California Probate - Law Offices of Janet Brewer Blog

What Questions Keep Pre-Retirees Awake at Night?

“Do you have answers for these four questions? Then congratulations and rest easy: You really are ready to retire.”

As we get to the final part of our careers, thoughts of how retirement will look can create mixed emotions. For many, it will be a time to dream about doing those things on their bucket list, such as traveling abroad, learning a hobby, making memories with grandchildren, or pursuing a new business venture.

However, for others, it may be a time of stress and uncertainly because of the extent to which our identity has been tied to our career success and advancement. The routines and structures we’ve followed for years will end, and we face a new reality.

Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “4 Questions That Keep Most Pre-Retirees Awake at Night” explains that for many people coming to this next phase of life, there are four questions that will keep them awake at night. Knowing the answers to these four questions, can give confidence to those who are prepared to make this a smooth transition.

Exactly When Can I Retire? With the traditional pension becoming a thing of the past, the answer may not be so obvious. We also can’t overlook the emotional piece of retirement. Research shows that the happiest people in retirement will be retiring to something, instead of retiring from something. Several pursuits in retirement can bring purpose and meaning to daily life. As you near retirement, consider what pursuits you may enjoy and allow yourself to look forward to getting started.

Will I Have Enough Money? What’s the “magic number” that makes it appropriate to retire? However, more importantly, what is your “magic number.” This may be tied emotionally to a vision you’ve had your entire career, like accumulating $1 million or paying off your mortgage. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Start by creating a retirement budget and understand what percentage of your monthly expenses can be covered by fixed sources of income, like your Social Security, pension and investments. The closer this percentage is to 100, the better. You should also be certain that you parse out the purpose of your money and specifically dedicate it to things, like creating monthly income, covering future health care costs and growth to outpace inflation. If you do this, you’ll be better able to allocate your portfolio appropriately among various tools, such as savings, investments, annuities and life insurance, etc..

Will My Nest Egg Last Throughout Retirement? A major issue for retirees is having negative returns in their investment portfolio during their early years of retirement. Unlike your working years, when you may have been contributing money to your retirement plan on a regular basis, the opposite may now happen. Monthly withdrawals may be needed to generate needed income. This is referred to as a Sequence of Returns Risk, where the order in which the annual returns hit a portfolio matters significantly. The best way to manage this risk is to avoid taking systematic distributions from a fluctuating account. Earmark a portion of your portfolio to create the monthly income needed to cover fixed expenses that are beyond what your Social Security and your pension will provide. Once you have this, you’re ready to see what combination of investments and insurance tools are right for you.

Will My Family Be OK? If you die, will your spouse be OK and able to carry on? It’s essential to be sure that both spouses are comfortable with the finances and how decisions on investing and retirement have been made.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 29, 2020) “4 Questions That Keep Most Pre-Retirees Awake at Night”

Estate Planning: How to Maximize What You Leave Behind

Anticipating and arranging what you leave behind for your heirs is imperative. Knowing how to maximize what you leave behind is the key. 

Many people in the United States feel woefully underprepared for retirement, let alone leaving behind assets for loved ones. However, the estate planning process provides many opportunities to protect your assets and minimize your tax liability, ensuring that they last for your lifetime and that more of your money is passed to loved ones.

A knowledgeable estate planner will be able to give you advice that ensures you are able to transfer the maximum assets possible by employing several strategies, including:

1. Set Up a Trust

Trusts protect the interest of your heirs, and they ensure that asset transfers occur according to your wishes. They also allow your heirs to avoid probate court and protect assets from creditors and divorce proceedings in the family. If your assets are substantial, you may also want to consider setting up a Dynasty Trust (also referred to as a Legacy Trust or Generation-Skipping Trust). 

These trusts can leave some assets for future generations of your beneficiaries, such as grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Depending upon your unique circumstances, you may want to consider several different types of trusts. An experienced estate planner can help you understand all of your options and decide which is the best choice to meet your unique needs.

2. Minimize Your Tax Burden

Depending upon the financial vehicles you use to transfer assets, various tax treatments may apply. For instance, certain inherited assets, such as stocks and mutual funds, receive favorable tax treatment, and leaving these assets to heirs can result in significant tax savings. Gifting assets to beneficiaries while still alive is another common strategy. 

Eligible gifts that are excluded from the gift tax (generally those below $15,000 in value given to an individual or $30,000 for a married couple) are entirely tax-free and do not require a gift tax filing. Similarly, any bequests made to charitable organizations are not subject to taxation, and they are deductible from your ordinary income. If you plan to leave any assets to charity, it’s a good idea to understand how they can benefit you and your estate by reducing your tax liability.

