Planning for Pets Like Hope: What You Should Know About Pet Trusts in California Imagine a sweet, 17-year-old cat named Hope. She’s been by her owner’s side through years of companionship—curled up on the couch, waiting at the door, purring through every season of life. As she ages and her medical needs grow, her owner…
Forgotten but Not Left Behind: What Happens When a Spouse Is Omitted from an Estate Plan? Estate planning is all about preparation. But life happens—and sometimes, people get married after signing a will or trust and forget to update it. In these situations, the surviving spouse may be what California law calls a pretermitted spouse—someone unintentionally…
Over the years, I’ve been asked many times whether a Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed is a good way to pass down property. These deeds were designed to simplify estate planning by avoiding probate—but in practice, they often create more problems than they solve. I no longer recommend TOD deeds to my clients—and I don’t draft them—because…
The Scary Pitfalls of DIY Wills: Don’t Let Your Estate Plan Turn Into a Horror Story Halloween is a time for haunted houses, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night. But nothing is scarier than leaving your loved ones with a broken estate plan. Do-it-yourself wills may look harmless, but behind the mask…
Do You Want Your Funeral Livestreamed? (And Other Thoughts Your Ancestors Didn’t Need to Contemplate) By Kristin M. Kaminski, Kaminski Law Group When your great-great-grandparents passed away, their end-of-life plans probably didn’t involve a camera crew or a stable internet connection. The biggest questions were who would host the wake, which hymns to sing, and…
