Folsom is a family town. Youth soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming and volleyball seem like year-long sports. Musical theater and dance keep grinding. And martial arts can't stop, won't stop. You are constantly on the go.
But in the back of your mind, you know you need an estate plan. I mean, maybe it's not top of mind when your daughter is running a fast break for the game winning shot, but nevertheless, you know you need an estate plan.
Folsom home values have climbed steadily for years. Depending on the neighborhood, you're looking at homes ranging from $750,000 to $1.5 million. That matters because California probate fees are calculated on the gross value of your estate, before any mortgage is deducted.
The California Probate Code sets the statutory fees. On a $900,000 home, the combined attorney and executor fees are approximately $42,000. On a $1,200,000 home, closer to $56,000. The mortgage doesn't reduce that figure. The calculation starts with the gross value. Then add court costs, appraisals, fees. Click here for our probate cost calculator. Not only is California probate expensive, but it takes time - a straight-forward probate can take 12 to 18, and your finances and your family information become a public record. California probate is not good, but you can avoid it.
You can avoid it with a living trust. Your successor trustee handles the management of your assets, without a judge, without a filing deadline, and on your family's schedule rather than the court's.
If you own a home in Folsom and you don't have a living trust, you need to get one.
For Folsom parents, there is one part of estate planning that goes beyond probate and the distribution of your assets. And it's very important.
If both parents die without a will, a California judge decides who raises your children. Not your parents. Not your sister. Not someone you'd actually choose. A judge who has never met your family makes that call based on a statutory priority list and whatever information is presented at a hearing. This happens. It is not a hypothetical.
But if you create your estate plan, it will include a will. And the will names the guardians of your minor children - who you want to raise them if something happens to you. Your choice, not the court's choice.
Families in Folsom work hard. They build equity. They save. They invest. When they think about leaving something to their kids, they imagine the inheritance making their children's lives better, helping with a down payment, funding a business, providing security.
What they rarely think about is what happens to that inheritance.
Your living trust will specify one of three approaches for how your children receive their inheritance. Each one has very different outcomes.
The simplest approach. When the trust administration is complete, the trustee writes a check. Your daughter gets her share, outright, in her name.
This works well when the estate is modest and the child is likely to use the money immediately to pay off student loans, put a down payment on a house, start a business. It's simple to administer, easy to understand, and done.
The problem is that an outright distribution gives the inheritance no protection at all. The moment the money lands in your daughter's bank account, it is exposed to whatever happens in her life, including a divorce.
A step up from outright. Instead of one check, the trust releases the inheritance in in staggered distributions: one at 25, one at 30, one at 35. If a young beneficiary makes a poor decision with the first distribution, there are two more in reserve.
This is better for younger beneficiaries who may not be financially mature. But it has the same fundamental problem as the outright distribution. Each distribution, once made, is in your child's name. Each one is exposed to divorce claims and creditors the moment it lands.
This is the approach we recommend for most of our clients.
Instead of distributing the inheritance outright, the living trust creates a separate trust for each child. The trustee, initially someone you've named, like your brother, sister, friend, and then your child once they reach an age you specify, typically 25, 28, or 30, has broad authority to make distributions for your child's health, education, maintenance, and support.
Your child has full access to the money. They can use it for a home, school, medical expenses, daily living, anything within that standard, which is intentionally broad. When they reach the age you've specified, they become their own trustee. They are in control.
But the assets are not in their name. The assets are in their protected trust.
Here is the scenario that plays out more often than parents expect:
Your son inherits $300,000. He deposits the check into his joint checking account while he figures out what to do with it. His wife has access to that account. Under California law, an inheritance is separate property. However, once it's deposited into a joint account, it can be treated as community property. If they later divorce, his wife's attorney argues for half.
That is not what you intended. And it is not what your son would have wanted.
An asset protection trust prevents that from happening. The inheritance never becomes community property because it never sits in a joint account. It stays in the trust until your son decides to do something with it, and he makes that decision as his own trustee.
The same protection applies to lawsuits. If your daughter is named in a personal injury lawsuit, or her business fails, or a creditor comes after her, the assets inside her trust have significantly better protection than assets in her own name.
And if her life goes exactly as hoped - great marriage, no lawsuits, no financial trouble then the trust is still valuable. When she dies, the trust can continue for the benefit of her children. Your grandchildren.
Asset protection trusts are not complicated to administer. They give the trustee broad discretion rather than detailed rules, which means a sensible person can carry out your wishes without needing an attorney on speed dial for every decision. The key is choosing the right trustee - someone who cares about your child and will use good judgment. For most families, that's a sibling, a trusted friend, and eventually the child themselves.
For a deeper look at how these work, read our post: Why We Recommend Asset Protection Trusts in Living Trusts.
A living trust is the foundation, but a complete estate plan includes several documents that work together.
A pour-over will catches any assets that were never transferred into the trust and directs them there. It's a safety net. It's also where you name your guardians for minor children.