3. Establish Life Insurance or Tax-Deferred Variable Annuities

When life insurance policies are paid out, the beneficiary receives the proceeds without paying taxes on the funds. This leaves a guaranteed benefit to your heirs, unlike other investments that rely on market performance. In addition to these policies, you might want to consider fixed or variable annuities, which allow you to invest in mutual funds or fixed-income investments. 

Another benefit is that annuities held in a 401(k) plan are portable, allowing those who inherit them to transfer the annuity into another plan, rather than forcing them to liquidate it immediately, which can result in charges and fees. Before identifying which plans or annuities might be beneficial for your assets, it’s important to understand that some of these plans come with hidden fees or charges, so you must understand all of the fine print up front. 

This is another area where a skilled estate planner can help you understand your options and their benefits and drawbacks.

4. Creating Timelines & Managing Debt

In many instances, retirement accounts, such as IRAs and 401(k)s allow you to defer paying taxes until the money is withdrawn. Once retired, you can withdraw from these plans and pay taxes on the derived income. When it is beneficial for you to defer withdrawing, an estate planner can help you understand when the best time would be for you or your heirs to start deriving benefits from these types of accounts. 

Knowing when to start can often result in significant savings, allowing more of your assets to be enjoyed by you and your surviving heirs. Properly managing debt is another crucial aspect of maximizing your transferable assets. Your heirs don’t necessarily inherit your debt, but creditors can come after your assets to cover any outstanding debts, which can reduce the value of your estate. While you are alive, it is best to create a plan for settling outstanding debts and ensure that you do not accumulate new ones.

Estate planning can be complicated, and thinking of one’s demise is never a fun activity. But what you leave behind is your legacy. And even those who have many assets might be leaving their beneficiaries a much smaller amount if they haven’t adequately planned and taken advantage of strategies for maximizing the value of the assets that they can transfer upon death. 

For these reasons, you must work with an expert estate planner. The amount of money they can save your estate for your beneficiaries makes this action one of the best financial moves you can make.

What Key Estate Planning Terms Should I Know?

“Estate planning is an incredibly important tool, not just for the uber-wealthy or those thinking about retirement. On the contrary, estate planning is something every adult should do.”

Estate planning can help you accomplish several objectives, including naming guardians for minor children, choosing healthcare agents to make decisions for you should you become ill, minimizing taxes so you can give more wealth to your heirs, and saying how and to whom you would like to pass your estate at death.

Emmett Messenger Index’s recent article entitled “13 Estate Planning Terms You Need to Know” provides some important terms to understand as you consider your own estate plan.

Assets: This is anything a person owns. It can include a home and other real estate, bank accounts, life insurance, investments, furniture, jewelry, collectibles, art, and clothing.

Beneficiary: This is an individual or entity (like a charity) that gets a beneficial interest in an asset, such as an estate, trust, account, or insurance policy.

Distribution: A payment in cash or asset(s) to the beneficiary who’s designated to receive it.

Estate: All of the assets and debts left by a person at death.

Fiduciary: An individual with a legal obligation or duty to act primarily for another person’s benefit, such as a trustee or agent under a power of attorney.

Funding: The process of transferring or retitling assets to a trust. Note that a living trust will only avoid probate at the trustmaker’s death if it’s fully funded. A trustmaker also may be known as a grantor, settlor, or trustor.

Incapacitated or Incompetent: The situation when a person is unable to manage her own affairs, either temporarily or permanently, and often involves a lack of mental capacity.

Inheritance: These are assets received from someone who has died.

Probate: This is the orderly court-supervised process of distributing the assets of a person who has died.

Trust: This is a fiduciary relationship where a trustmaker gives a trustee the right to hold property or assets for the benefit of another party, known as the beneficiary. The trust is a written trust agreement that directs how the trust assets will be distributed to the beneficiary.

Will: A written document with directions for disposing of a person’s assets after their death. A will is enforced by a probate court. A will can provide for the nomination of a guardian for minor children.

We can help walk you through creating and fully understanding every element of your estate plan; call or email us today to schedule a consultation.

Reference: Emmett Messenger Index (Oct. 28, 2020) “13 Estate Planning Terms You Need to Know”

Does the COVID-19 Pandemic have an Impact on Financial Powers Of Attorney?

