House in foreclosure
Probated an estate with San Jose real property that was in foreclosure. We first successfully intervened to stop a foreclosure sale. Then we sold the residence out from under a loan servicer who attempted to sell the property despite having agreed not to do so. After saving the real property from foreclosure and selling it, we managed tense issues among siblings while avoiding the need to resort to litigation.
International estates
Administered the estate of a non-United States citizen and resident who owned California real property. This required working with international counsel, as well as estate tax consequences where the decedent was not a United States Person.
Changing circumstances
Represented the executor of a will leaving the decedent’s estate to a relative in the Philippines. The estate included real property in San Francisco and San Jose. Through one of the top notch realtors we work with, we were able to fix up the properties and sell them for top dollar. The sole beneficiary agreed that the decedent probably would have wanted to update her will and through a court procedure, we distributed the estate in accordance with the wishes the parties believed were in keeping with the decedent’s true intent.
Caring for your Surviving Spouse
The son of a deceased couple was ready to sell the family residence many years after mom and dad had both died. The realtor told the son that the real property needed to go through Santa Clara County probate. Because of how title was held, we needed to open a probate for each parent. And because mom had children from 2 different relationships, there were different beneficiaries for each probate. On top of all that, there were complications regarding property tax assessments from a property that was supposed to have been reassessed many years ago, when dad had died.
Paying a beneficiary when there is no cash
Three siblings co-owned a residence in Palo Alto. One of the siblings died without a will or trust, owning ⅓ of the house. Under California laws of intestacy, the ⅓ interest in the house was to be distributed to the decedent’s 3 siblings, two of whom resided in the house. The two siblings living in the house did not want to sell the house, but they needed to pay the third siblings. Through our relationships with specialized lenders we were able to borrow money secured by the estate real property and pay the third sibling her share of the estate in cash while allowing the other siblings to inherit the house, and the loan to the estate was converted to a mortgage on the residence.
Caring for your Surviving Spouse
Wife’s health had taken a turn for the worse and husband was at an advanced age. The couple did not have any reliable family members to administer their trust. There was reasonable concern that husband would become susceptible to financial abuse after wife’s passing. We set up a unique revocable living trust that would become irrevocable for husband’s protection after wife passed, with enough flexibility to allow husband to retain financial independence. After wife passed, a California Licensed Professional Fiduciary took over as trustee, managing husband’s financial affairs and preserving his assets for his well being first and the future beneficiaries, afterward. Husband was able to remain safely and comfortably in their Palo Alto residence.
Unique family choices
Two couples decided to buy a house together and to eventually raise their children together in the home. They wanted an estate plan that allowed the children of each respective couple to inherit from their deceased parents, while allowing the other couple to remain in the residence rent-free for as long as they wanted. Thus, while children would inherit ½ of the property at the death of both parents, they could not sell the property without permission of the living original homeowners. On top of this, we created a lien secured by a deed of trust in favor of one member of the group who contributed a larger portion of the funds for the purchase of the property.
Caring for those living with addiction
A single father had 3 adult children. Unfortunately, one of his children struggles with addiction. We created a trust that allows the successor trustee, the client’s daughter, to restrict distributions to the child with the addiction issues. We not only took measures to provide for the child with addiction without giving that child large sums of money, but we also created terms that took the children’s family relations and lifestyle into consideration.
Hostile step siblings
Trustee was the daughter of the second spouse to die of a couple with children from previous relationships. The trustee’s step siblings were quite hostile and accusatory. We successfully defended the trust from the step siblings’ legal attacks and later took steps to protect the trustee from the step siblings’ threatening conduct. The trustee was so happy with our services that she asked us to do her estate planning after the trust administration was completed.
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