Power of Attorney: There’s Always Room for Family Conflict

Anyone who grew up in a dysfunctional family understands the potential for discord when it comes to the family estate and an inheritance. But even in the closest of families, if there’s money involved, there’s room for conflict.

Power of Attorney: Choose the person you can trust

In Alana’s case, the dust was still settling on her third divorce, and one of her kids was in and out of rehab for substance abuse. The youngest of three siblings, Alana always struggled to measure up to her rock-star brother and sister—they were the ones who excelled at everything they did, winning awards, graduating with honors and building successful careers. She was the one who always seemed to make a mess of everything.

And now her parents had named her brother their Agent for their Power of Attorney. She was hurt because this was something she had wanted to do—a chance to redeem herself to her family. But the fact that her own financial affairs were a mess and she couldn’t balance her own checkbook led her father to appoint her investment banker brother. It was he who would also be the Executor of the estate. Her sister, a doctor, would be their parents’ Agent for their Healthcare Directives. Alana was left out once again.

Your Power of Attorney is the person who will act on your behalf if you become incapacitated, the one who will take over your financial affairs, pay your bills and taxes, open bank accounts, withdraw funds, cash checks and trade stocks. It must be someone you trust; ideally, it’s someone who lives close by.

Parents tend to appoint one of their children as Power of Attorney for practical reasons. Many put their faith in their oldest child or choose the son or daughter who lives closest or the one who has a financial services background. In the same vein, for their Agent for an Advance Healthcare Directive, parents are likely to choose a son or daughter with healthcare experience.

There are limits on the powers of the Power of Attorney designation

• Right to information. The parent does not have to disclose to friends and family whom he or she named as Agent under the Power of Attorney. Likewise, that Agent is not obligated to provide information about the parent to his or her siblings.
• Limits on the powers of a Power of Attorney. A Power of Attorney designation does not enable the Agent to do whatever he or she wants. An Agent cannot change the principal’s will, breach his or her fiduciary duty or change or transfer the Power of Attorney designation to someone else.
• Power of Attorney expires at death. When the parent dies, the Power of Attorney ends and the Executor of the estate – appointed by either the principal or the court – takes control over the decedent’s property.
• Revocation of a Power of Attorney. The parent can revoke whomever he/she has appointed as the Power of Attorney. The revocation must be in writing and the former Agent Power of Attorney should be advised of the revocation.

Avoiding the potential for sibling discord

Sometimes conflict is inevitable. One child may be resentful that he or she was not chosen. Another child may not trust the chosen sibling to act according to the parent’s wishes. Just knowing that a Power of Attorney can be challenged in court is often enough for a sibling to act on his or her distrust or resentment. To minimize confrontations, as the principal appointing the Power of Attorney, there are alternative solutions:

• Designate co-Agents in the Power of Attorney document. Appointing two persons can be problematic if the Agents cannot get along. You could create separate responsibilities for each Agent, but that can be unwieldy and still can lend itself to conflict.
• Avoid appointing a family member altogether. Name a close friend, fiduciary or a bank. Avoiding conflicts and court involvement is important to ensure your wishes will be followed.

A Living Trust: One of the most thoughtful things you can do for your family

A Living Trust is a legal document that contains instructions for what you want to happen to your assets when you die. For my family, it meant that when my parents died, all of their affairs were in order, they had transferred all of their assets into the Living Trust and identified their heirs. Without a Living Trust, their estate would have gone into Probate and my brother and I would have been dealing with this long, expensive process—even while mourning the death of our parents.

Guideway is proud of our comprehensive Living Trust package that includes a Power of Attorney and Advanced Healthcare Directive. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents. Schedule an appointment with Guideway today.

Guideway services the entire Bay Area

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Reverse Mortgage: Solution or Scam?

When Jeannie was having trouble making ends meet after her husband died, she asked my friend Jim what he thought about reverse mortgages. Jim spent 40 years in the financial services industry, and these guys tend to be wary of things like life insurance and reverse mortgages. As predicted, Jim told her it was a very bad idea. To her credit, Jeannie ignored Jim and decided to go through with a reverse mortgage on the home she and her husband bought more than 30 years ago.

The right decision for Jeannie and many other seniors

It’s been four years, and for Jeannie, it was the right decision. A reverse mortgage has eased her cash-flow problems and improved the quality of her life. For many older homeowners, a reverse mortgage is the ideal way to supplement retirement income, consolidate debts or cover expenses like health care.