“We have all seen the heartbreaking stories about people dying in hospitals from Covid-19 without family present. We’ve also heard about the tragic decisions healthcare workers must make when time and resources are spread thin. Compounding these sad situations is that often the person who can speak for the individual suffering from Covid-19 is not present because of hospital procedures designed to prevent contagion.”

If you’re concerned about the consequences of contracting COVID-19, you’d typically create an advanced directive, a medical power of attorney, and a HIPAA release to give authority to those you want to have access to your medical information. These documents are intended to both state your medical care wishes and specify who can make medical decisions for you if you’re unable.

Forbes’s recent article entitled “If You Lose It, Don’t Lose It: Financial Powers Of Attorney In A Covid-19 World” says that sometimes the issue of money is lost in the confusion. If you’re in the hospital or otherwise unavailable, who do you want to take care of any of your immediate financial issues?

People frequently associate this issue with just writing checks, like paying the mortgage. If it’s deducted automatically, it should be okay, and the other bills can wait until they recover. However, some financial issues are planning-related, and those can’t wait, like in late December when you want to make a Roth IRA conversion but you’re in a hospital. You might also want to make a contribution to your favorite charity since the CARES Act provides a $300 non-itemized charitable deduction. If you are incapacitated, you need a trusted agent who can make important financial decisions for you and execute them on your behalf.

A financial power of attorney (POA) is often the answer. It is separate from a medical POA but equally as important. Without a binding financial POA, your incapacity will have a major financial impact. A financial POA gives you the power to name an agent to act on your behalf if you lose the physical or mental capacity to handle your own finances.

If you are worried about the financial risk related to a sudden impairment from an event, such as the coronavirus, ask an experienced estate planning attorney about creating a springing and durable POA. “Springing” means the power doesn’t trigger until you’ve lost the legal capacity to handle your own finances. “Durable” means that your agent continues to retain the power to act on your behalf until you either recover or die. This is the preferred approach because they retain control until something bad happens (causing it to “spring” into action) and then their agent maintains control, even if some unscrupulous individual attempts to hijack the process (proving the power is “durable”).

Note that a POA may not be recognized when it is presented to an individual or company. Financial institutions have been hesitant to accept a financial POA submitted by the principal’s agent because they’re concerned about liability if the POA turns out to be fraudulent, or if the agent acts contrary to the accountholder’s desires. Without the institution’s agreement, the incapacitated person’s plans won’t happen. However, many states have addressed this.

Many people are creating “just in case” estate planning documents to deal with the possibility of contracting COVID-19. Ask an experienced estate planning attorney about creating a financial POA.

If you have any questions about your current estate plan, please call or email us today.

Reference: Forbes (Oct. 27, 2020) “If You Lose It, Don’t Lose It: Financial Powers Of Attorney In A Covid-19 World”

What Is a GRIT and Should It Be Used in an Estate Plan?

“Trusts can be useful in estate planning for passing on assets to your heirs. A grantor retained income trust (GRIT) is a specific type of trust that allows you to transfer assets, while still benefiting from the income they generate.”

Creating a GRIT (grantor retained income trust) could have some benefits, particularly if you’re seeking for ways to minimize taxes in your estate plan. A GRIT is a type of irrevocable trust. This means that the transfer of assets is permanent and can’t be reversed.

Yahoo Finance’s recent article entitled “What Is a Grantor Retained Income Trust (GRIT)?” explains that a grantor retained income trust lets the person who creates the trust transfer assets to it, while still being able to receive net income from trust assets. The grantor keeps this right for a set number of years.

With a GRIT, the grantor (or creator of the trust) has the right to receive net income from the assets held in the trust. The trustee distributes income to the grantor, according to the trust terms. After the initial term during which the grantor is eligible to receive income from the trust expires, one of two things can happen. The remaining assets in the trust can be distributed to its beneficiaries. If you don’t want the assets to pass on to beneficiaries immediately, you can set it up so the assets continue to be held in trust.

However, unlike other types of trusts, there are rules on who can get a transfer of GRIT assets. Specifically, there are certain people who can’t be named as a beneficiary to a GRIT, including your spouse, your parents or spouse’s parents, your children or spouse’s children, or your siblings or spouse’s siblings (or their spouses).

However, you can designate the children of your siblings or other distant relatives as the beneficiary to a GRIT.

A GRIT is typically used for one specific purpose, which is to minimize taxes in estate planning. Keeping estate taxes as low as possible results in additional assets to pass on to your beneficiaries when you pass away.

