The Journal — Plain-English Estate Law
Plain-English guidance on wills, trusts, probate, and protecting your family in California.
Can a Nevada Trust Avoid California Income Taxes?
Mostly no. California taxes trusts based on where fiduciaries and beneficiaries live, and its throwback rule catches accumulated income. What out-of-state trusts can and can't do.
Read →How to Claim Savings Bonds and TreasuryDirect After a Death
Paper bonds, TreasuryDirect accounts, and the Treasury's own no-probate procedure for small holdings. The forms, the interest-tax election, and the traps.
Read →Can You Do Probate Without a Lawyer in California?
Yes, it's legal, and sometimes sensible. When self-help probate actually works, when it goes sideways, and how California's statutory fee changes the math.
Read →Is There a ‘Reading of the Will’ in California? (No – Here’s What Happens)
The lawyer-reads-the-will-to-the-family scene is a movie invention. What California law actually requires after a death. The 30-day lodging rule and who gets notified.
Read →How to Open an Estate or Trust Bank Account in California
Which EIN you need (estate vs. trust, they're different), what the bank will ask for, and the exact order of operations after a death in California.
Read →Am I Entitled to a Copy of the Trust? California’s 120-Day Notice
When a California trust becomes irrevocable, the trustee must send a statutory notice, and beneficiaries can demand the trust's terms. The 16061.7 rules and real deadlines.
Read →Can a Trustee Also Be a Beneficiary in California?
Yes, it's the most common arrangement in family trusts. Where the real conflicts show up, the duties that still apply, and when a co-trustee or professional makes sense.
Read →What Does HEMS Mean in a Trust? Health, Education, Maintenance, Support
HEMS sounds vague but has real legal edges. What a California trustee can and can't pay for under the standard, and why the acronym exists in the first…
Read →Want a straight read on where you stand?
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