In California, specific laws govern the inheritance rights of adopted children.  Generally, adopted children are entitled to the same inheritance rights as their adoptive parents’ biological children.  But can legally adopted children still inherit from their biological parents?

California estate planning attorneys regularly help clients understand the inheritance rights of adopted children under California law.  If you or someone you know is an adopted person with questions about inheritances, seeking counsel from a knowledgeable estate planning attorney is critical. 

Is a Will Necessary for an Adopted Child to Inherit From an Estate?

Leaving a will or trust is the best insurance that an estate will be distributed according to the decedent’s wishes. Concerns regarding an adoptive child’s right to inherit may be raised when an adoptive or birth parent dies without specifically naming beneficiaries to their estate. 

Can an Adopted Child Inherit from Their Adoptive Parents?

In legal adoption cases, a legal parent-child relationship is established between the adoptive parents and the child.  As such, the adopted child is entitled to the same inheritance rights as any biological child of the adoptive parent.  However, it is always better to execute estate planning documents that make these intentions clear.

Are Adopted Children Entitled to Inherit from the Estate of their Birth Parents?

When one or both biological parents places a child up for adoption, it is presumed that the child’s legal adoption terminates and severs any rights between the child and their biological parent(s).  

However, under California Probate Code Section 6451, some exceptions are defined:

1. If at any time the birth parent and adopted person lived together as parent and child, or if the birth parent was married to or cohabitating with the other birth parent at the time the child was conceived and then died before the person’s birth, AND
2. the adoption of the child was by the spouse of either birth parent or after the death of either birth parent, THEN
3. there is a legal relationship to substantiate the adopted person’s right to inherit from the estate of a birth parent. 

Both conditions must be met for an adopted person to have an independent legal claim to inherit from a birth parent’s estate.  

Birth parents may elect to create a will expressly bequeathing an inheritance to their biological child or, conversely, denying any inheritance rights to the biological child. In these instances, birth parents must avoid generalities such as “the children born of” but instead list the biological child(ren) by name.

Protecting the Inheritance Rights of Adopted Children

In any estate, complications can quickly arise after the decedent’s passing. The best thing a person can do is plan in advance and make provisions for their beneficiaries through a will or trust. Wills and trusts are especially important in cases involving adopted children. 

California estate planning attorneys understand the legalities surrounding inheritance rights of adopted children under California law. They can provide valuable insights to both biological and adoptive parents regarding estate planning. 

For adopted children questioning inheritance rights, an experienced estate planning lawyer can provide a thoughtful and complete case review, explaining the relationships and laws governing the adopted party’s rights.

For more information about the inheritance rights of adopted children, contact our office today. 

The California Probate Code sets out the rules about the payment of debts of decedents in Sections 11420 – 11429. If your close relative died recently, you might be wondering what happens to unpaid bills and creditors in a probate matter. A California probate attorney could handle the administration of the estate so that you do not have to deal with things like paying the estate debts and many other probate administration issues.

Priorities of Debts and Creditors

Debts with the highest priority will get paid before other debts. All of the debts of one priority class will get paid before any debts of a lower priority group. If there is not enough money to pay all the debts in an entire category in full, each creditor in that class will get paid a proportional share, unless a statute directs otherwise. This is the order of priority for the payment of debts of the decedent:

1. Debts owed to the United States or the State of California get paid first.
2. The reasonable expenses to administer the estate get paid next, even before debts the deceased person incurred during his lifetime. If there were costs to administer specific property that secured debts, the reasonable administration costs for that asset will get paid before the indebtedness the asset secures.
3. If there is enough money remaining in the estate after paying categories 1 and 2, then the estate will sell the property secured by mortgages, deeds of trust, judgment liens, and other liens. Those obligations will get paid with the sales proceeds. If the proceeds are not enough to pay those debts in full, the unpaid portion will get classified as a general debt, #8, below.
4. Funeral expenses get paid next.
5. The medical bills and other reasonable expenses from the decedent’s last illness or injury are next in priority.
6. If there is money remaining at this point, the estate administrator can pay a family allowance, as per the California Probate Code.
7. Wage claims get paid after a family allowance.
8. General debts of the decedent have the last priority for payment.

When the personal representative has gathered enough money to reserve for the administration costs and all of the items other than the general debts, the administrator should promptly pay the funeral expenses, medical bills and other expenses of the final illness, family allowance, and wage claims. Other than those four categories, the personal representative does not have to pay any debts from the estate assets until the probate court issues an order for the representative to do so.

Four months or more after the court issues letters of administration to the personal representative, the court can enter an order directing the personal representative to pay debts of the decedent. If there is not enough money in the estate to pay all creditors in full, the court order will stipulate the amount that each creditor will get paid. The personal representative gets discharged from responsibility by the court after making the ordered payments.

Administering a probate estate is complicated. Our state laws contain many regulations a personal representative must follow. If you get named as a personal representative, you do not have to do the tasks yourself. You can hire a California probate attorney to handle the administration of the estate. Contact us today.

Whenever a person leaves a disproportionate share of his or her assets to a caregiver or friend, or only one or two of the person’s natural heirs, leaving out others, the disappointed would-be beneficiaries are likely to cry “undue influence.” This argument is often the basis of a will or trust contest. Sometimes close friends or family will attempt to get the court to set aside the transfer of an asset, like real estate, investments, or other property, while the victim is still alive, by claiming that the transaction was the product of undue influence.