When assets are transferred to a GRIT, they’re valued at a discount. This is based upon on the number of years for which you plan to draw income from the trust as the grantor, and the principal value of assets included in the trust are excluded from your estate for estate and gift tax purposes. However, you’ll be taxed on the income you receive from a GRIT during the initial term. It’s taxed at your ordinary income tax rate. It’s important to know about creating a GRIT for the purpose of minimizing estate taxes, that you must outlive the initial term. If you die during the period when you’re still receiving income from the trust assets, no estate or gift tax benefit would pass on to your beneficiaries.

A grantor retained income trusts can serve a specialized objective as part of your estate plan. However, whether you need one can depend on a variety of factors, so speak with an experienced estate planning attorney about the specifics of a GRIT. Contact our office today to schedule your consultation.

Reference: Yahoo Finance (Oct. 23, 2020) “What Is a Grantor Retained Income Trust (GRIT)?”

Incorporating Gifting with an Estate Plan

“Gifting sounds pretty simple, but there are many ways to do it. There are also several tax ramifications to be aware of.”

Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “Gifting sounds pretty simple, but there are many ways to do it, and several tax ramifications to be aware of as well” explains that no matter if a gift is made this year or in future years, there are some important questions to consider.

Increased exemption. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly upped the lifetime gift, estate and generation-skipping tax exemption to $11.58 million per individual ($23.16 million per couple). It’s set to expire at the end of 2025. Thus, there’s the prospect of possibly losing an opportunity to transfer wealth out of your estate and save on future estate taxes earlier than anticipated.

When to Give. A big question is whether a person should give away assets during their lifetime or at their death. Those who opt to gift while they’re alive often do so to reduce their estate and to share in the joy of seeing the effect it makes in the lives of the recipients. Others decide to gift after death for the security of having the assets on hand, if they’re needed. Gifting after death also gives recipients time to prepare for the responsibility that comes along with inheriting wealth.

Unified Federal Estate & Gift Tax Exemption. There are many ways to distribute assets. What works for one family isn’t necessarily the wisest strategy for another. Note that any transfer is gift tax-free up to the annual exclusion amount ($15,000 per person per donor in 2020). Any gift over this amount will count against the donor’s lifetime exemption amount. After that lifetime exemption is used, the gift will be subject to gift tax.

Outright cash gifts. This appears to be the most uncomplicated way of gifting. However, for those with significant wealth, this approach could have some drawbacks. These concern the ability and experience gift recipients have to manage money, outside risks, such as a spouse or high-risk professions, and demotivating recipients to live off their inheritance, instead of becoming productive on their own. Therefore, distributing large amounts of money—particularly at a young age—is generally discouraged.

Trusts. These are used frequently for larger gifts to provide for beneficiaries, while using controls by the grantor. These parameters can include things like distributing trust assets in stages (when the beneficiary reaches a certain age or achieves a specific goal). You can also leave assets in a discretionary lifetime trust, which would maintain the assets in a trust for the beneficiary’s entire lifetime. When set up by an experienced estate planning attorney, this offers a high level of protection from divorcing spouses, lawsuits, poor financial decisions and outside influences. It can also let the grantor create a lasting family legacy for many generations.

Gifts for education or medical expenses. Direct payments for college tuition or for medical expenses have no gift tax consequences. Educational gifts can also be made by funding a 529 educational savings plan. While there are no contribution limits for a 529 plan, gifts over the annual exclusion amount can have gift tax consequences or count against the lifetime exemption. You can also pre-fund an account up to $75,000 and it will receive the same tax treatment, as if it were gifted in $15,000 increments over five years.

Uniform Trust to Minors Act (UTMA) and Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA). These custodial accounts are generally less restrictive than trusts and let minor beneficiaries access funds at age a specific age depending on state of residence.

You can read more about how our process works, how we can make sure we are a good fit for your needs, and how to get started today right here.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 30, 2020) “Gifting sounds pretty simple, but there are many ways to do it, and several tax ramifications to be aware of as well.”

What Can I Do to Catch Up on Retirement Savings?

“Are you among the millions of workers who have fallen behind on retirement savings?”

Many workers haven’t created any plans to save for their retirement. However, you can start turning that situation around now. Money Talks News’ recent article entitled “The 7 Fastest Ways to Catch Up on Retirement Savings” says that, even if you can’t add to retirement savings at the moment, here are some ideas to plan for how you’ll address this shortfall, when you’re back on your feet financially.

Review your budget. If you need more money for retirement savings, change your budget. Make certain that all your money is identified and working for you. Reduce or cut expenses that prevent you from achieving goals.

