Firm News

Estate Planning, Trusts and Probate

North Carolina Loses in Trust Tax Case, Supreme Court Rules

U.S. Supreme Court Justices stage pictorial

The Supreme Court ruled in North Carolina Department of Revenue v. Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust that a state does not have the authority to tax a trust’s undistributed income solely because the beneficiary resides in that state. This case potentially had far reaching implications if the unanimous decision was ruled in favor of North Carolina. States often seek new avenues of revenue through taxation but The Kimberley Rice […]

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KJM Spoke to the Chinese American CPA Association About Estate & Gift Tax Issues

Kevin Moore Chinese Amer Presentation

Last Saturday, Kevin J. Moore spoke at the Chinese American CPA Association 2019 Professional Expo. This organization offers professional services such as taxation, accounting, law, wealth management, and insurance to Chinese American members. Kevin J. Moore, Pasadena Magazine’s 2019 Top Estate Planning Attorney, was invited to give a presentation on recurring estate and gift tax issues for non-resident Chinese investors who invest in U.S. real estate. There are 16 countries […]

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Kevin J. Moore Named 2019 Top Attorney By Pasadena Magazine

Pasadena Magazine Top Attorneys 2019 logo

Kevin J. Moore was named 2019 Top Attorney in Pasadena Magazine. The Pasadena Magazine 2019 Top Attorney’s List is based on an online peer review survey sent out to practicing attorneys in the Pasadena area. To be recognized by peers as the leading estate planning attorney in Pasadena is a tremendous honor. Pick up a copy of the March 2019 issue today!

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What You Need To Know About California’s New Decanting Statute

Male lawyer drafting a contract

In September of 2018, the California Legislature enacted the Uniform Trust Decanting Act. Decanting is defined as the ability of someone to distribute property from an irrevocable trust (“the first trust”) to one or more second trusts or to modify the terms of the first trust without the consent of the beneficiaries of the first trust or approval of the court. California’s new decanting statute is highly technical, replete with […]

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Ten Wealth Preservation Strategies

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Estate and tax planning — it’s a subject many people like to avoid. That’s often because they think that estate planning is about two topics they’d rather not focus on: death and taxes. For some people, estate and tax planning is about something even more ominous: death, taxes and math. There is, however, another way to look at estate and tax planning. Beyond the details it’s about doing something that […]

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Zye Acuna: Showing Up to “Do the Right Thing”

Zye Acuna Paralegal

Paralegal Zye Acuna discovered her passion for justice at a young age. Somewhere between eight years playing flute in the school band and two years on the drumline in her hometown of Chino Hills, Zye connected with an innate sense of fairness and a deep respect for doing the right thing. A career in the legal field seemed a natural fit for her. With a degree in political science and […]

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Avoiding Probate With a Living Trust is not Avoiding Trust Administration

Male lawyer drafting trust documents with female client

Creating a living trust is one of the most effective ways to set up the smooth transfer of assets from one generation to another, avoid the time and cost of the probate administration process, and eliminate or reduce certain tax burdens. Setting up a living trust, however, doesn’t avoid the process of trust administration.   But what exactly is trust administration? Broadly speaking, it’s the process by which the assets of a trust […]

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When an IRA Trust is a Good Estate Planning Tool

Family bonding in living room

Many of my clients have accumulated substantial assets in an IRA. It is commonly, along with their real estate holdings, one of the largest assets they have in their estate. There are, however, certain issues that arise when the owner of the IRA passes away. Most notably, the assets in an IRA do not pass through a living trust. They pass to the beneficiaries pursuant to the terms of the […]

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Don’t Forget Property Tax Issues When Planning Your Estate

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As a property owner or investor, you know the drill: the tax assessor establishes the value of any property you own at the time of purchase and you are responsible for the taxes based on that assessment. Your property tax rate may go up annually – but not by more than 2% a year thanks to Proposition 13. But what happens when you pass your property on as part of […]

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