Abbas Law Group

01/30/2023

The world is abuzz now with the news that Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley's mom, is contesting the amendment made by her late daughter to her trust. In 2016 Priscilla removed her mother and the business manager as succesor trustees and replaced them with her children. Her son died in 2022, so the sole successor trustee remains her daughter Riley.

What is her motivation? Probably access to Priscilla's money.

What is Priscilla alleging? That the amendment to the trust was not executed correctly and that the signature seems to be not Lisa Marie's, that the amendment was not notarized and witnessed, and that as a trustee, she was not notified as required by the law.

In fact, Priscilla is wrong. During the grantor's lifetime, the grantor can replace the successor trustees as she wants. No notice need to be given to the replaced successor trustee. Things are different after the trust becomes irrevocable, when it's mandatory to notify the trustee, but it appears she had a revocable trust.

Anyway, this shows the importance to contact an estate planning attorney if you wish to make changes to your trust, because the amendment must be also notarized and signed. If there was an attorney who created the amendment and screwed up, well, there is a completely different issue.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/entertainment/lisa-marie-presley-estate/index.html?utm_content=2023-01-30T19%3A30%3A15&utm_term=link&utm_source=fbCNN&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3a05wcKpBw-sCXZffknByWrq7QkwWyi3JaEXVXhYbTb0NYXmi5_iKbeek

Priscilla Presley is challenging the validity of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley's will.

12/23/2022

A Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, and to all a wonderful New Year 2023!

07/11/2022

Register your AHCD with the Secretary of State!!

The California Secretary of State maintains a registry of Advance Health Care Directives ("AHCD"). The cost of filing a registration form is only $10.

Every unmarried person should consider registering their AHCD. If you are admitted to a hospital, your medical provider can access the registry and contact the agents you have appointed in your AHCD.

The registration form is available at https://www.sos.ca.gov/registries/advance-health-care-directive-registry

01/29/2022

DIVORCE - should I update my estate plan or not?

If you are going through a divorce, updating your estate plan is an important part of moving on with your life. Understand that, by law, you are legally married until the judge signs the final divorce decree. If you pass away before the divorce is final, your estranged spouse may be entitled to your estate if you haven’t made an estate plan.

Estate Planning Actions You Can Take While A Divorce Is Pending:

1. If you are going through a divorce, you can go ahead and change your Advanced Health Care Directive right away. You need not wait until the divorce is final.

2. You can go ahead and either prepare a new Last Will and Testament, change the beneficiaries on your current last will and testament, or revoke it altogether, while the divorce is pending. If you don’t have a will, now is a good time to create one—because if you pass away without a will before the divorce is final, your ex may inherit all your assets. Furthermore, if you forget to remove your ex-spouse from your will after the divorce is final, it will complicate matters for your heirs with respect to how your property is distributed according to your final wishes and likely wind up in expensive litigation.

Be Careful When Changing Beneficiaries for Retirement, Insurance and Trusts

Be careful when revoking or altering a trust before the divorce is final—always consult an estate planning attorney before doing so because it’s complicated and depends on the type of trust you have, and the language in the trust document.
One thing you can do unilaterally is execute and file a disclaimer. Under certain circumstances, a disclaimer can be a very effective tax planning mechanism to keep property from being considered part of your estate and, as such, potentially subject to estate tax upon your death.

If you are the grantor of a revocable trust, you are generally allowed to revoke or amend your trust, so long as you comply with the express terms of the trust, as you see fit until your death or incapacity. If you alone are the grantor of the trust, this means you can remove your STBX from the revocable trust—but conditions do apply. Here is where it gets tricky.

If you or your ex created a revocable trust together, and then a divorce is filed by either party, you may NOT change or remove the assets from the trust without giving notice to the other spouse.

Similar rules apply to life insurance and retirement benefits. If your ex is a beneficiary of a non-probate transfer, which includes IRAs, profit-sharing pension plans, life insurance, and retirement benefits, consult an attorney to address your unique situation before making changes to the beneficiaries.
If any changes are to be made to the beneficiaries of a trust or insurance policy, you must follow the language of the revocation terms as stated in the trust document. It is also required that you file and serve notice to your ex about their removal for it to take effect.

