Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: father changed his side of A trust

this question cannot be answered without reviewing the trust and will and obtaining more details. for example, in the case of real property if it is held by the trust, the trust must be amended (not a new will prepared). the validity of documents will also depend upon your father's competence at the time of execution.

Re: father changed his side of A trust

I am sorry for the recent misfortunes; it must be very trying to have those things happen to both your parents.

While your father is still mentally competent [some signs of dementia do not necessarily make him unable to make financial decisions, but you want to be sure that when he signs any significant documents there are independents witnesses present who can state in writing that he seemed to know what he was doing and his mental problems were as to unrelated matters], get him to make the changes an attorney feels is necessary to make the changes and to avoid probate if you can. One quick thing you could do that goes against the normal advice of never giving a child an interest in your home while you are still alive is for him to transfer a portion of his property [if it will exceed the amount excluded from the estate tax] to you so that when it is appraised at the time of his death you can honestly say that his portion is worth less than his percentage of that total value because a partial interest in any real estate is worth less because it is difficult to sell partial interests.

You definitely need to see an attorney, especially one who handles elder law matters [listen Sunday afternoon and noontime Monday through Friday on KGO 810 am to attorney Len Tillmen who does elderly law and answers questions on the air and in e-mails]. The few thousand dollars will be worth the reductions in headaches you will have after your father dies. Try to get the attorney to make the changes if possible so that your siblings have a smaller basis to blame you, which they still will do. It is always very sad when a parent can only rely on one of his three children; my parents had the same problem.