Estate Planning and Trust Attorneys in Los Angeles County

After a death, the county record still shows the late parent as trustee. The successor trustee corrects that by recording an affidavit of death with a certified copy of the death certificate. That affidavit must include a particular description of the property. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk offers a form covering the death of a joint tenant or trustee. Recording it is one early task in trust administration, along with the notice California requires to beneficiaries and heirs. The trustee then gathers the accounts, pays final bills and prepares the house for sale or distribution.

Suppose the son needs a judge to answer a question the trust leaves open. Under Probate Code section 17005, a petition about a living trust usually goes to the county where the trust is administered. Section 17002 ties that place to where the trustee carries out the trust's daily work. Because the son runs the trust from Sherman Oaks, a Los Angeles County court would likely hear it. The answer would change if a sibling in Ventura County served as trustee instead. Gold Law checks the county and the court district before filing.

The son lives with a partner he has not married or registered with the state. California's default inheritance rules would give that partner nothing. A will, a trust and updated beneficiary forms can change that, and Gold Law's plans for couples in Sherman Oaks address that gap first. An advance health care directive also lets him name his partner to make medical decisions. Without one, a hospital may look to his parents or siblings instead.

When someone other than the beneficiary funds a special needs trust, lawyers call it a third party trust. The grandparents' money never belongs to the grandson, so it ordinarily does not count against his benefits. The trustee pays directly for things such as therapies, equipment or recreation, though some payments can still reduce certain benefits. Every relative leaving him money needs the same approach, because an aunt's life insurance naming him directly can undo careful planning. Gold Law reviews beneficiary forms across the family, not just the grandparents' documents.

California's regional centers coordinate services for people with developmental disabilities. Because the grandson lives in Camarillo, Tri-Counties Regional Center serves him. Los Angeles County is divided among several other centers by health district. For the San Fernando Valley districts, that is generally the North Los Angeles County Regional Center. Families can confirm their center through the Department of Developmental Services regional center lookup. If the family moved to the Valley, a Los Angeles County center would take over, but the trust and legal documents would not change.

A special needs trust can be created at any age, and turning 18 raises a separate question about decision making. At 18, the grandson becomes a legal adult, and his parents lose their automatic authority over his medical care and records. Planning for that birthday looks first at options that leave him the most independence. A power of attorney may be enough. So may supported decision making, an arrangement in which he keeps his rights and chooses people to help him decide. If he needs more protection, his parents can ask for a limited conservatorship, a court order giving them authority only in the areas the judge grants. Because he lives in Camarillo, that petition would go to the Ventura County court in Oxnard rather than the Central District in Los Angeles.

A family generally files a conservatorship in the county where the proposed conservatee, the adult the case is about, lives. For the aunt in Northridge, that means the Los Angeles Superior Court. Northridge sits in the San Fernando Valley, so the case would generally file downtown in the Central District. Gold Law prepares general conservatorship petitions that explain why the adult needs help and why less restrictive options fall short. A court investigator meets with her before the hearing. The judge then decides whether a conservatorship is necessary and how much authority to grant.

Judges in these cases can assign a lawyer to speak for the proposed conservatee. The Los Angeles Superior Court added Marissa Garcia to its Court Appointed Counsel panel in 2016, and she remains on it. Howard Gold also takes court appointments to represent conservatees, in Los Angeles as well as Ventura. Appointed counsel works for the proposed conservatee, whoever brought the case. That role gives both attorneys a view of these cases from the side of the person who needs care.

If the aunt can still sign, her plan can do more than name a helper. Her house is her largest asset, and she has no spouse or children to inherit it. Without a plan, California's default rules would generally pass it to her siblings or their children, and probate may be required. A living trust can direct the house instead, and so can a transfer on death deed, which names who receives the home at the owner's death. For an estate built around one house in Northridge, Van Nuys or elsewhere in the Valley, the first question is whether a trust is needed at all.