The State of California says, a birth certificate DOES NOT establish legal parentage when parents are unmarried. Only signing a Voluntary Declaration of Parentage or obtaining a judgment in court legally establishes parentage for the children of unmarried parents. 

Click here to learn about the process of establishing parentage. 

Click here to learn about filing options. 

Help your loved ones skip probate by using payable-on-death accounts, registrations, and deeds. You can take simple steps to ensure that certain types of property pass to your loved ones without going through probate court. Click here to continue reading. 

So everyone knows (or should know by now!) that there are multiple benefits to creating and holding your assets in a revocable living trust. But one benefit you may not know about is that in the state of California, a change in the law in 2017 now allows you to protect your assets from Medi-Cal recovery if they are in a revocable living trust. Click here to continue reading.

If you have a revocable living trust, it can be terminated at any time. If you have a joint trust (for example, with a spouse), either grantor can revoke the trust, with the trust assets being returned to each individual according to how the assets were owned before being transferred into the trust. Click here to read more.

If you already have a reverse mortgage on your home at the time you create your living trust, you can transfer it into your trust using the real estate powers granted to you as trustee of your trust. Click here to read the rest of the article. 

Click here for Property Ownership and Deed Recording information from California State Board of Equalization. This document outlines the requirements to record a deed, how to hold title on a deed, and the different kinds of deeds you can use to record ownership. 

The California Courts Judicial Branch bullet points ways to avoid probate and what happens if you need probate. Click here to read more. 

Click here to learn about how to divide property and debts during a divorce, from the California Courts Self Help Guide

Click here for the California State Board of Equalization frequently asked questions regarding property taxes, reappraisals, and what triggers them. 

You don’t need to be Johnny Cash to have an Estate Plan to leave your hard earned assets to your loved ones (whether a little or a lot) but if you are curious, keep reading…

Johnny Cash had five children— four daughters from his first marriage and one son with June Carter. June Carter was credited as a co-writer on the massive hit song Ring of Fire. Johnny Cash left one million for each of his daughters but because his son was June’s Carter’s child, their son inherited all of the royalties from their hit song. The song Ring of Fire (Rolling Stone’s 87th out of 500 Greatest Songs of all time) was a significant portion of Cash’s Estate and continues to be to this day. The daughters tried to sue their half brother but lost the lawsuit.