Accessing your home’s equity and using it like a savings account

A reverse mortgage is a type of loan that’s designed to give people access to the equity they’ve built up in their homes. In Jeannie’s case, this was considerable—a lovely home in Pasadena that they bought 30+ years ago that was paid off. The borrower gets what is, in effect, a tax-free advance on their equity, in the form of a line of credit, fixed monthly payments or a lump sum. For most reverse mortgages, homeowners must use the proceeds to pay off their existing mortgage; the remainder of the loan comes due when the owner moves, sells the house or dies.

Available to homeowners 62 and over, reverse mortgages are somewhat complex, and they can be risky. With a target audience of potentially vulnerable seniors, scam artists have proliferated, drawing homeowners into bad or outright bogus deals. While the scams vary, the premise remains the same: The scammers want to put the home equity these seniors have spent years accumulating into their own pockets.

Beware a group effort by a team of real-estate industry scammers

It’s often a group effort, with unscrupulous mortgage brokers or financial advisers joining forces with corrupt appraisers, attorneys and loan officers. They’ll finagle an inflated appraisal of a home’s value, thus inflating the equity and the potential loan, and try to persuade the owner to take out a reverse mortgage. The team of crooks will handle the paperwork, close the loan and come up with a pretext to get the money or even take title to the house.

• These fraudsters might try to sell you on a supposedly can’t-miss investment or financial product.
• A scam contractor may fast-talk you into using a reverse mortgage to pay for home improvements.
• Some scammers target financially strapped homeowners, touting reverse mortgages as a way to avoid foreclosure or get out of debt.
• They may charge fees running into the thousands of dollars to provide information about reverse mortgages that’s actually available for free from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

In California, you’re required to meet with a HUD counselor

Note that for a legitimate reverse mortgage in California, you must meet with a reverse mortgage counselor approved by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). This counselor is trained to make sure you thoroughly understand the benefits and risks of reverse mortgages.

Warning signs of reverse mortgage scams

• A broker or lender uses high-pressure tactics to try to talk you into a reverse mortgage.
• They claim the loan is safe because it’s insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The FHA does insure some reverse mortgages, but that coverage doesn’t protect the borrower; it’s for the lender, in case of default.
• They don’t disclose the fees, conditions and risks that come with taking out a reverse mortgage, including the possible loss of the home, which serves as collateral.

Tips for avoiding scams. Do not:

• Respond to unsolicited advertisements.
• Sign anything that you do not fully understand.
• Accept payment from individuals for a home you did not purchase.

Be suspicious of anyone claiming that you can own a home with no down payment.

To report a scam: AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline. 877-908-3360

A Living Trust: One of the most thoughtful things you can do for your family

A Living Trust is a legal document that contains instructions for what you want to happen to your assets when you die. For my family, it meant that when my parents died, all of their affairs were in order, they had transferred all of their assets into the Living Trust and identified their heirs. Without a Living Trust, their estate would have gone into Probate and my brother and I would have been dealing with this long, expensive process—even while mourning the death of our parents.

Guideway is proud of our comprehensive Living Trust package that includes a Power of Attorney and Advanced Healthcare Directive. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents. Schedule an appointment with Guideway today.

Guideway services the entire Bay Area

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

California Reopening

Like most of our friends, associates and clients, we are looking forward to be officially reopening. While we adapted quickly to virtual delivery, we’re delighted to be providing in-person appointments again. For important legal matters, we’re finding that many people like the reassurance of one-to-one connections. We like it too.

A few fast facts about California’s place in the national reopening rollout

According to Governor Newsom, “There is no American recovery without California’s recovery.”

• We are one of the first states to lock down and last states to reopen.
• Social distancing and masking are mostly over.
• The coronavirus has infected some 3.8 million Californians and killed more than 63,000—more than any other state due to our population.
• The state’s approach to combating Covid has been walking a fine legal line between balancing civil liberties with public health needs.
• On Tuesday, June 15, Governor Newsom awarded ten prizes of $1.5M each from the vaccine lottery to those who had received at least one vaccine dose.

Keep those masks; you’re going to need them

• Masks will continue to be required in crowded and high-risk areas — hospitals, long-term-care facilities, public transit.
• Large indoor events, like NBA games and concerts, will require a negative coronavirus test or proof of vaccination for entry.

We’re still in the habit of social distancing

Social distancing is no longer required, but on my morning walks, it seems our old habits are hard to break. If someone’s approaching, one of us will step onto the curb to create space—even though the sidewalk is wide enough to accommodate several people and their dogs!

