Under the American Taxpayer Relief Tax Act of 2012, executors or administrators of an estate can make an election to preserve the estate tax exemption of the first spouse to pass away in a married couple. This allows the couple to take advantage of the exemption amounts of both individuals.
What most people in California mean by “death taxes” are the federal estate taxes and state inheritance taxes. Click here to learn more and whether or not we have to pay death taxes in California.
The normal rule, under the California probate code, is that you inherit a house with the loan, unless the decedent left a will in which he or she specifically stated otherwise. Click here to learn more.
Ancillary Probate is a secondary probate which must be opened when a resident of another state dies and he owned property in California. Probate must be opened in the place where a person lived.
Yes. While foreclosure and probate are no strangers to one another, it is absolutely possible to save a house that’s part of a probate estate from foreclosure.
Maybe. In California, joint tenancy bank accounts are treated differently from joint tenancies in real estate.
Not all of a decedent’s assets will go through the California probate process. If the deceased had no titled or significant assets to his or her name, then the probate process may not even be necessary.
When a person dies and leaves an estate, its value needs to be ascertained. The decedent’s gross estate is the fair market value at the date of his or her death of all property that he or she owned. Click here to learn about the differences between a gross estate and a net estate.