Knowledge

Articles on estate planning, trust administration, real property, California property tax, business succession and tax planning.

Worden Williams has advised families, trustees and business owners in San Diego County since 1975.  This section collects articles written for the people we work with and for the advisors who work alongside them.  Some articles explain a planning tool from the beginning.  Others report on a change in the law, or walk through a composite study case drawn of the kinds of matters the firm handles.

Topics

  • Estate planning: revocable trusts, wills, powers of attorney, advance health care directives, and plans for blended families and minor children
  • Wealth transfer: gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax, GRATs, SLATs, IDGTs, life insurance trusts, dynasty trusts and family limited partnerships
  • Charitable planning: charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, donor advised funds, private foundations, and gifts of real property
  • Tax planning: income tax basis, capital gain on inherited and gifted property, the income taxation of trusts and estates, and coordination with the family’s CPA
  • California property tax: Proposition 19, Proposition 13, change in ownership, base year value transfers, assessment appeals, and property held in trusts and LLCs
  • Real property: title, deeds and vesting, co-ownership and partition, leases, landlord and tenant matters, and property held outside California
  • Trust administration: trustee duties, notices, inventories, accountings, trust funding and distributions
  • Probate: court administration, small estate procedures, heirship, spousal and community property petitions, and ancillary proceedings in other states
  • Trust and estate litigation: will and trust contests, trustee removal and surcharge, compelled accountings, financial elder abuse, and disputes among beneficiaries
  • Incapacity: conservatorships, special needs trusts, and planning for diminished capacity
  • Retirement accounts and beneficiary designations: IRAs, qualified plans, the ten year rule, and trusts named as beneficiaries
  • Business succession: closely held companies, family entities, buy-sell agreements and the transition of ownership
  • Business and entities: LLCs, partnerships and corporations, operating agreements, and the estate planning side of owning a business
  • Digital assets: access to accounts, devices and records after death or incapacity
  • Cross-border families: California trusts with property or beneficiaries outside the United States, foreign inheritance rules, and reporting obligations

Current articles

Proposition 19 and the Family Home, with a calculator for the parent and child exclusion.

Digital Assets in a California Estate Plan

Charitable Remainder Unitrusts for Appreciated Property

About the author

Tomer T. Gutman is Managing Partner of Worden Williams LLP in Solana Beach.  He is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, certified by The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, and is licensed in California, Florida, Nevada and Washington.  His practice covers estate, trust and business succession planning, tax planning, trust and estate administration and litigation, and California property tax matters under Propositions 13 and 19.  He holds an M.B.A. in International Management in addition to his law degree.

Full profile.  Contact the firm or call (858) 755-6604.

These articles are general information about California and federal law as of their dates.  They are not legal or tax advice and do not create an attorney-client relationship.  Case studies are composites drawn from the kinds of matters the firm handles; names, places, amounts and other details have been changed, and the result in any matter depends on its own facts.  Tax results should be confirmed with your CPA.  Responsible attorney: Tomer T. Gutman, Worden Williams LLP, 462 Stevens Avenue, Suite 100, Solana Beach, California 92075, (858) 755-6604.