4580 East Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Suite 250 Westlake Village, CA 91362

Identifying Your Assets

While planning your estate may be the last thing on your mind, the reality is that estate planning is one of the more important life decisions you’ll make. Below are three reasons estate planning is important:

  • You get to name the people to whom you wish to give your assets and know that your wishes carry the word of law.
  • You can arrange it so that taxes take as little from assets as possible.
  • You have the peace of mind knowing that your financial affairs are in order

The first step in planning your estate is to take stock of all your assets, including investments, retirement accounts, insurance policies, real estate, and business interests. Once you’ve noted all assets, you must decide what you want to achieve with those assets and who should inherit them. When you’ve decided which assets should go to whom, it’s important to discuss your plans with your heirs in order to eliminate confusion or disagreements in the event of your passing.

Estate planning can become complicated typically depending on the size of your estate so it’s essential to hire an experienced estate-planning lawyer in order to protect your assets and to receive as little tax deductions as possible. Catanese & Wells, an experienced California probate attorney can help you create legal documents, offer advice, keep your estate plan current with any new laws, as well as help administer the disposition of assets. Our estate litigation group specializes in probate and will contests, beneficiary disputes, removal of trustees, enforcement of trusts and wills, recovery of estate property, accountings and emergency petitions for court orders such as injunctive relief.