at all times:

Virtual Appointments Remain Available

Virtual appointments via Zoom remain available for those who request to meet remotely. You need not be in person for your appointment.

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Thanksgiving Conversation You MUST Have

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 06:22:00 GMT

Thanksgiving is almost here. This is the time of year when friends and family gather over good food and great fellowship. We know that thinking about accidents, illness, tragedy and death is not easy. We also know that talking about it can be even more difficult. But the conversation is critically important and one we must have with ourselves and our loved ones.

Here are eight (8) important questions to ask your loved ones this Thanksgiving:

1. Have you appointed a trusted decision maker to handle your financial affairs should something happen to you?

2. Have you nominated an agent to communicate your health care wishes in the event you are unable to do so yourself?

3. If you wish to avoid probate, do you have a properly executed Estate Plan to accomplish this?

4. If you have an existing Estate Plan, does it reflect your most up-to-date choices?

5. Will your family have little trouble taking over your affairs if you are unable to?

6. If your children are minors, have you nominated a guardian to step in if something were to happen to you?

7. Are your beneficiary designations up-to-date reflecting your current distribution wishes for your 401K and other insurance policies?

8. Do you know that The Law Office of Lauren N. Peebles can help you plan so that you can answer ‘YES’ to these questions and more?

This year, encourage your family and friends to share one tangible thing they are thankful for and then identify one way to protect it should something happen to them. To help facilitate the conversation, share information about wills, trusts, advance health care directives and powers of attorney. Then, as a family, commit to creating plans before the year ends. The Law Office of Lauren N. Peebles would be happy to help you meet these very important family goals.

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Joint Tenancy Accounts–Who Owns the Money?

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 09:10:00 GMT

Joint Tenancy vs. Estate Money

The Estate of O’Connor case came before the court to answer the question often asked and that is, when an elderly person dies with a bank account held in joint tenancy, who owns the money? The decedent’s estate or the co-owner of the account?

Here are the facts…

Creation of Living Trust

On June 27, 1990, Husband and Wife created their Family Trust. Husband and Wife (we will also call her “Mom”) had three children:

The three children were equal beneficiaries of the Family Trust if they survived the surviving spouse. Husband died in 1994. Son #2 died in 2004. On August 1, 2006, Wife created the Mom-Only Trust (MOT).

Mom died in 2012. Upon Mom’s death, Daughter told the successor trustee that Mom had two Wells Fargo accounts that had been opened in October 2008 and contained approximately $477,218 at the time of Mom’s death.

Joint Tenancy Issue

The court had to decide whether Mom intended to create joint accounts with the right of survivorship in favor of Daughter when she opened the accounts, thus exempting the bank accounts from the Family Trust. According to Daughter, Mom asked Daughter to meet her at the bank to open the accounts and “put my name on it with her.” Daughter testified she signed the signature card with Mom and Mom indicated the money in the accounts was for Daughter’s use. Daughter maintained she had “complete access” to the two accounts. Although Wells Fargo could not find a signed signature card for the accounts, it did find an unsigned consumer account application and legal name change request for the accounts. The consumer account application expressly listed Mom as the primary joint owner of the accounts and Daughter the secondary joint owner. Daughter later submitted a declaration stating that she had signed, and had witnessed Mom signing the consumer account application.

Court Case

The case went to court. The court sided in favor of Daughter. Son appealed. On appeal, the Court of Appeal sided with Daughter again. It explained that survivorship interests in jointly-owned accounts are governed by the Probate Code. The probate code states that sums in a joint account belong to the surviving party unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent.

Court Ruling

Although Son argued that there was no sufficient evidence to support the joint tenancy nature of the accounts because there was nothing in writing, the court explained that a writing is not required to create the right of survivorship under California’s multiple-party account law. Moreover, Son was unsuccessful in overcoming the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. Although Son cited various contradictory statements made by Daughter regarding ownership of the accounts, the appellate court agreed with the lower court’s finding. In the end, the court felt there was insufficient evidence that Mom did not intend the accounts to be held in joint tenancy.

…

Do you agree with the court’s ruling? Why or why not? Follow our page on Facebook (“The Law Office of Lauren N. Peebles”) and let us know! Hashtag: #ConnorCase

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Lottery Win Could Be a Loss Without a Plan

Tue, 31 Oct 2017 07:30:00 GMT

First things first: PROTECT THE LOTTERY TICKET!

If you do not own a safe deposit box , now is the time to get one because the first thing you should do is make a copy of the lottery ticket and place the original in a safe deposit box.

Under What Identity Should You Receive Lottery Winnings?

Also, if you purchased your ticket as a part of a group or an office pool, you will want to establish an entity because many state lotteries require only one payee per winning ticket. This is also essential because assume you and your group agree that you would be the lottery claimant, when you distribute the winning portions to the other members of your group, it might be considered a taxable gift under the Federal Gift Tax laws.

Do Not Give Your Lottery Winnings Away in Probate Fees

And for all amounts above twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000), the court determines how much the fees are. Also, your executor is entitled to the same amount. Assume for a moment that you won $20 million in the lottery. You’d pay $163,000 in probate fees to the attorney and another $163,000 in fees to your executor. That does not include other costs and extraordinary costs—all of which are avoided when you have an estate plan in place before you collect your winnings.