“Catch up” your 401(k). If you are over 50, take advantage of the ‘catch-up contribution’ in your 401(k). In 2020, the base limit for contributions to workplace retirement accounts is $19,500. In addition, starting at age 50, workers with a 401(k) plan can contribute an extra $6,500 per year. If you have an IRA — either traditional or Roth — you can contribute $6,000, plus an extra $1,000 beginning at age 50.

Leverage all investment opportunities. When you invest in your 401(k), put enough in to at least get any full employer matching funds. There are also employers that match contributions to a health savings account, which can be a great hidden way to save for retirement. You can also maximize IRA contributions (Roth or traditional), depending on what is possible given your income. Any money left over can be invested it in a taxable account.

Bolster your earnings. If you’re behind in saving for retirement, you might need to boost your earnings more quickly. To earn more income, consider changing jobs, get training to update your skills, or finding a side gig. If income doesn’t grow over time, it’s hard to have savings strategies accelerate retirement success.

Be wise with raises and windfalls. When you get a raise, split the amount and put half in a checking account and half toward retirement savings.

Minimize your spending. This can be the toughest part, but it’s also perhaps the most important. Reducing spending increases your savings, and it also teaches you to live with less. If you learn to live more modestly, you won’t need to save as much to continue your lifestyle in retirement. If you’re unsure where all your money is going, monitor your spending. List all the expenses and track them over time. When you know where your money is going, you’ll have the information needed to determine if there are places where spending can be diverted to savings.

Make a “mortgage payment” after the house is paid off. If you’ve worked hard to pay off the mortgage, save the money that was budgeted for the house. Save it in an investment account to use for retirement spending. Do the same when you pay off a car loan and watch your wealth grow.

Reference: Money Talks News (Oct. 8, 2020) “The 7 Fastest Ways to Catch Up on Retirement Savings”

Do I Need to Name a Guardian for My Children in the Will?

“Why naming a guardian for your child is important.”

Many young couples with children and bills to pay may look at you askance, when asked about estate planning and say, “what estate?”

However, a critical part of having a will—one frequently overlooked—is naming a guardian. If you don’t name a guardian, it could result in issues for your children after your death. Your child might even be placed in a foster home.

For a young family, designating a guardian is another good reason to draft a will. If you and your spouse die together with no guardian specified in a will, the guardian will be chosen by the court.

In a worst-case scenario, if you have no close family or no one in your family who can take your child, the court will send them to foster care, until a permanent guardian can be named.

The judge will collect as much information as possible about your children and family circumstances to make a good decision.

However, the judge won’t have an intimate knowledge of who you know or which of your relatives would be good guardians. This could result in a choice of one of the last people you might pick to take care of your child.

Try to find common ground, by agreeing to a set of criteria you want in a guardian. This could include the following:

• The potential guardian’s willingness to be a guardian
• The potential guardian’s financial situation
• Where the child might live with that person
• The potential guardian’s values, religion, or political beliefs
• The potential guardian’s parenting skills; and
• The potential guardian’s age and health.

Next, make a decision, get the chosen guardian’s consent, write it all down, and then set out to create a will.

Ask an experienced estate planning attorney to help you do it correctly.

For a related podcast, you can listen to Janet talk about issues relating to minor children and guardianships (along with answering some listener's questions about estate planning in general) on NPR's Your Legal Rights.

Reference: Lifehacker (Oct. 27, 2020) “Why You Should Name a Guardian for Your Kids Right Away”

How Do I Know If Mom Left Me Her IRA?

“My mother and father had retirement funds. My father passed and it went to my mother. My mother got remarried and she had a will when she died. My stepfather is to get what they agreed upon. She never made him the beneficiary of that retirement fund that was between my mother and father.,  However, when I asked to see the amount of this fund, the executor would not produce it. How can we find out the amount?”

Nj.com’s recent article entitled “I think my mother left a retirement account to me. How can I find out?” explains that retirement accounts typically are “non-probate” assets—they pass by beneficiary designation, rather than under the account owner’s will.

Each designated beneficiary can contact the financial institution where the account is held directly and request his or her share of the death benefit. The financial institution will need a copy of the account owner’s death certificate to move forward with the claim.

If the account owner doesn’t name a beneficiary, the agreement or contract governing the account may say who gets the death benefit. In many cases, the governing document says that the death benefit is payable to the account owner’s estate. However, some do have a breakdown of beneficiaries that may be close to the succession of heirs under intestacy.

