Probate Code News Today

Trustee (1) NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE TS No. CA-23-970822-NJ Order No.: FIN-23008251 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 2/2/2007. UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD

California law allows handwritten wills to be valid as, “holographic wills” if they meet the requirements of section 6111 of the Probate Code.  That a person can informally write a handwritten will means that anyone who is unable, for any reason, to see an attorney in a timely manner can nonetheless legally express their testamentary intentions in an enforceable holographic will.  That approach, however, is not without its risks.

For centuries, serious legal scholars have debated what is possibly the most vital question of our times: in what ways, if any, does our judicial system differ from basketball? Now,...

In California, people who own real property generally establish a revocable living trust, as settlors, and transfer title to their assets to themselves as trustees to avoid probate when they die. While alive, a settlor retains the separate powers to revoke and amend their living trust, so long as they have the mental capacity to do so.

The late pop star's children and his mother Katherine believed the executors had violated the terms of Michael's will.

Parties in California state court employment lawsuits and other actions may now deploy a potent new discovery tool. New demands for disclosure may be used in employment litigation and...

The recent appellate court decision by the First Appellate Department of the California Court of Appeals in Spears v. Spears, 97 Cal. App. 5th 1294, 2023 Cal. App., is an important change to how creditors of a decedent’s estate could satisfy their creditor’s claim against the decedent’s trust estate, under certain conditions, in the California First Appellate Department.  

As a child, your parents, teachers, and/or some other adult influence probably sat you down and recounted Aesop’s classic fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. “Slow and steady wins the...

The estate planning world certainly saw its share of turbulence from 2020-2022. With two significant elections, it is hard to remember a previous time with such substantial uncertainty...

Under present California trust law, trustees are the only fiduciaries (i.e., legally appointed representatives) with the duty, authority and power to administer a trust’s assets, liabilities and financial and legal affairs.   The trustee’s primary duty is to carry out the terms of the trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries.