Putting your home in a trust is a smart estate planning move, but it can create unexpected insurance complications if not handled correctly. Learn how to protect one of your most valuable assets by properly aligning your homeowner’s insurance with your trust. Trusts & Homeowner’s Insurance: What You Need to Know So You Don’t Get...Read More

October 21-27 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, which means it’s time to shed light on this often misunderstood and frequently avoided topic. You might think estate planning is only for the wealthy or too complicated and expensive. These are just a few myths surrounding estate planning that I hear often. In reality, estate planning...Read More

Even if the process is amicable, divorce can be one of life’s most stressful events. With so many major changes taking place, it’s easy to forget to update your estate plan—or simply put it off until it’s too late. However, neglecting to update your estate plan for divorce can have potentially tragic consequences. And you...Read More

After the excitement of Valentine’s Day fades away and the last indulgence of chocolate is savored, it’s crucial to turn our attention to a topic that may not be as thrilling as the idea of everlasting love: the reality that all relationships come to an end one day. Before you stop reading, hear me out....Read More

BLENDED FAMILIES + DEATH = A POTENTIAL NIGHTMARE Anyone who’s seen an episode of “Modern Family” knows that families these days come in many different shapes and sizes. Long gone are the days when a “family” was defined as a mother, father and two children (or was it 2.5 children? Where does the .5 come...Read More

How to Keep Seniors Safe this Fall The fall season is a beautiful time of year, but it also marks the beginning of flu season, which can pose a serious threat to your elderly loved ones. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to ensure their well-being during the colder days ahead, including making...Read More

The estate tax is a tax on the value of a person’s assets at the time of their death. Upon your death, if the total value of your estate is above a certain threshold amount, known as the federal estate tax exemption, the IRS requires your estate to pay a tax, known as the estate...Read More

Over the years, the attorneys at Cottle Keen Lopiccolo & Heyde have taken many depositions. Many people did not like having their deposition taken, which is completely understandable. Under the California Code of Civil Procedure, an attorney can set the deposition of anyone who has relevant information to an active case. The Deposition notice commands...Read More