Course Category : Trust
Dulling the Razor’s Edge: Understanding, Identifying and Navigating The Duty Of Impartiality
The most basic goals of any administration for a fiduciary are to distribute the right assets to the right people without getting sued. Standing between the fiduciary and these goals are numerous fiduciary duties, not the least of which is the duty of impartiality. The duty of impartiality puts a fiduciary on the razor’s edge, […]
The Sweet Spot: When and How to Step into your Fiduciary Role
Stepping in as a Conservator of the Person or Estate or Successor Trustee can be a challenge, particularly so when the conservatee or former Trustor/Trustee is reluctant to accept a successor’s assistance. Are you a bull in a china shop or do you tiptoe in like a ballerina? This presentation will focus on best practices […]
Understanding Community Services For Persons With Developmental Disabilities In California
The Lanterman Act is California’s civil rights program for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and creates our Regional Center system which assesses and fulfills essential services necessary to live in the community.This session will introduce attendees to a series of MCLE programs and resources created by the Arc of California with the assistance […]
Digital Assets Killed The Paper Trail: A Primer On Administering Digital Assets
Internet-based accounts and applications have grown at an extraordinary rate. Email and paperless online banking are now routine. Intellectual property assets are proliferating. Since the Bitcoin network came into existence in 2008, thousands of new digital assets have emerged, including coins, tokens, tethered currency, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The rate of development of new technologies […]
Private Fiduciary Guide to Administering A California Needs Trust
Financial planning can be complex, but when a family has a loved one with special needs it can be even more complicated. The special needs financial planner requires additional skills, knowledge, and empathy to advise families that include a loved one with special needs. The special needs planner also needs to understand the planning challenges […]
Successor Trustee Issues: Taking Over A Disaster
Accepting appointment as successor trustee or fiduciary comes with its own unique set of challenges. Difficulties ranging from prior and future accounting complications, investment considerations, beneficiary expectations, public benefits issues, and tax filings (among other issues) can derail proper administration from the onset of a relationship and may expose a successor trustee to heightened liability. […]
Shifting to Neutral – The change in the courts view on Trustees Remaining unbiased in light of the Breslin v. Breslin and Zahnleuter v. Mueller
A trustee, even one that has no person interest in a trust, can no longer take a position that favors one potential beneficiary’s interest over another’s. In the wake of Breslin v. Breslin (2021) 62 Cal.App.5th 801, where the trustee avoided any liability through taking a neutral position, Zahnleuter v. Mueller (Filed February 9, 2023; […]
Needs-Based Public Benefits & Special Needs Trusts
Attorney Sternfeld will present new 2023 changes in needs-based public benefits and how those changes affect the Special Needs Trust.
Sonoma County Clerk Covenants and New Year Rule Changes
Presentation by the County Clerk regarding the 2022 Changes
Trustee Unchained: Decanting Has Come to California
This program will review California’s recently enacted version of the Uniform Trust Decanting Act. Decanting refers to the power to modify an existing trust, either by changing the terms of that trust or by distributing property from that trust to a second trust. The speaker will discuss when and how to decant, the benefits of […]