IRAs are different from many other assets I deal with in estate plans.  IRAs cannot be put into a trust; they already have a trustee who manages them.  To name the person or persons you want to inherit your IRA when you die, you have to fill out a "beneficiary designation" on a form supplied by the trustee for the IRA.  Most people name individuals as the beneficiaries of their IRAs.  You can name your trust as the beneficiary of your IRA, but that is a complex decision that requires careful analysis.  The friendly IRS has many rules about how people can take out distributions on an inherited IRA, ands those rules are even more complicated when your trust is the [...]

It may seem obvious, but people often forget to update their wills, trusts, powers of attorney and advance health care directives when they get divorced.  Under California law, some automatic safeguards are put in place when a petition for divorce is filed.  There are rules about when and how you can change your will and trust, for example.  Once the divorce is final, you need to take steps to change your documents.  You probably want to remove your ex-spouse as a beneficiary of your estate, and you  probably don't want your "ex" being the trustee of your trust, the executor of your will or your attorney-in-fact under your power of attorney or your advance health care directive.When you make these changes, don't [...]