PALEY LAW CORPORATION

 

3301 Barham Boulevard, Suite 402A, Los Angeles, California 90068-1675

323.654.9513 Tel  •  323.417.4730 Fax

© 2008-2022 Paley Law Corporation.  All Rights Reserved.

Practice Areas


Estate & Trust Planning

Comprehensive estate planning includes utilizing various kinds of revocable and irrevocable trusts, and the formation of legal entities to hold certain kinds of assets.  These strategies are essential to achieving the following important objectives:


  1. Forming new legal entities to protect and preserve your assets, limit your liability for claims related to your business and rental properties, and reduce your income tax liability.

  2. Transferring your assets during lifetime or at death according to your wishes; avoiding intestate distribution.

  3. Bypassing probate.

  4. Nominating a guardian for your minor children.

  5. Continuing management of assets for the benefit of your children or spouse for as long as necessary.

  6. Avoiding conservatorship of your person.

  7. Reducing or eliminating gift taxes, estate taxes and generation skipping transfer taxes.


Paley Law Corporation can assist you in developing a comprehensive estate plan that will address any and all of these areas that apply to your individual situation in a thorough and efficient manner.


Estate & Trust Administration

Estate and trust administration requires compliance with the governing instrument (i.e., the will or trust) and with state law, as well.  If you are the executor of an estate or the trustee of a trust that is governed by California law, Paley Law Corporation can assist you with fulfilling your legal responsibilities, including distributing trust assets, notifying trust beneficiaries, creditors and successor trustees, and creating and funding sub-trusts.


Probate

Most people wish to avoid subjecting their estate to probate because this legal proceeding is time consuming, costly and a matter of public record.  Various types of estate and trust planning may be utilized to achieve this worthwhile goal.  Nonetheless, probate is often necessary for at least a portion of many estates; and, under certain circumstances, it may even be preferable.  If you are the executor of an estate, Paley Law Corporation can represent and assist you throughout the probate proceeding to insure that the testator’s assets are transferred to the next generation as smoothly and efficiently as possible.


Asset Protection & Business Entity Formation

There are 2 major potential benefits of forming a new legal entity and transferring specific assets to it.  The first one is the ability to limit the liability exposure that you face from owning the asset.  This concern is especially relevant with respect to rental properties or any business where you face exposure from tenants, customers, employees or the general public.  If you own the asset individually, then all of your personal assets may be at risk, including your personal residence, savings, etc.  However, if the asset is owned by a separate legal entity, such as a limited partnership or a corporation, then your personal assets are potentially at much less risk in the event of loss as a result of negligence on your part.


The other major advantage that may be gained through the formation of a new legal entity is the reduction of estate taxes by those individuals who are both fortunate and unfortunate enough such that the value of their taxable estate will exceed their remaining estate tax credit equivalency amount.  The estate tax rate is 45%, which means that the individuals that you have chosen to inherit your assets will receive little more than half of everything once your credit equivalency is exhausted.  However, if certain types of your assets are transferred to a separate legal entity, such as a family limited partnership or family limited liability company, the utilization of valuation discounts can reduce the amount of the transferred asset that is subject to estate tax by 30-40%.


Paley Law Corporation can help you determine whether the formation of one or more separate legal entities to hold certain of your business assets would provide you with the benefit of asset protection, limited liability and greater tax efficiency.

Estate & Trust Planning • Estate & Trust Administration • Probate • Asset Protection • Business Entity Formation

The material provided on this website is published for general informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice in any particular matter. Transmission of this material does not create an attorney-client relationship.  Paley Law Corporation does not warrant the content of this material and is not responsible for any errors or omissions associated with it.

To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Service, Paley Law Corporation informs you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any links to other websites or material) is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, for purposes of (i) avoiding penalties imposed under the Internal Revenue Code, or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.