Before you hire a probate attorney, you should recognize that the "statutory
probate fees" set out in Caifornia’s Probate Code are not mandatory fees, and
most attorneys will negotiate a lower fee.
California Probate Code Section 10810 provides that "for ordinary services
the attorney for the personal representative shall receive compensation based on
the value of the estate accounted for [...]

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The "estate tax" (also called an inheritance tax or death tax) is a special
tax on property left by a deceased person. In the U.S., there are separate
federal and state estate taxes, but most state death taxes, including
California’s, can be claimed as a credit against the federal estate tax. The
overall estate tax rate thus remains uniform [...]

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I received a call in late November 1996 from a prospective client who serves
as the "successor trustee" of a deceased friend’s living trust. The friend and
his wife had created a living trust several years ago, and transferred all their
assets into their trust, in order to avoid the costs and other perceived
drawbacks of formal probate in [...]

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My Clients: In 1995, an elderly couple came to my law office
because they had discovered that they had been "conned" by a salesman for an
organization called the "Alliance for Mature Americans."
The "con" started with a phone call: a telemarketer called, asking if the
clients might be interested in a revocable living trust. (In California and most
states, [...]

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In the past few weeks, the prospects of reductions in federal estate taxes
have begun to look more promising than at any time in the past decade.
Currently, federal estate taxes are imposed on the estate of any person who dies
leaving assets worth more than $600,000 (excluding bequests to a suriviving
spouse or charity). In some cases, a [...]

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