A sign of the times: Berkeley Bowl’s reopening

Berkeley’s venerated market, known for its nearly endless aisles of fresh produce, notified shoppers that it was okay to enter maskless if they were fully vaccinated. The reality? The vast majority of people entering the store around midday on Tuesday ignored the option and shopped fully masked. One shopper wasn’t taking any chances and wore two masks.

We’re the Bay Area, after all. We totally got this

We were the first part of the country to order residents to stay home when the coronavirus began spreading out of control last year. We were the area most diligent in complying with mask orders. Bay Area residents covered up even when outdoors, whether it was hiking the trails above the Pacific Ocean or schmoozing with our neighbors.

Sadly, we’ve all lost a year

Looking back, we’ve suffered profound losses. We cancelled vacations and spent the holidays alone. Sports seasons were weird, truncated affairs. We stopped going to the doctor, afraid we’d be exposed to Covid. We watched as people stood in food lines for hours. So many people lost their homes and livelihoods altogether. Many more lost family members and friends. Still more survived Covid, but are now dealing with lingering side effects that are sabotaging their ability to get on with their lives.

What have we learned?

How clever and resourceful we are. That we can Zoom just about anything. We’ve learned that we can live more simply, to rethink our values and identify what’s important. To be more flexible. To make decisions that benefit the greater good. And of course, to create a Living Trust! We have worked with so many clients this last year who have felt the urgency to have a Trust in place in case something happened to them. We’re all more vulnerable than we had imagined. This is not the first, nor will it be the last pandemic.

Creating a Living Trust is an important part of life planning

Our Living Trust package includes a Power of Attorney and Advance Healthcare Directive. Having these legal documents in place now can help avoid confusion later on. We learned an important lesson from Covid: Once patients were infected with the virus, they were in no condition to be signing legal documents. We guide you through the process, and we prepare the legal documents. Schedule an appointment with Guideway today.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

In-Person Meeting to Restate Living Trust

According to the CDC, those who have been vaccinated no longer need to wear masks in indoor settings. We’re still playing it safe, masking up and social distancing. And while we’ve gotten used to our Zoom meetings, the results of our recent survey indicated that many still prefer one-to-one communications. We’re delighted to be able to provide in-person appointments once again. 

Joan wanted a one/one appointment to restate her Trust

Joan scheduled an appointment in our Walnut Creek office last week to restate her Living Trust. She and her husband had created a Trust in 2005, and her husband died in 2019. At 83, Joan is active, grateful to be in good health. She knew the Trust process was going to be challenging for her, so she didn’t want to do it over the phone or Zoom.

Among Joan’s concerns was naming a Power of Attorney and an Agent for her Advance Healthcare Directive. She has three children who are now in their 60s, and five grandchildren. She is very close to two of her grandchildren. Allison is a banker who lives in Berkeley; Oliver, a vet, is in Boston. Both are in their 30s and likely to outlive her. They are smart, trustworthy and caring. She planned to name Allison her Power of Attorney and Oliver her Agent for her Healthcare Directive. They would be backups for each other’s roles.

 

When naming a POA, consider financial acumen and commitment of time

It might seem more logical to name her children for her Power of Attorney and Healthcare Directive—they’re older, retired. But one of Joan’s daughters lives in Spain, and the logistics make this unsuitable. Another daughter is in poor health, and Joan knows that these roles can require a significant amount of attention and some financial acumen. Her son has trouble managing money, so he was not a good choice. 

Joan is realistic about this decision. She knows that if she becomes incapacitated, the role of Power of Attorney could become a significant responsibility—managing expenses, paying taxes, getting her to doctors’ appointments, moving her to an assisted care facility if it became necessary, etc.

The role of Agent for your Advance Healthcare Directive

The role of Agent for a Health Directive is someone who is legally of age, responsible for making medical decisions on your behalf if you’re incapable of doing so. It’s often a spouse or an adult child.

It’s important that you talk to your agent before appointing him/her—not after a catastrophic event. Make sure this person is willing to take on the responsibility of making crucial medical decisions on your behalf—just as you have detailed. If a situation arises that’s not covered in the Directive, your agent will be responsible for making decisions based on what he or she believes is in your best interest.

Schedule an appointment to create your Living Trust: Zoom or in-person!

You now have a choice--via Zoom or an in-person meeting. Our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and a Pour Over Will. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Covid Creativity: In Upstate NY, They’re Playing “Speakeasy Hockey”

I used to share office space with a bunch of Canadian software developers, and they were nuts about hockey. It got really wild when the Stanley cup playoffs rolled around in the spring. They were contemptuous of Americans who called it “ice hockey”. For them there is only “hockey”. Those who’ve grown up in Canada or those Midwest states that get cold early and stay cold understand hockey’s lure. In a year of Covid, the rinks may have closed down, but dedicated hockey fans have found a way to keep playing.

