In this episode of Trust Me! we will be discussing King Lear, the Shakespearean tragedy, and the fallout from an estate plan gone wrong. Our Guest Ralph Hughes is a founding shareholder of Hughes & Pizzuto, A P.C. where he practices in the areas of Estate Planning, Trust Law, Probate Litigation, Trust Litigation, Will Contests, Mediation in related fields. Ralph has been a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law for more than 25 years. He is a member of the American Co...
Jul 28, 2025•27 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Listen to two TEXCOM members in this podcast where Kim McGhee, a legal specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law by the California State Bar, certified Elder Law attorney and VA accredited attorney, discusses key incapacity issues with respect to estate planning, as hosted by Kimberly Strand. While people are living longer than ever before, incapacity later in life is also growing more prevalent, and elder abuse is on the rise. In this podcast, we review the documents necessary for ...
Jul 01, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 6
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In this episode of Trust Me!, our guest Bill Sias, who works for the Office of County Counsel in Los Angeles, will discuss the basics of LPS Proceedings. He will review how an LPS conservatorship begins and the general processes that follow. He will also discuss how an LPS conservatorship is different from other types of conservatorships. About Our Guest:William (“Bill”) Sias has extensive experience in conservatorships in Probate and Mental Health Court. Bi...
May 26, 2025•30 min
Show Notes: Licensed Professional Fiduciaries play a key role in the trusts and estates ecosystem in California. In this episode, we discuss the role that professional trustees play in trust administration, and the skills and experience they bring to bear in order to secure the legacies and wishes of the clients they serve. About Our Guest: Marguerite Lorenz is a California Licensed Professional Fiduciary and a Master Certified Independent Trustee. Marguerite is a managing partner at Lorenz Priv...
Apr 28, 2025•53 min•Season 5Ep. 4
New laws were enacted in 2024 that affect California trust and estate practitioners. Join our two speakers, attorneys Jadene M. W. Tamura and Mara M. Mahana, on this episode as they describe the highlights of the new laws and how they affect trusts and estates practice, estate and trust litigation, incapacity proceedings, and more. About Our Podcast Speakers: Jadene M. W. Tamura is a Shareholder and Co-Chair of the Trusts & Estates Department at Parker Milliken, practicing in the areas o...
Mar 31, 2025•39 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Complicated clients need complicated planning. And as years go by, those complications may have led to the creation of multiple trusts for the next generation. Children and grandchildren who benefit from those multiple trusts often come to their attorneys and ask, “What can we do to simplify?” The top-of-mind answer for many planners is to find a way to combine these trusts. In this episode of Trust Me!, our guests, Andrew Katzenstein and Cary Robbins of Proskauer Los Angeles, discuss what to co...
Feb 24, 2025•35 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Show Notes: Breslin and Smith and Farrant , oh my! The road to speedy probate trials has become more challenging over the last few years due to recent case law. Practitioners who intend to steer their trust and estate litigation matters to trial must be prepared for the roadblocks they will face along the way. In this episode, two trust-and-estate litigators identify such roadblocks, as well as effective strategies for getting through them or avoiding them altogether. About Our Guest: Golnaz Yaz...
Jan 27, 2025•38 min•Season 5Ep. 1
The aftermath of trust litigation brought by beneficiaries against trustees is too often a lawyer malpractice claim against the drafting lawyer. Listen to Sean McKissick and Kristin Yokomoto discuss the 1958 balancing test applied to lawyer malpractice cases and the messages from the courts in recent cases. About Our Guest: Sean McKissick Sean McKissick is a partner at Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, California, where he specializes in trust and estate litigation. He serves as the Vice Chair of ...
Dec 23, 2024•36 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Land Back is an Indigenous-led movement focused on returning land to Indigenous Tribes in a way that strengthens Indigenous sovereignty and communities. This episode features a discussion about how Land Back comes up in the context of estate planning and introduces key concepts for estate planners, financial advisors, and tax advisors to assist clients in taking such action. About Our Guests: Alma Soongi Beck is an attorney in Lathrop GPM Private Client Services Practice Groups. Beck is certifie...
Dec 02, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Estate planners not only help clients plan for what happens at death. Nowadays, especially with the high divorce rates, trust and estate lawyers also need to be mindful of how certain planning will play out in the event of a divorce. In this episode of Trust Me!, we discuss what estate planners should know about the basics of family law. About Our Guest: Vanessa Soto Nellis is a Shareholder and Chair of the Family Law Practice Group of Lewitt Hackman. She is also a Certified Specialist in Family...
Oct 29, 2024•32 min•Season 4Ep. 10
What enhanced remedies are parties entitled to recover under Probate Code section 859? Is it double damages, triple damages, or something else? There has been a district split, and now even a division split, on whether parties can receive “double damages” under Section 859. Recent case law sheds light on this issue, and the guests on this episode were counsel of record in two of those recent cases, enabling them to share key insights and an overview of where the law stands now on Section 859. Ab...
Oct 01, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Haggerty vs. Thornton is a case that made its way to the California Supreme Court with an eagerly anticipated decision. This case concerns an area of law that is of great interest to planners, administrators, and litigators: the method of amending trust and whether the method of revocation can be considered the same as the method of amendment. About Our Guests: Jennifer Campbell is a partner at Carlin and Peebles LLP in Southern California. She focuses her practice on estate planning and trust a...
