Best rated estate planning legal services Orange County, California by Darren Veracruz Law: If you want to leave money or property to a loved one with a disability, you must plan carefully. Otherwise, you could jeopardize your loved one’s ability to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid benefits. A “special needs trust” can avoid some of these problems. Business Succession Planning provides a mechanism for an orderly business succession should an owner decide to transfer his interest due to a voluntarily event, such as retirement, or an involuntary event, such as death, disability, insanity, or bankruptcy. It also affords the co-owners or the business entity the ability to maintain the option or mandatory obligation to purchase the interest from an existing owner in order to restrict outsiders or undesirable business partners from becoming owners. This is often a useful provision for family businesses. Discover even more details at Darren Veracruz.

If you have a minor child and no will, or a will that has no age restrictions, in most states that child will receive their entire inheritance at age 18. Although this is the legal age, not many 18-year-olds are mature enough to responsibly manage a large inheritance. There have been many heartbreaking tales of parents who have failed to plan for their own death, resulting in a child receiving all of their inheritance at age 18 and spending it all in a few short years.

Trust & probate law services Orange County, California by Darren Veracruz 2023: Additionally, if you have selected someone as your Medical Power of Attorney, it’s advisable to make sure they are aware of that designation, and that they are familiar with your wishes so that should the time come, they can feel confident in their decisions. The person selected as your Financial Power of Attorney should also be made aware of their designation, and at least be given a general overview of the assets that will be under their direction. Let them down easy, if necessary. You may have loved ones who expected to play a significant role in your estate plan, who are not. You may want to sit down with them to specifically address their feelings around the subject, which we will discuss with greater consideration in a future blog post. These conversations might not be easy, but proactively sharing your wishes with your loved ones may help them understand and respect your choices, and ultimately serve as an important gesture of goodwill.

Lutheran Social Services of Southern California (LSSSC) was founded in 1944 and has dedicated the last 78 years to providing comprehensive emergency, transitional, and preventative services to at-risk communities. Over the years, LSSSC has expanded its service to eight area centers throughout six counties across Southern California- all aimed to address barriers to access in the areas of homelessness, food insecurity, health inequity, socioeconomic disparity, and education for the underserved. To adequately address these needs, we utilize evidence-based practices to design holistic services that contribute to long-term transformation.

The second document is what we call a California Statutory Power of Attorney. This is the document that most banks and financial institutions are familiar with and therefore we recommend it. However, it doesn’t cover the universe of things that could or might happen, so we typically recommend augmenting that with a second documents, an expanded Durable Power of Attorney that is custom drafted. The third document that is critical to have as part of your child’s estate plan is the HIPAA Authorization for Release of Information. A properly drafted global HIPAA allows the nominated parties to receive medical information about the condition of the person who has signed the release. If your child is injured and taken to the hospital, the hospital is technically not supposed to release information about their condition or even that they’re at the hospital to anyone. But if your child executes this release, you can fax this to the hospital or present it in person and they will be able to release information to you. See additional information at Darren Veracruz.

Gun ownership is a serious matter and responsible gun owners should proactively plan for their transfer upon death. Laws and procedures for transferring ownership and possession differ greatly depending on the type of firearms involved and the state. In California, you may be required to register the transfer of ownership or even dispose of it depending on the firearm. Here is a California checklist to help your trustees and personal representatives to transfer your firearms.