Your Estate Has Grown. Has Your Estate Plan Kept Up?
For many Bay Area families, decades of real-estate appreciation have quietly transformed an ordinary home into one of the family's most significant assets. Add retirement accounts, investments and life insurance, and the estate may be considerably larger and more complicated than expected.
Effective estate planning involves much more than signing a living trust. It requires thoughtful planning for property, family, incapacity, successor trustees, beneficiaries, inheritance, trust funding — and what happens when you are no longer able to make those decisions personally.
You May Have a Larger Estate Than You Think.
Estate planning is not limited to extremely wealthy families. For many Bay Area homeowners, decades of real-estate appreciation have substantially increased household wealth in ways that were not anticipated when the home was purchased.
When a home is combined with retirement accounts, investments, savings and life insurance, the value and complexity of an estate can be significantly greater than expected — and greater than many families realize until they sit down and look at the numbers.
An estate plan should be designed around your actual assets and family circumstances, not a generic template.
A Trust Is a Document. An Estate Plan Is a Strategy.
A revocable living trust can be an important component of an estate plan. But the trust document itself is not the entire plan. A comprehensive estate plan addresses the full picture of your assets, your family, and your intentions.
Life Insurance Can Create an Estate Overnight.
Estate planning is particularly important for parents and does not depend solely upon current net worth. Life insurance proceeds can create a substantial estate at death — often far larger than the family's existing assets.
A properly structured trust can establish how those assets are managed for children, who will manage them, and when distributions should be made, rather than leaving those questions unresolved or subject to court supervision.
Already Have a Trust? That Does Not Mean Your Planning Is Finished.
Estate plans should periodically be reviewed as circumstances change. Relevant changes may include:
- Significant increases in property values
- Acquisition or sale of real property
- Marriage or divorce
- Children or grandchildren
- Changes in intended beneficiaries
- Changes in successor trustees
- Changes in tax law
- Changes in financial circumstances
- Older trust structures created under different estate-tax circumstances
Amendment or restatement may sometimes be appropriate. Not every older trust requires modification — but every estate plan benefits from periodic review.
20+
Years of California real estate experience
Estate Planning Informed by Real-World Real Estate Experience.
Derek M. Wagley is a California attorney, certified mediator, and California real estate broker with more than 20 years of real-estate experience. The emphasis remains on Derek as an attorney — this is a law practice, not a real-estate brokerage.
California real property is frequently one of the largest and most consequential assets in an estate. Experience with real property, ownership, title, transfers, property values, and the practical realities surrounding California real estate provides an additional perspective when designing estate plans involving homes, investment properties, and family wealth.
Wagley Law does not simply prepare trust documents. The firm considers how your property, other assets, family circumstances, and planning objectives fit together.
A Thoughtful Process. A Plan Built Around You.
1
Consultation
Discuss your family, assets, concerns, existing planning, and objectives. The goal is to understand your situation before recommending a plan.
2
Design
Develop an estate plan tailored to your circumstances rather than producing standardized documents. Each plan reflects the client's actual assets and intentions.
3
Implementation
Prepare and execute the appropriate documents and address the practical steps necessary to put the estate plan into effect, including appropriate attention to trust funding.
Your Estate Plan Should Reflect the Life You've Actually Built.
Whether you are creating your first estate plan, have an older trust that needs review, or simply want to know whether your existing planning still accomplishes what you intend, start with a conversation.