It is a good idea to work with a California elder abuse attorney, whether you are going forward with a claim of undue influence against someone or defending yourself from accusations. Undue influence cases are complicated, sophisticated matters involving California statutes and evidence.

How California Statutes Define Undue Influence in Elder Law Cases

The courts evaluate multiple factors when deciding whether someone exerted inappropriate control over an aged person. The undue influence must cause the older adult to take an action or refrain from acting, and thereby achieve an inequitable result.

The court will look at some or all of the following elements to determine if someone is liable for overcoming the older adult’s free will by using excessive persuasion:

• Whether the victim was vulnerable. This factor assumes that the unduly influenced older person was the victim. The influencer must have known or should have known of the victim’s vulnerability, which can include things like impaired cognitive function, age, education, dependency on the influencer, isolation, illness or injury, and incapacity. 
• The apparent authority of the alleged influencer. The court will evaluate the relationship between the influencer and the older adult. Apparent authority can be a status of caregiver, financial fiduciary, healthcare worker, spiritual advisor, family member, close friend, or some other relationship.
• Tactics the influencer used, like intimidation, coercion, or affection. Some influencers withhold food, water, sleep, or medication until the victim does what the abuser wants. Isolating the victim from visitors and outside communication, or from information, are additional strategies that indicate undue influence. Courts also look at whether changes in property or personal rights happened suddenly, in secret, under unusual circumstances, or at the initiation of the influencer.
• An inequitable result. The final element the courts consider is whether the influence caused an unfair or inappropriate outcome. When a senior suddenly changes his or her will or living trust, such as by cutting out the previous beneficiaries in a significant departure from the victim’s prior intent, or the older adult suffers adverse economic consequences as a result of the action, the court can view these facts as evidence of possible undue influence.

You must show more than just an inequitable result to win an undue influence claim. The unfair outcome must be the consequence of inappropriate conduct by the influencer. 

Sometimes an older person changes the beneficiaries of a previous will or trust because of abandonment, neglect, or other mistreatment by those individuals – or even based simply on the older person’s change in feelings or beliefs about those prior beneficiaries.  These changes are not enough, by themselves, to set aside the disputed transactions. The disinherited ones must prove that the person who receives the older adult’s bounty did something wrong to achieve that result.Time is of the essence if your loved one was the victim of undue influence, causing them to change their estate plan or transfer their assets to benefit the undue influencer. You might be able to recover some of the assets if you do not wait too long. Talk with our California elder law attorneys today. Our California elder law attorneys can help you take action to protect your loved one and try to reclaim the ill-gotten gains.

It can be expensive and time-consuming to take an estate through the probate courts in California. There are many fees set by the Probate Code that will come out of the estate before the beneficiaries receive a penny. Sometimes, people have to sell the family home or farm to pay the probate costs. 

Many people could avoid the need for probate with some thoughtful estate planning. Loew Law Group’s California estate planning attorneys can help you set up a plan to help you and your heirs.

Our experienced probate attorneys are happy to help you and your family through the difficult probate administration process, if a court proceeding becomes necessary.  But we’re also here to help you plan ahead, and avoid this outcome for your own estate if possible.

Who Has to Go Through Probate

Your family will have to go through probate court to get your assets if your estate is worth more than $166,250 – unless you took steps to avoid probate, like setting up a living trust or arranging for the transfer of assets outside of probate. The court will charge around $400 for the filing fee to start the probate case. You will have to pay a variety of additional expenses, like obtaining certified copies of any court documents you need, and publishing notice of the probate in a local newspaper. 

If the estate has a value of less than $166,250, you usually do not have to go through formal probate proceedings. But for assets of greater value, a probate may be required. Two types of probate cases go through the probate courts in California – estates in which the decedent left a valid will, and intestate estates, where the deceased person did not have a valid will or trust.

Statutory Probate Fees

California sets statutory attorney and personal representative fees for cases that go through the probate courts. Both the probate attorney and the personal representative can put in a claim for fees.

If there are any disputes about who will receive which assets and what proportion of the items, the attorney fees can skyrocket well above the number shown above.  Work performed by attorneys to resolve such disputes is considered to be “extraordinary services,” for which an hourly fee is typically charged on top of the statutory probate fees. Your family will only get what is left after the payment of all of the fees and expenses.

Also, the “value” of the estate for purposes of calculating the fees is not the net value. Let’s say that the estate includes a $1,000,000 house. Although the property has a $750,000 mortgage, the court will base the fees for the personal representative and probate attorney on the $1,000,000 amount, not on the net value of $250,000.

Another Real Cost of Having to Go Through Probate in California

Another “cost” of having to go through probate in California is the hardship your family can experience when they have to wait a year or two before they receive the assets from your estate. Your spouse, children, and other loved ones might have to struggle to make ends meet while they are dealing with the grief of losing you.  

You can spare your family both the financial and time costs of probate in California if you set up an estate plan designed to avoid probate. Talk with our California estate planning attorneys today. Our California estate planning attorneys can help you create the documents you need to protect your loved ones and your estate.

San Mateo Probate Attorney – Essential Estate Planning Facts

Have you been searching Google for San Mateo CA Trust Lawyers or for a San Mateo CA Probate Attorney or Probate Litigation Lawyers and Attorneys in San Mateo CA Area?