One of your periodic estate planning tasks may be to update your beneficiaries. A designated beneficiary is someone to whom you leave certain assets. You can learn more about designating beneficiaries by watching this featured video and consulting a lawyer serving Tracy and Manteca.

The certified financial planner featured here explains that a beneficiary designation supersedes the information contained in your will. For example, your last will and testament may leave everything you own to your spouse. If your life insurance policy still lists your ex-spouse as the beneficiary, those benefits will go to your ex. This is why attorneys urge their clients to update their estate plans as life circumstances change.

Probate is the legal process of managing and distributing a deceased person’s estate in accordance with his or her last will and testament, or with the laws of intestate succession. When individuals consult attorneys in Tracy or Manteca to handle estate planning, probate is often a top concern because it can be lengthy and complicated for the surviving heirs. The short answer is that no, your retirement savings won’t go through probate—but there are exceptions, and you should consult your lawyer about them.

Transferring Assets to Beneficiaries

Your estate planning process should include designating beneficiaries for certain accounts, or updating beneficiaries you’ve already designated. These accounts do not pass through probate. All of the assets in them will be transferred to the beneficiary upon your death. Even if your will specifies that your 401(k) will go to your children, if the designated beneficiary is someone else, that person will receive it. For this reason, you should update your beneficiary designations whenever life circumstances change. Of course, if you neglect to designate any beneficiaries, the account will pass into probate.

Designating Alternate Beneficiaries

An alternate beneficiary is someone who will inherit the assets in the event that the primary beneficiary can’t. It’s always good practice to name an alternate beneficiary. Otherwise, those assets will go into your estate and through probate. Hypothetically, Frances and Bernard are a married couple, and they have each left their assets to each other. They both die in a car accident. Lacking alternate beneficiaries, their retirement accounts pass into probate. Their adult children won’t receive those assets until the process is complete.

Naming Your Spouse

California is a community property state. This means that half of the assets you contributed to your retirement account actually belong to your spouse. If you name your spouse as the primary beneficiary, there’s no problem. Otherwise, your spouse could claim those assets, which might force the retirement account to enter probate. If you don’t want this to happen, your attorney can provide a waiver that relinquishes your spouse’s claim on the retirement account. Your spouse would need to willingly sign this waiver.

Gym owners and managers have a responsibility to ensure that the facility is reasonably safe for its members. If they fail to perform routine maintenance, repairs, and cleaning, the gym’s members can suffer the consequences. Consider visiting a personal injury lawyer serving Tracy or Livermore to find out if you have grounds to file a case against the gym owner. Your attorney will need to know of the exact circumstances of the accident, such as where you were, what you were doing, and what caused you to fall.

In gyms, slippery floors are most common in the locker room areas and the side of the pool. It’s also possible to slip and fall in the showers if they have not been properly cleaned. In other areas of the gym, members may fall on worn out, frayed carpeting, broken floor tiles, or uneven floorboards. The lack of handrails may contribute to the fall. Similarly, the lack of adequate lighting can prevent a person from spotting a hazard. Your injury lawyer will need all the details you can provide to determine if the owner or manager might be held liable for your losses.

Carbon monoxide is a gas that is odorless and colorless. In high concentrations, it can cause serious health problems, and it can be deadly. Installing and keeping working batteries in carbon monoxide detectors are basic safety precautions, yet many hotel owners are negligent. Survivors of carbon monoxide poisoning can turn to an injury lawyer in Tracy or Livermore for legal guidance. An attorney can also assist families of individuals who were killed due to the negligence of hotel owners.

Are carbon monoxide detectors legally required in hotels?

The law can vary from state to state. In California, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are required in each dwelling intended for human occupancy. The owner of the dwelling is responsible for both installing them and keeping them in working condition. These requirements extend to owners of hotels.

What if the hotel owner installed the wrong type of carbon monoxide detector?

A hotel owner may still be found liable for carbon monoxide poisoning injuries or death if he or she installed the wrong type of detector. In California, it is prohibited to sell, market, or distribute any carbon monoxide alarms or detectors unless they are approved by the State Fire Marshal. If you do file a lawsuit, your injury lawyer will investigate whether the hotel owner installed an unapproved detector or failed to keep an approved detector in working condition.

How do carbon monoxide leaks happen?

In some cases, a gas leak is responsible for poisoning hotel guests. It’s also possible for the equipment in the utility room to malfunction. The gas can leak out of the utility room into nearby guest rooms. If the hotel has a connected generator in operation, it’s possible for the generator to malfunction or not be hooked up properly.

How do I know if I’ve been affected by carbon monoxide poisoning?

Unfortunately, travelers spend much of their time in hotel rooms asleep. If the gas leak occurs overnight, the guests may not know their health has been affected. Some guests may be awakened by nausea, vomiting, dizziness, or headaches. Severe cases of poisoning can cause loss of consciousness, unresponsiveness, and death.

