Trust Me

New laws were enacted in 2024 that affect California trust and estate practitioners. Join our two speakers, attorneys Jadene M. W. Tamura and Mara M. Mahana, on this episode as they describe the highlights of the new laws and how they affect trusts and estates practice, estate and trust litigation, incapacity proceedings, and more.

About Our Podcast Speakers:

Jadene M. W. Tamura is a Shareholder and Co-Chair of the Tru...

Complicated clients need complicated planning.  And as years go by, those complications may have led to the creation of multiple trusts for the next generation.  Children and grandchildren who benefit from those multiple trusts often come to their attorneys and ask, “What can we do to simplify?”  The top-of-mind answer for many planners is to find a way to combine these trusts.  In this episode of Trust Me!, our guests, Andrew Katz...

Show Notes:

Breslin and Smith and Farrant, oh my! The road to speedy probate trials has become more challenging over the last few years due to recent case law. Practitioners who intend to steer their trust and estate litigation matters to trial must be prepared for the roadblocks they will face along the way. In this episode, two trust-and-estate litigators identify such roadblocks, as well as effective strategies for getting throug...

The aftermath of trust litigation brought by beneficiaries against trustees is too often a lawyer malpractice claim against the drafting lawyer.  Listen to Sean McKissick and Kristin Yokomoto discuss the 1958 balancing test applied to lawyer malpractice cases and the messages from the courts in recent cases.

 About Our Guest:  Sean McKissick

Sean McKissick is a partner at Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, California, where he specializ...

Land Back is an Indigenous-led movement focused on returning land to Indigenous Tribes in a way that strengthens Indigenous sovereignty and communities. This episode features a discussion about how Land Back comes up in the context of estate planning and introduces key concepts for estate planners, financial advisors, and tax advisors to assist clients in taking such
action.

About Our Guests:
Alma Soongi Beck is an...

Estate planners not only help clients plan for what happens at death. Nowadays, especially with the high divorce rates, trust and estate lawyers also need to be mindful of how certain planning will play out in the event of a divorce.  In this episode of Trust Me!, we discuss what estate planners should know about the basics of family law.

About Our Guest:

Vanessa Soto Nellis is a Shareholder and Chair of the Family Law Practice Group...

What enhanced remedies are parties entitled to recover under Probate Code section 859? Is it double damages, triple damages, or something else? There has been a district split, and now even a division split, on whether parties can receive “double damages” under Section 859. Recent case law sheds light on this issue, and the guests on this episode were counsel of record in two of those recent cases, enabling them to share key insigh...

Haggerty vs. Thornton is a case that made its way to the California Supreme Court with an eagerly anticipated decision. This case concerns an area of law that is of great interest to planners, administrators, and litigators: the method of amending trust and whether the method of revocation can be considered the same as the method of amendment.

About Our Guests:
Jennifer Campbell is a partner at Carlin and Peebles LLP i...

When does a trust beneficiary’s cooperation with a trustee to modify, reform, or decant a trust become a taxable gift by that trust beneficiary? In late 2023, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel answered that question in CCA202352018. In this episode, our guest Jenny Hill Bratt discusses the CCA and its impact on trust and estate practitioners and their clients.  

 About Our Guest:
Jenny Hill Bratt is a partner in the San Diego (Del...

There are many things to consider when choosing a trustee or successor trustee for a trust. The trustee will face a number of challenges over the course of their service and will need to plan ahead to avoid the inevitable pitfalls.  In this episode of Trust Me!, we discuss a proactive plan for a trustee to successfully administer a trust, and an overview of primary things to consider to mitigate the risk of adverse action against a...

When a client passes away, one of the most important items on our to-do list is to file certain tax returns.  In this episode of Trust Me!, we will be discussing an overview of things to consider during the period of post-death administration, mainly focusing on filing the federal estate tax return (Form 706). 

 About Our Guests:

Lisa M. Piehl is the Program Manager for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Estate and Gift Tax Policy d...

In this episode of Trust Me!, Bette Epstein discusses the magic of the trust and estate mediation process to informally resolve disputes, which includes party engagement, active listening, patience and problem solving.

 About Our Guest:

Bette Epstein is a mediator, arbitrator and referee with ADR Services, Inc.  Ms. Epstein has been mediating trust and estate disputes since 2000.  Following a remarkable career as a trust and estate l...

California just passed a directed trust statute! In this episode of Trust Me!, Michael Rosen-Prinz and David Khanjyan will go over the basic structure of a directed trust, along with the specifics of California’s new directed trust statute.

About Our Guests:
Michael Rosen-Prinz is a partner at Loeb & Loeb LLP (Los Angeles office). Michael maintains a broad trusts and estate practice, including wealth transfer planning, plann...

In this episode of Trust Me!, Kristin Yokomoto discusses ethical considerations in the estate planning world. She covers issues relating to engagement letters, conflicts, communication, capacity and more.

About Our Guest:

Kristin Yokomoto is a partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP in Costa Mesa, California and focuses on tax and estate planning for high-net-worth individuals, trust administration and probate. She is a Fellow of the Am...

Clients have grown to be more charitably inclined and want to incorporate charitable giving as part of their estate plan. In this episode, we discuss the basics of charitable planning, as we review the ABCs of those great acronyms: the CRUTs, CRATs, and CLATs.

About Our Guest:
Amy Takeuchi Wanlass is a Senior Wealth Advisor for Northern Trust based in their Pasadena office. Amy has over a decade of experience in delivering estat...

What must be, and what should be included, by the trustee of a trust in an accounting? And, who is entitled to receive what kind of information? In this episode, our guest Denise Riley discusses the details of what is required in an accounting. 

 About Our Guest: 

Denise Riley is the Senior Fiduciary Officer of the West Region in the San Francisco office of Northern Trust.  In addition to being the fiduciary practice leader, she is r...

A revocable trust is an essential part of an estate plan in California. And when clients ask why they need a revocable trust, our answer is always: to avoid probate! We know that probate is time consuming and costly, but have you ever wondered how our system came to be? In this episode of Trust Me!, Anne Rudolph and Ralph Hughes discuss their recent article published in the Trusts & Estates Quarterly -- The Rise of Revocable Tr...

Join estate-planning attorney Elizabeth Bawden and trust-and-estate litigator Matt Owens for a discussion about the Corporate Transparency Act.

 About Our Guest:

 Elizabeth Bawden is a partner in Withers Bergman’s Los Angeles office. Elizabeth focuses her efforts on estate planning, planned giving, and tax-exempt organizations. Elizabeth represents clients in matters related to family wealth transfers for large estates, sophisticated...

Join Deputy District Attorney Scott Pirrello and Estate Planning Attorney Melissa Raneri Karlsten for a conversation about elder abuse, including internet and technology scams that everyone, no matter their age, is being bombarded with on a daily basis. Scott and Melissa discuss shipping notifications, product subscriptions, and why you should not click on links, or pick up the phone if you do not recognize the caller. In addition ...