When indoor rinks closed, these players have turned to “speakeasy hockey”

Christian Klueg welcomed his guests—hockey players ranging in age from teenagers to middle-agers — to his backyard hockey rink. For 27 years, he had built smaller versions. But when he realized that Covid would shutter ice rinks throughout the area, he went all-in on upgrades. He drove 172 miles north to purchase a 1987 Olympia ice-resurfacing machine. 

Hockey parents have gotten creative

Dedicated hockey parents have repurposed old barns, expanded previous playing spaces or purchased easy-to-assemble kits. Some have built rinks from scratch or made major investments in customized rinks they’ve bought online.

Dependencies include inconsistent thaws and freezes and liability insurance in case injured visitors file lawsuits. Like-minded neighbors have knocked down fences and shared space for rinks; others have complained about the noise created by pucks crashing against wooden boards. “It’s almost like Prohibition-era speakeasy hockey,” Klueg said. “Knock a certain way, come on in.”

Rebecca Racine Keinath and her husband retrofitted their 74-year-old dairy barn. They envisioned playing the game on a higher plane—their hayloft. They laid new planks and a tarp, then flooded it when temperatures dropped in winter.

Meet Dylan Gastel, EZ ICE Rinks inventor

Dylan Gastel is the 24-year-old inventor of EZ ICE Rinks. He grew up in Rhode Island and worked with his father building outdoor rinks. Eager to get on the ice, Gastel was always looking forward to the next cold front to come through. Once the water froze, he could be found skating until 3 a.m.

Gastel eventually went to Yale, studied mechanical engineering and gained an entrepreneurial grant of $1,000 from a Yale program. He developed the prototype of a rink that could be assembled in an hour and started a backyard rink company in his dorm room. Gastel’s modular kit includes lightweight plastic boards, connecting brackets, a liner and straps that hold the system together. No tools required. In his first year Gastel sold $1 million worth of rinks, and he doubled that in his second year.

Then Covid hit. As school districts and local governments shuttered indoor facilities, Gastel watched his sales spike as families, schools and towns purchased his rinks to offer rink options. September saw accelerated demand, and he projected he would run out of supplies by Christmas. In three months, the company expanded its manufacturing capacity by 500%.

Downsides of neighborhood rinks

Christian Klueg estimates that he has poured $10,000 into his rinks over the years. His wish list includes refrigeration mats that would keep the ice frozen even when the temperature reaches 50 degrees.

To prevent pucks from landing in neighbors’ yards, one parent added plywood fencing and 10-foot netting. But one winter night he was in his second-floor office and heard a loud crash. His 15-year-old son had shot a puck that ricocheted off the crossbar and crashed through the dining-room window. Other rink owners have been extremely cautious about liability insurance. One parent/rink owner took out a $1 million umbrella policy.

Hockey fans aren’t the only ones who have planned for contingencies

At Guideway, many of our clients are scheduling appointments to create Living Trusts. Covid-19 is still very much a reality, and a Trust, with a Power of Attorney and Advance Healthcare Directive are providing peace of mind to many. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents. Schedule an appointment with Guideway today. 

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Life Planning: It’s Not Just for Old People Anymore

In a New York Times article, two cousins shared their fears about COVID. One had a favor to ask. If she and husband both ended up extremely ill — or worse — would her cousin be willing to drive the 300 miles to her house and get her young sons.

Sadly, tortured conversations like this are happening around the globe.

Concern for their families is prompting many young couples to create Living Trusts

Life planning isn’t just for old people. For those with children under 18, creating a Living Trust has an even more important role. Our Living Trust package includes a Pour Over Will that allows them to name a Guardian. If something happens to them, this Guardian will care for their children—not someone whom the court appoints.

Only one out of three adults has taken the time to complete an Advance Healthcare Directive. This legal document allows you to identify the person who will speak for you if you become incapacitated. We include an Advance Healthcare Directive in our Living Trust package.

Be Prepared: Pack a bag with essentials

COVID is highly contagious and unpredictable. It’s especially important for the elderly and those in the high-risk group to pack a bag with essentials in case you are rushed to the hospital. Think of what you’ll need–glasses, phone, charger, medications and a list of those to contact if necessary.

For those most at risk, The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization has published a new tool to help make decisions about whether to go to the hospital if you become seriously ill with the coronavirus, or stay at home with the support of hospice or palliative care services.

