An Experienced Estate Planning Lawyer in Newport Beach
Attorney Philip John Gold has more than 30 years experience in assisting families and individuals with estate planning, probate, trust administration, planning for incapacity, assisting families with disabled members, minimizing taxes and all related financial matters.
Why Do You Need an Estate Plan?
You need an estate plan for the following reasons:
- To make certain the persons or charities you wish to receive gifts of your estate will actually receive such gifts by the use of a Will or Living Trust
- To make certain that any of your minor children are protected financially, and if both you and your spouse are gone, that they will be cared for by the individuals you name by making provisions in your Will or Living Trust
- To make certain any disabled family members are provided for both as to their physical care and their finances; and to insure they continue to receive any public benefits they were receiving at the date of your death by nominating a conservatorship or guardianship for the disabled person and creating a Special Needs Trust for them to remain eligible for receipt of public benefits
- To execute an Advanced Health Care Directive or Living Will to name an agent to make medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so and to instruct your agent as to the donation of organs, the authorization for an autopsy, to provide funeral instructions and most important of all give directions concerning life support and heroic measures if you are in an irreversible coma or terminal situation, and also to make decisions concerning your living arrangements and care during your lifetime if you become incapacitated
- To execute a Durable Power of Attorney for Property Management to name an agent to act as your "attorney in fact" to handle your financial affairs in the event you are disabled
- To execute a Will or a Trust to plan for death or incapacity and minimize family disputes by clearly and legally expressing what is to happen to your property at your death or in the event you become incapacitated, and express who is to manage your affairs
- To do tax planning to minimize or eliminate taxes upon your death by executing tax oriented Wills and Trusts
What Needs to be Done if My Family Member, Friend or Loved One Died Without a Will or a Trust?
The term used is that the person died intestate, meaning without a will or testamentary document in existence. In that situation, if the assets are held in the deceased person's name only, there is no beneficiary designation and depending on the value of the assets, a probate proceeding must be initiated. This is a legal proceeding to transfer the particular assets that are in the name of the deceased person to the persons entitled to them under the laws of the state in which the decedent resided. Here in California, the statutes provide that assets usually pass to surviving spouses and children, if any, and otherwise to surviving family members as designated by the law.
Plan Now to Avoid Estate Planning Problems in the Future
Philip John Gold is an experienced and skilled estate planner in Newport Beach, California, who has more than 30 years of estate planning experience to assist individuals with all sizes of estates and family situations including families with minor children, families with disabled members, single parent families, domestic partnerships, same-sex partners, and single or unmarried individuals.
Call Today, Toll-Free — 888-763-3296
You can also e-mail Philip John Gold, Attorney at Law, in Newport Beach. Evening or weekend appointments are available upon request.