If the mother didn’t name a beneficiary on her retirement account and, as a result, it’s payable to her estate, then it becomes a “probate” asset. Therefore, her will governs who receives it.

If her will doesn’t specifically bequeath that account to specified individuals, it will be a part of her residuary estate. The clause typically says, “I give the rest, residue and remainder of my estate to...”

Residuary beneficiaries are entitled to information about the estate—including the value of estate assets. In addition, there are laws that spell out their rights and remedies to make sure the executor is doing his or her fiduciary duty.

When an executor won’t provide reasonable information to the beneficiaries on the estate and the status of the administration, the beneficiaries should speak with an experienced estate planning attorney. One option may be to initiate a lawsuit to compel the executor to file an accounting and/or an inventory and appraisement of the estate assets. If a beneficiary thinks the executor has acted improperly and/or refuses to disclose estate information, he or she should demand that the executor provide an accounting and file an action for an accounting if the executor refuses. Beneficiaries shouldn’t simply trust an executor, especially one who won’t give out basic information about the estate.

If you have any questions about your current estate plan, please call or email us today.

Reference: nj.com (Oct. 5, 2020) “I think my mother left a retirement account to me. How can I find out?”

What is Considered Community Property in California Inheritance Law?

California is a community property state. How will you know what is considered community property in California inheritance law? 

California's inheritance laws – and especially those related to community property – can get incredibly confusing quickly. When there is no valid will put into place by the deceased, or when the couple has high-value assets, the application of these laws can also become very intricate. A brief overview of how inheritance relates to both community property and separate property by California is below.

Community Property Defined

Most states follow what is called common law for determining asset division during a marriage. Under common law, a spouse or domestic partner is not automatically granted the right to 50% ownership of all assets acquired during the marriage. Instead, ownership is determined based upon whose name an asset is purchased and whose income paid for it.

California joins only eight other states to adhere to community property law. These states recognize a policy that any property acquired during a couple's marriage or domestic partnership is considered joint property. Furthermore, each party has the benefit of a 50% stake in ownership automatically, regardless of whose name may be on the asset's title or whose income was used to pay for the asset.  

Property that is considered community property includes bank accounts, stocks, bonds, cash, personal items, vehicles, household items, collectibles, and real estate holdings. These assets are split equally without regard to whose fault divorce may be or each spouse's financial situation. Even when one spouse brought in the entire income and assets of the marriage, they are still split equally. Likewise, any debt accumulated throughout the marriage becomes collective debt and is shared equally by both parties in the relationship.

Inheritance & Gifts in California

There is one exception to California's community property laws for assets received by either party in the relationship as a part of an inheritance or as a gift. These assets do not automatically go into the pool as community property. But the recipient should be wary that, under some circumstances, these assets can still be viewed as community property if they haven't implemented proper safeguards to protect the gift or inheritance.

Don't Comingle Assets

The best way to protect these assets is to prevent them from co-mingling with your other assets, those considered community properties. For instance, if you receive cash as part of an inheritance and deposit it into a shared account, it becomes impossible for the court to track what assets in the account are assigned to each party. All of it would be considered community property.

Whatever you receive as a part of inheritance should be treated separately and held in the recipient's name only to prevent it from being treated as community property.

Don't Use the Inheritance to Purchase Anything That Will Become Community Property

If you use inheritance to purchase something else while you are married, that asset will become community property. For instance, if you sell an inherited property and purchase a different property with the proceeds you receive from the sale, the new property will be considered community property. This legal treatment differs from the inherited property. If you keep the inherited property, it remains your asset alone and would not be considered community property during a divorce.

Consider a Legal Agreement

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are becoming increasingly common in marriages. These legal agreements can protect both spouses by clearly defining what both parties consider community property and individual property. Even in the absence of an agreement put into place before the marriage or domestic partnership, both parties may be open to considering it if there are substantial changes to their financial status as the relationship evolves.

Estate Planning and Inheritance

If there is a death in the family and no will to define beneficiaries, there are many different ways that a probate court may split assets. Further, if you do not have any surviving family, your estate may go to the state. There are many other scenarios in which California's inheritance laws can impact asset distribution in a way that the decedent may not have intended.

If you have questions about assigning, receiving, or protecting assets acquired through inheritance, it's best to speak with a reputable estate planning professional. These experts can walk you through all of the potential laws that may apply to your unique situation, including community property laws. They can also frequently provide a recommended course of action to achieve what you would like to achieve and provide peace of mind that your inheritance is protected.