COVID will be with us for a while

We’re six-plus months into this wretched disease, and we’re at least a year away from a safe, effective vaccine. Even with a vaccine, it’s not unlikely that it will not be 100% efficient. It may be necessary to continue wearing masks and following protocols. While our risks may diminish, they may not be completely eliminated. Having a plan in place is the best preparation for ensuring that you are treated as you would wish. It also provides needed clarity for your loved ones. Stories about the inability to visit their loved ones and of these patients ultimately dying alone has prompted many to create their Living Trusts.

Creating a Living Trust is providing peace of mind to many Bay Area families

As the COVID crisis drags on, more clients are scheduling appointments to create or update their Living Trusts. As noted our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and a Pour Over Will.

Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents

At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Our Memories Will Fail As We Age, Right? Wrong

 

Even 20-year-olds forget the simplest things

Are you over 60 and alarmed as you find yourself forgetting things? I drove down the street yesterday and for a flashing moment, I completely forgot why I was on that street. I was going to the bank, of course, and I remembered as soon as I saw the signage. But what if I hadn’t recognized that familiar brand? Isn’t that enough reason to send me rushing off to the nearest neurologist?

Like my friends, I forget names that I used to pull up effortlessly. I misplace objects, finding them in unlikely places. And yet my long-term memories are fully intact. I remember the names of my third-grade classmates and arcane details from long ago journey or the details of a favorite meal. A friend whose husband died of Alzheimer’s told me that he lost whole decades at a time. The 90s, then the 80s. By the end, he remembered nothing. For my mother, active and healthy until her death at 94, this was her worst fear–losing her mind.

A neuroscientist in a New York Times article tells us that the problem is not necessarily age-related

Short-term memory contains the contents of your thoughts right now, including what you intend to do in the next few seconds. It’s doing some mental gymnastics, thinking about what you’ll say next or that you’re now walking to the hall closet to get a pair of gloves.

Short-term memory is easily disturbed or disrupted

It depends on your actively paying attention to the items that are in your mental to-do list. But any distraction can disrupt short-term memory. Our ability to automatically restore the contents of our short-term memory declines slightly with every decade after 30.

It may not be age but the story we tell ourselves

According to neurologist Dr. Daniel J. Levitin, 20-year-olds make the same short-term memory errors that 70-year-olds do. The relevant difference is not age; rather, how we describe these events. Twenty-year-olds don’t think, “Oh dear, this must be early-onset Alzheimer’s.” They think, “I’ve got a lot on my plate right now”, or “I really need to get more than four hours of sleep.” The 70-year-old observes these same events and worries about his/her brain health.

Memory impairment is not inevitable

In the absence of brain disease, even the oldest older adults show little or no cognitive or memory decline beyond age 85 and 90, as shown in a 2018 study.

Some aspects of memory actually get better as we age

• Our ability to extract patterns, regularities and to make accurate predictions improves over time because we’ve had more experience.
• Older adults have to search through more memories than do younger adults to find what they’re looking for. I always think of my memory as a huge database. An older person simply has a lot more data to sort through to find the answer!

New experiences help keep your mind pliable and fresh

Dr. Levitin discusses something with which many of us can relate. He calls up a treasured childhood memory of a Butterfinger candy bar and the smell of fresh grass in the spring. “I don’t feel 50 years older. I can see the world through the eyes of that mischievous 10-year-old. I can remember when the taste of a Butterfinger was the most delectable thing in the world. I can remember the grassy smell of a spring meadow. These were sensory pleasures that were novel and exciting back then.

“I can still eat a Butterfinger and smell spring meadows, but the sensory experience has dulled through repetition, familiarity and aging. So I try to keep things novel and exciting. My favorite chocolatier introduces new artisanal chocolates a few times a year and I try to savor them. I go to new parks and forests where I’m more likely to encounter the smells of new grasses and trees.

“When I find them, these things I remember for months and years, because they are new. And experiencing new things is the best way to keep the mind young, pliable and growing — into our 80s, 90s and beyond.”

Many of our Living Trust clients are older

Many of these clients are still working, some are retired, others are thinking about it. Age-related topics such as memory loss frequently surface in our conversations about estate planning documents—especially in regard to end-of-life planning or incapacity planning.

COVID has also helped create an urgency about creating a Living Trust

As the COVID crisis drags on, more clients are scheduling appointments to create or update their Living Trusts. Our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney and an Advance Healthcare Directive. It also includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, it means that they can name a Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for you. Creating a Trust helps provide peace of mind during these uncertain times. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents.

At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable