858.792.5988

Serving San Diego for over 35 Years

Clients, Colleagues, and Friends,

I retired on Dec. 31, 2019, and officially closed my office, after 42 years of practicing law. I thank you all for your confidence in me and your friendship over the years. My colleague David Dufek who has shared the suite with me for the past two years is taking over my practice and will have all client files. Not only will David be taking over the practice, he remains in the suite and is taking over my fax and phone lines. You are free to leave your files with David or pick them up. David's practice like mine includes will, trusts, and probate, as well as personal injury work. He also does landlord - tenant work and debtor - creditor matters including bankruptcy.

I wish you all the best.

Alex

Is Your Estate Plan as Stale as Last Week’s Bread?

Just like bread, your estate plan can get stale.  Just not quite as fast.  As stale bread won’t work for your  peanut butter and jelly, a stale estate plan won’t work to carry out your estate planning goals.  Here is a list of 10 ways to know if your estate plan is stale.

  1. Your documents were typed on a typewriter.
  2. Your documents are on legal-sized paper.
  3. Someone named in your documents is now disabled or has died.
  4. Not all of your children are listed in your documents.
  5. You’ve gotten divorced or ended a domestic partnership, since your signed your estate planning documents.
  6. You’ve gotten remarried or began a domestic partnership, since your estate planning documents were signed.
  7. You moved to a new state.
  8. You’ve had a significant change in assets or started a new business.
  9. You have had a significant change in health.
  10. Your goals have changed.

In addition, just the passage of time can make your documents stale.  For example, power of attorney documents are often refused for being stale; the financial institution is simply afraid to honor them for fear that they are no longer valid.

Another example would be the ever changing law.  Each year, there are new state and federal laws that may affect your estate plan.  In addition, estate planning attorneys are constantly striving to create new ways to help their clients.

If your estate plan is stale, it may not do what you want it to do.  If you think this may be the case, call our office at 858-792-5988 for a consultation.  If your current plan still works for you, we’ll tell you; if not, we’ll get a new up-to-date plan in place that does what you want it to do.