A durable power of attorney for finances names someone to manage your finances if you're incapacitated. Without it, your family may need a file for a conservatorship. A conservatorship is a court proceeding that is as pleasant as a root canal.
An advance health care directive names your health care agent and documents your medical wishes. Every adult over 18 should have one.
And the trust itself needs to be funded. That means your Folsom home must get re-titled into the trust's name with a grant deed recorded at the Sacramento County Recorder's Office. You also need to transfer title of your large bank accounts and investment accounts to your trust,and make sure your retirement plans and life insurance beneficiary designations are set up correctly. Click here for our recent post on how to fund your living trust.
Two attorney meetings. About two to three weeks. Done.
The first meeting is a conversation. You met with one of our estate planning attorneys, in person at our El Dorado Hills office or on Zoom, and talk through your family, your assets, and your planning goals. By the end of that meeting, the plan is designed, including the decisions about how your children's shares will be handled.
About a week or two later, your documents are ready. You review them with your attorney, ask questions, and sign with our notary, in person or online.
Both meetings are with an attorney. Not a paralegal, not a coordinator, not staff. You work directly with one of our attorneys from the first conversation to the final signature.
A lot of estate planning firms are built around a model where an attorney handles the initial consultation and then hands the client off to staff. Paralegals manage the process. Coordinators schedule the meetings. You may like your attorney but spend most of your time navigating around them.
We don't work that way.
At Clark Allison, you work directly with your attorney throughout. When you have a question after your first meeting, you reach your attorney, not a coordinator who passes the message along. When your documents are ready for review, you will review them with your same attorney.
And once you are a client, that relationship does not end when you sign your documents.
Questions come up. Life changes. California and federal laws change. You buy a new property, have another child, change your mind about a trustee. You should be able to reach your attorney with those questions without pulling out your wallet first. At our firm, once you are a client, calls and questions are always free. No billing for a five-minute phone call. No six-minute increments. You contact your attorney, you get a response, usually the same day.
Our model changes the relationship. Clients actually use us as a resource instead of avoiding us because they are afraid of the bill. They call when something comes up rather than waiting until a small issue becomes a bigger one.
This is also why most of our new clients come from referrals. Folsom families who worked with us tell their friends and neighbors. They refer their siblings. They send us their parents. That is not something that happens with a one-and-done transaction. It happens because the relationship is long term. We treat our clients well, and they refer their family and friends.
We do not think of estate planning as a transaction. You are hiring attorneys your family will need to rely on for years: when you need to update the plan, when a parent passes and you are the successor trustee, when your kids are grown, when you buy a new home. An estate plan has a long shelf life. The firm you work with should too.
We have been doing California estate planning for over 25 years. Our firm has prepared thousands of estate plans and administered hundreds of trusts: enough to know exactly what works and what doesn't work in the real world.
Do I need a living trust if I already have a will? For most Folsom homeowners, yes. A will alone does not avoid probate - it goes through probate. If you own a home in Folsom, a living trust is almost always the right foundation for your estate plan.
How much does estate planning cost in Folsom? At Clark Allison, our flat fee for most Folsom families is $3,000 to $4,000. That includes the living trust, pour-over will, powers of attorney, health care directive, and the deed to transfer your home into the trust. You know the price before you start. See our estate planning cost page.
How long does it take? About two to three weeks from start to finish. Two attorney meetings.
Can I work with you virtually? Yes. We work with Folsom clients completely over Zoom. Every meeting, every document review, every signing can happen from your home.
Are asset protection trusts expensive or complicated to add? No. They are part of our standard living trust design for most clients. There is no additional fee to include them, and they are not significantly more complex to administer than an outright distribution provision.
What is probate and what does it cost for a Folsom homeowner? Probate is the court-supervised process for assets held in your own name at death without a living trust or beneficiary designation. For a Folsom homeowner, that almost certainly means your house. Statutory fees are calculated on the gross value. On a $900,000 home, combined attorney and executor fees are approximately $42,000, plus court costs and 12 to 18 months of process.
What happens to my kids if both parents die without a will? A California judge decides who raises them, based on a statutory priority list. That judge has never met your family, never watched your kids play, and has no idea who you would have chosen. But if you have named guardians in your will, then the people you've chosen will be the guardians.
Will I actually be able to reach my attorney after I sign? Yes. Once you are a client, questions are always free. No billable hours, no six-minute increments. You contact your attorney directly and typically get a response the same day. We build the relationship around access, not around billing.
Estate planning and trust administration are all we do. If you are ready to get your Folsom estate plan done, we would be glad to help.
Click Get Started to schedule a free 15-minute intro call. You will speak directly with one of our attorneys, no intake form, no gatekeeping.
We serve Folsom clients from our El Dorado Hills office. We also serve families in Roseville, San Diego, and San Luis Obispo, and virtually from anywhere in California.