The Journal — Plain-English Estate Law
Plain-English guidance on wills, trusts, probate, and protecting your family in California.
What Is a Trust Protector – and Do You Need One in California?
Trust protectors are heavily marketed and lightly regulated in California. What they can actually do, when one helps, and when it's an upsell you can skip.
Read →Can Siblings Force the Sale of an Inherited House in California?
Yes. Any co-owner can file for partition. But California's newer partition law gives you a right to buy your siblings out first. How it works and what changed.
Read →Inheriting a House With a Reverse Mortgage in California
A reverse mortgage comes due when the borrower dies. Heirs have real options (keep it for 95% of value, sell, or walk away) but the deadlines are short.…
Read →Prop 19 for Over-55 Homeowners: Take Your Property Tax Base With You
If you're 55+, Prop 19 lets you move anywhere in California and keep your low property tax base, up to three times. The rules, the math, and the…
Read →Can a Surviving Spouse Change a Trust After One Spouse Dies?
Whether the survivor can amend a joint California trust after one spouse dies depends on the trust's terms, here's how to read yours, in plain English.
Read →Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples in California
California has no common-law marriage. If you're not married, your partner inherits nothing by default: here's what actually protects them.
Read →Who Has the Right to Decide Cremation or Burial in California?
California law sets an exact priority list for who controls funeral and cremation decisions, and a way to put your own wishes legally in charge.
Read →Is There a Deadline to File Probate in California?
There's no statute of limitations to open probate in California, but there IS a 30-day deadline for the will, and waiting has real costs. What the law actually…
Read →Want a straight read on where you stand?
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