A will is typically just one part of a properly designed estate plan. If you do not have a will, your estate will pass “intestate” according to the laws of California.
However, even if you have a will or choose to have one drafted on your behalf, there are a few things you should know.
Read our blog post ‘Is a Handwritten Will Effective?‘
If you have minor children, a will is used to determine guardianship if both parents have passed. This keeps your family from waging war with each other over the care of your children and allows them to expend their energy on the children’s behalf instead.
A will speaks only upon your death, so any matter that occurs while you are still alive will not be affected by the execution of a valid will.
It will not keep your estate out of the probate court. Simply, it is a set of instructions to the probate court on how you would like your estate to pass, rather than passing according to the State’s intestacy laws. You should know that the probate process can take an extended amount of time and have excessive costs.
A will alone can handle some aspects of your estate, but not all. In a comprehensive plan, the will is used in conjunction with a revocable living trust to protect your estate. This type of will is often called a pour-over will. Visit our pour-over will page to learn more on how that document can benefit your estate plan.
We will prepare a legal document to provide clear instructions on what should happen to all your assets according to your wishes after death. It can prevent family feuds over property and other finances.
We’ll guide you in choosing a power of attorney (POA) and explain what legal decisions can be made by the person assigned. It’s the best way to protect your finances, property, or medical care.
This includes Revocable Living Trust, Irrevocable Trust, Testamentary Trust, and Special Needs Trust.
Our professional team will ensure that a pour-over will is in place to capture any assets that are not included in your living trust or that weren’t transferred initially. It’s always better to play it safe and make sure everything is handled accordingly.
If something should happen to you and you can no longer make decisions, you’ll want to make sure that somebody has your best interest at heart and follows your instructions for any healthcare needs. Our team will create the legal healthcare documents needed to give you peace of mind.
The team of Filippi Law are kind, sincere and thorough in their work. They helped us work through our trust administration of our family member, to create our own trust, and any other issues that came up along the way. We appreciate their time and their willingness to explain the process in the detail. They also helped us with needed referrals for anything else. We would highly recommend their insight to anyone.
Jen helped us figure out the nuances of the different state laws to help with setting up the will and distribution to family members. She found issues with our previous will/trust that were corrected and offered updates to the new laws. We are very pleased with the final product and my mother feels that her wishes have been heard and met.
I worked with a few different people throughout the trust distribution process and everyone was very helpful and pleasant to work with.
Best firm I’ve ever had represent me both personally and professionally. Jim and the team lead the way!
We found the Filippi Law Firm in Yelp and we were so lucky to have found them. Both Jen and Jim were kind and patient, explaining the process and addressing our concerns with a cost we felt was appropriate for the quality of the work. At all times we felt supported in the process and it could not have gone better. If you need this kind of work do yourself a favor and reach out to these folks for help. You won’t regret it.
Jenn helped us with a trust account for my parents. She is very polite and thorough at doing her job she answered every question. My parents had and made them feel very welcome there. If we ever had to use the office again, we would .