Estate Planning Actions You Probably Should Avoid:

1. Generally, any action that attempts to shift money or property away from a spouse ahead of a final divorce judgment is prohibited. Transferring or hiding assets or property—whether it communal or separate—is punishable under civil code. Beyond civil penalties, spouses that attempt to hide assets are not looked kindly upon by family court judges, and as such, incur real and serious financial repercussions in divorce rulings.

2. Funding a new trust, revocable or irrevocable, is NOT allowed during a divorce. Also, you cannot create a non-probate transfer or modify a non-probate transfer (IRA, life insurance, benefit plans, revocable trusts) in a manner that directs assets away from your spouse.

When child support or spousal support is at issue, you cannot cash-out or borrow against insurance policies (life, health, disability, automobile) or cancel those policies or transfer their funds into a different account.

CONCLUSION:

Parts of how you should change your estate plan during a divorce are straightforward. Others you absolutely need to ask an estate planning attorney about the best way to proceed. It is important to work with legal representation that understands the intersection of family law and estate planning when sorting out your affairs in the wake of a divorce.

Abbas Law Group can answer your questions if you are contemplating or going through a divorce. Let us help you!

10/14/2021

Next time when your family doesn't want to talk about estate planning, make sure they read this.

The next time your family doesn’t want to discuss planning, mention one of these celebrity stories to get the conversation started.

08/26/2021

You have a trust. Congratulations. But are you sure that your documents are taking care of the "softer side of your estate plan"? Have you documented and shared your wishes for end-of-life care, the care of your pets, the disposition of your tangible assets? Here, at Abbas Law Group, our estate plans are carefully drafted and cover all these issues.

Document and share your wishes for end-of-life care, the care of your pets, the disposition of your tangible assets, and more.

03/06/2021

A big thank you to Jennifer who just posted this on a moms group!

09/22/2020

Your child graduated from high school and he/she is heading to college. Or your child is already there! You are excited for your child, but also nervous. And you should be. Because your child is not a "child" anymore, but a young adult. So what happens if your child becomes incapacitated? If, like in the article, someone needs to decided between fixing a shattered leg or amputate? Because your child is now considered an adult, his doctors won't have the liberty to discuss his/her medical records with you, you cannot access their bank accounts, and you cannot make legal or medical decisions for them. So what can you do to prevent this unwanted situation? You can talk to your child and explain the need to have several documents in place: an Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD), and a Durable Power of Attorney for Finances (DPOA). Don't hesitate to contact Abbas Law Group for more information!

Your child is a legal adult now. It’s time to create a medical and durable power of attorney so parents can help in an emergency.

05/15/2020

On December 20, 2019, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, better known as the SECURE Act was signed into law. Why is this law important and what are the take aways ?
- Pushes back the age at which retirement plan participants need to take required minimum distributions (RMDs), from 70½ to 72, and allows traditional IRA owners to keep making contributions indefinitely.
- Allows long-term, part-time workers to participate in 401(k) plans.
- Offers more options for lifetime income strategies.
- Permits parents to withdraw up to $5,000 from retirement accounts penalty-free within a year of birth or adoption for qualified expenses.
- Allows parents to withdraw up to $10,000 from 529 plans to repay student loans
- Makes it easier for small business owners to set up “safe harbor” retirement plans that are less expensive and easier to administer.
- Many part-time workers will be eligible to participate in an employer retirement plan.
- Mandates that most non-spouses inheriting IRAs take distributions that end up emptying the account in 10 years.
- Allows 401(k) plans to offer annuities.

However, this is not the end of the story. The law impacts revocable living trusts, so if your existing trust has conduit trust provisions (and if you have minor children, it probably does), please contact your estate planning attorneys in order to amend your existing trusts.

See how the SECURE Act aims to improve retirement security for many American from IRA contributions to updates on required minimum distribution (RMD). Learn more here.