Estate law involves complex nuances of language, and the terminology can be baffling to non-lawyers. You can always count on a will lawyer near Tracy or Manteca to fully explain anything that isn’t clear to you. However, it’s still advisable for all adults to have a basic understanding of the most common estate planning terms.

Last Will and Testament

Your will dictates how, after satisfying debts, your remaining assets in your estate will be distributed to your heirs. Heirs are also called beneficiaries. You can use your will to distribute specific pieces of property if you wish, or to provide for your pets in the event that they outlive you. If you have any minor children, you should use your will to designate a guardian for them.

Guardian

A guardian is someone whom you trust to raise your minor children in the event that you die before they reach the age of majority.

Executor

The executor of your will is the person who will be responsible for seeing that its terms are carried out. Even when the executor works with a lawyer, he or she will have many complex responsibilities. Before designating an executor, you should ask that person if he or she is willing to take on these responsibilities.

Trust

A trust is a document that is legally binding. You can transfer assets into the trust during your lifetime. The trust manages the assets, and after your death, the trust distributes the assets to your beneficiaries.

Trustee

A trustee is a person whom you’ve designated to manage the trust. A trustee might also be a corporate entity instead of a single person. Trustees are responsible for administering and distributing the trust in accordance with the instructions in the trust document.

Probate

Probate is a legal process. It begins when the executor of a will files the will with the probate court in order to validate it. Validating a will means to prove that it’s legally valid. Probate involves paying the decedent’s debts and distributing the remaining assets.

Trust administration is complex, and it benefits from the attention of a skilled lawyer. Trustees living near Tracy or Manteca must ensure that they follow applicable California laws, as well as the terms specified in the trust document. You can hear more about these responsibilities by watching this featured video and consulting your lawyer.

Trustees have an obligation to act in a way that serves the best interests of the beneficiaries. They owe a duty of impartiality to avoid favoritism among the beneficiaries, and they cannot have personal or financial conflicts of interest. Trustees also have a responsibility to manage the trust property in a fiscally prudent way.

If your loved one died because of someone else’s negligence, you may choose to file a wrongful death case against that person. When you contact a lawyer in Tracy to determine if you have a case, he or she will need certain evidence to proceed with the suit and pursue damage on your behalf. Here is a look at some of the evidence your attorney will need to put your wrongful death case together.

Death Certificate and Reports

Your lawyer will need as much information as possible about how your loved one died. This means that he or will need a copy of the official death certificate that lists the exact cause of death. He or she will also need a copy of any police reports associated with the death or any event that contributed to the death, such as a report from the scene of a car accident. If there was an autopsy, your attorney will also need a copy of that report. In cases that involve medical malpractice, your lawyer will need copies of medical reports as well.

Evidence of the Relationship

As part of your wrongful death case, your attorney will need to show that there was a relationship between your lost loved one and the person you are holding responsible for his or her death in which that person owed your loved one a duty of care. This relationship can be the expectation that a doctor will act in the best interest of his or her patient or the responsibility of a driver to drive safely to protect other people on the road. Your attorney can tell you what kind of evidence will best prove this relationship in your specific case.

Financial Records

To determine what claim you may be entitled to, your attorney will need to calculate both the financial and emotional cost to you of losing your loved one. One strategy he or she will use to prove the financial loss is to show the income your lost loved one contributed to your household in the past and how that lost income will affect your family financially.

An executor of a will oversees the probate process and administration of the will’s terms. It is a large responsibility that can sometimes put you in the middle of tense family disputes, and in some cases, you may wish to avoid the complications that come with taking on the role. It is possible to decline to be an executor, but you may need to work with the estate planning lawyer in Tracy to relinquish your position.

If you decide that you do not want to be an executor before the person who is nominating you passes, then you can simply inform him or her to instruct the estate attorney to take your name off the will. If you find out after someone’s death that you have been named as executor in someone’s will, then you will need to contact the probate court to find out the process for renunciation of your position. An Attorney Firm can also explain how to make sure you are completely relieved of your legal responsibilities as executor. Contact us today for more details or to book a consultation.

If you’re tempted to use DIY forms to create your will, you should strongly consider consulting an estate planning lawyer in Tracy or Livermore first. Estate planning law is complicated, and it’s easy to make mistakes that could cost your heirs. Errors by omission are also common. Did you know, for instance, that if you have minor children at the time of your death, the state can decide who will get custody of them? You can prevent this potential catastrophe by talking to an estate planning lawyer about your situation.

Attorneys who handle estate planning matters have years of experience navigating the nuances of the law. Your lawyer can give you solid, actionable guidance on protecting your family’s future. For many families, creating a trust is an ideal way to retain control of assets and minimize estate taxes. Your attorney can help you weigh the benefits of setting up a trust. When it’s time to draft the documents, letting a lawyer handle this task ensures the job will get done right the first time.