Also, a trust can establish guidelines for your children should something happen to you and they inherit your winnings before they are old enough to make wise
decisions with the money.

What about creditors?

One type of trust that will protect your assets from your creditors is called an irrevocable trust . Once you establish an irrevocable trust, you no longer legally own the assets used to fund it and can no longer control how those assets are distributed. You could put a portion of your lottery winnings in an irrevocable trust to be protected. However, by creating an irrevocable trust, you surrender the ability to later modify the trust.

Due to this change in ownership, a future creditor cannot satisfy a judgment against the assets held in irrevocable trust. But, the extent of protection turns largely on state law issues so you must talk with an attorney before establishing this type of relationship with your assets.

Importantly, a court can undo your transfer to an irrevocable trust if it finds that the transfer was made with the intention of defrauding creditors. These transfers are considered fraudulent, and in many cases carry significant legal penalties. This is why it is CRITICAL to practice asset protection planning well before you even anticipate being the subject of any liability.

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Estate Plan or No Estate Plan? That is the question…

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 04:23:00 GMT

The Pros & Cons of No Estate Plan

California’s Default Estate Plan

California’s Probate Code governs intestate succession —a set of laws that outline how a person’s assets should be distributed if they did not leave their own instructions. The state will consider your spouse, children, parents and siblings when you have not. For some, the state’s default rules are sufficient to represent their wishes. For others, the state’s rules do not capture their specific family dynamics or their desires for how property should be handled upon death.

This does not mean that the state’s rules are entirely bad. When you pass away without a will (or even with one), your estate must go through probate . Probate is the process by which your affairs are wrapped up—someone is appointed as your executor to handle the probate, creditors are provided notice of your death so that your final bills are paid, beneficiaries receive notice so that they can obtain their inheritance, and the court monitors the entire process. Some people like the idea of having the court system involved to monitor how things are handled. Others do not prefer this idea and would instead prefer someone in their family or a friend handle their affairs when they are unable to. Additionally, probate proceedings are public. If you’re a private person, you may not like the idea that any one and everyone can discuss your business openly in court.

Attorney’s Fees in Probate

The State of California’s default estate plan is not without cost. The default rules provide for attorney’s fees and personal representative fees. Currently, attorneys and personal representatives are each entitled to a percentage of the value of your estate: 4% of the first $100,000 of the gross value of the probate estate, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000 and 1% of the next $9 million. In California, a modest estate including a single property and a few bank accounts could easily rack up tens of thousands of dollars in probate expenses. This means less money for the people of your choosing and more money for people you may not even know!

You Decide

At the end of the day, whether or not to create an estate plan is a personal choice. The State’s default plan is a “one size fits all” estate plan, but many times the State’s plan simply does not fit. The best thing to do is sit down with a licensed Estate Planning Attorney who will listen to your unique family situation and the things important to you and will draft an estate plan that represents your desires. You may choose not to create an estate plan altogether or simply to just not create one “right now”. No matter what your decision, know that the State of California has a plan for you and the only way to free yourself of the government’s choices is to make them for yourself. The choice is yours.

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Estate of Whitney Houston: Rich Woman, Poor Planning

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 15:25:00 GMT

Have you done any estate planning? If the answer is no, you’re not alone. In fact, Whitney Houston did not draft a will until 6.5 years after her marriage to Bobby Brown. Bobbi Kristina was one month shy of six years old.

Houston’s Estate Plan

When Houston did, she executed a very simple 16-page will (a legal document that names individuals who will receive your assets after your death). Whitney made provisions to have her funeral expenses paid and then assigned her estate to her living child(ren). She included specific instructions on how the estate was to be distributed: one-tenth distributed at 21, one-sixth at 25 and the balance to be distributed at 30.

Houston wisely contemplated the possibility of not having any living children. In that instance, he left the balance of her estate to the following family members:

Initially, she named her attorney, Sheldon Platt, as her executor (which raises some red flags) and Mr. Platt and her sister-in-law Donna Houston as co-trustees of the trusts created by her will. A later codicil (an amendment to the will) replaced the attorney with Cissy as executor and Michael as co-trustee.

Houston’s Surprising Estate Choices

First, it’s amazing that someone with Whitney’s fame, fortune and status would have executed a will in the first place rather than a living trust. A will, unlike a trust, becomes public record.

Second, the will was outdated. Whitney and Bobby divorced April 24, 2007 and yet her will, providing for Bobby Brown, was never changed. Perhaps Whitney intentionally left Bobby in the will? Well in most states, an ex-spouse cannot inherit under a will after divorce. Notwithstanding state laws, the better practice would have been for her to update her will following the divorce to avoid any potential ambiguity as to the star’s wishes.

Finally, and similar to the second point, Whitney’s will named Bobby as the guardian of person and property of Bobbi Kristina. This may or not be what Whitney intended but, given Whitney’s unfortunate and untimely passing, we can’t ask what she intended.

In the end, Whitney’s outdated will is not totally fatal and in that way, “it’s not right—but it’s okay.”

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