San Fernando Valley Probate & Estate Administration Law Blog

If you are like many people in California and across the United States, you created your last will and testament while you were of sound mind and body. When writing your will, you determine who you want to have your possessions and finances upon your passing. In some cases, however, there may be people who try to influence you to make drastic changes in your will, especially as you grow older. This is referred to as undue influence, and it can invalidate a will if it is found you were not making the changes and decisions on your own accord.

Undue influence occurs when someone urges or persuades another person to make changes to their will designating them as the beneficiary to property. This involves changes that the will creator would not have made if they were acting on their own free will.  This persuasion can be used to invalidate the will if the person who is writing the will was under so much duress that they were unable to resist the overwhelming influence of the other person. Furthermore, the changes made to the will must directly benefit the person who is being accused of undue influence.

When a beloved family member dies, you may know that many different affairs will need addressing. You may wonder whether you have the right or ability to help handle those remaining tasks, and the answer to that question may depend on whether your loved one created a will or other estate planning documents.

An estate plan — or lack of one — can have a considerable impact on how the deceased individual's estate is handled. For instance, this information will determine whether probate or estate administration is needed and whether an executor or administrator will handle the necessary duties of closing the estate. If you have questions, it may prove useful to understand the differences in these legal proceedings.

If you have not reviewed your California estate plan in the past couple of years, you may be in for a pleasant surprise when you do. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Congress passed and President Trump signed into law late last year may have dramatically increased the value of your estate, giving your heirs and beneficiaries more than you thought.

As Market Watch explains, under the old law your estate had to pay a federal estate tax if it is worth more than $5.6 million. Under the new law, your estate will not have to pay this “death tax” unless it is worth more than $11.2 million. In other words, your federal estate tax exemption doubled. Since California has no estate tax of its own, what this means is that your estate will pass tax-free to your heirs when you die unless you are among the uber-rich whose estates worth in excess of $11.2 million will still have to pay the 40 percent death tax.

If you are a California parent or grandparent who wants to help pay for your children's and/or grandchildren's future college expenses, you may wish to consider setting up a 529 plan for each of them. Per the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a 529 plan is a college savings plan that benefits your child or grandchild while giving you tax advantages.

Each state sponsors its own plan, but you also can choose among those sponsored by state agencies or educational institutions themselves. 529 plans come in two varieties: prepaid tuition plans and college savings plans. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.