Sep 05, 2024•37 min•Season 4Ep. 8
When does a trust beneficiary’s cooperation with a trustee to modify, reform, or decant a trust become a taxable gift by that trust beneficiary? In late 2023, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel answered that question in CCA202352018. In this episode, our guest Jenny Hill Bratt discusses the CCA and its impact on trust and estate practitioners and their clients. About Our Guest: Jenny Hill Bratt is a partner in the San Diego (Del Mar) office of Sheppard Mullin. Her practice is focused on US and inte...
Jul 30, 2024•36 min•Season 4Ep. 7
There are many things to consider when choosing a trustee or successor trustee for a trust. The trustee will face a number of challenges over the course of their service and will need to plan ahead to avoid the inevitable pitfalls. In this episode of Trust Me!, we discuss a proactive plan for a trustee to successfully administer a trust, and an overview of primary things to consider to mitigate the risk of adverse action against a trustee. About out Guests: Herbert A. Stroh, Esq. is a partner at...
Jun 24, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 6
When a client passes away, one of the most important items on our to-do list is to file certain tax returns. In this episode of Trust Me!, we will be discussing an overview of things to consider during the period of post-death administration, mainly focusing on filing the federal estate tax return (Form 706). About Our Guests: Lisa M. Piehl is the Program Manager for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Estate and Gift Tax Policy division. Lisa has been with the IRS Estate and Gift Tax division s...
May 28, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In this episode of Trust Me!, Bette Epstein discusses the magic of the trust and estate mediation process to informally resolve disputes, which includes party engagement, active listening, patience and problem solving. About Our Guest: Bette Epstein is a mediator, arbitrator and referee with ADR Services, Inc. Ms. Epstein has been mediating trust and estate disputes since 2000. Following a remarkable career as a trust and estate litigator, she turned her focus to alternative dispute resolution 2...
Apr 29, 2024•33 min•Season 4Ep. 4
California just passed a directed trust statute! In this episode of Trust Me!, Michael Rosen-Prinz and David Khanjyan will go over the basic structure of a directed trust, along with the specifics of California’s new directed trust statute. About Our Guests: Michael Rosen-Prinz is a partner at Loeb & Loeb LLP (Los Angeles office). Michael maintains a broad trusts and estate practice, including wealth transfer planning, planning for family governance and business succession, cryptocurrency an...
Mar 25, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In this episode of Trust Me!, Kristin Yokomoto discusses ethical considerations in the estate planning world. She covers issues relating to engagement letters, conflicts, communication, capacity and more. About Our Guest: Kristin Yokomoto is a partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP in Costa Mesa, California and focuses on tax and estate planning for high-net-worth individuals, trust administration and probate. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American Bar...
Feb 26, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Clients have grown to be more charitably inclined and want to incorporate charitable giving as part of their estate plan. In this episode, we discuss the basics of charitable planning, as we review the ABCs of those great acronyms: the CRUTs, CRATs, and CLATs. About Our Guest: Amy Takeuchi Wanlass is a Senior Wealth Advisor for Northern Trust based in their Pasadena office. Amy has over a decade of experience in delivering estate planning and tax advice, as well as financial planning services. A...
Jan 29, 2024•25 min•Season 4Ep. 1
What must be, and what should be included, by the trustee of a trust in an accounting? And, who is entitled to receive what kind of information? In this episode, our guest Denise Riley discusses the details of what is required in an accounting. About Our Guest: Denise Riley is the Senior Fiduciary Officer of the West Region in the San Francisco office of Northern Trust . In addition to being the fiduciary practice leader, she is responsible for the development and implementation of fiduciary str...
Dec 21, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 12
A revocable trust is an essential part of an estate plan in California. And when clients ask why they need a revocable trust, our answer is always: to avoid probate! We know that probate is time consuming and costly, but have you ever wondered how our system came to be? In this episode of Trust Me!, Anne Rudolph and Ralph Hughes discuss their recent article published in the Trusts & Estates Quarterly -- The Rise of Revocable Trusts in California. About Our Guests: Ralph E. Hughes is a foundi...
Nov 27, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Join estate-planning attorney Elizabeth Bawden and trust-and-estate litigator Matt Owens for a discussion about the Corporate Transparency Act. About Our Guest: Elizabeth Bawden is a partner in Withers Bergman’s Los Angeles office. Elizabeth focuses her efforts on estate planning, planned giving, and tax-exempt organizations. Elizabeth represents clients in matters related to family wealth transfers for large estates, sophisticated estate and gift tax saving techniques, charitable planned giving...
Oct 31, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Join Deputy District Attorney Scott Pirrello and Estate Planning Attorney Melissa Raneri Karlsten for a conversation about elder abuse, including internet and technology scams that everyone, no matter their age, is being bombarded with on a daily basis. Scott and Melissa discuss shipping notifications, product subscriptions, and why you should not click on links, or pick up the phone if you do not recognize the caller. In addition to finding out the scammers' old and new tricks, you will also le...
Oct 05, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Are irrevocable trusts truly irrevocable? One way to change the terms of an irrevocable trust is by decanting. In this episode, our guest Michael Rosen-Prinz will be discussing the particulars of California’s decanting statute. About Our Guest: Michael Rosen-Prinz is a partner at the Los Angeles office of Loeb & Loeb LLP. Michael maintains a broad trusts and estate practice, including wealth transfer planning, planning for family governance and business succession, cryptocurrency and QSBS pl...
Aug 28, 2023•36 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Most attorneys are able to identify clients who clearly have mental capacity to make decisions and those who clearly lack such capacity. But what about the clients in the middle part of the spectrum? In this episode, geropsychologist Bonnie Olsen provides practical guidance on dealing with clients who may have mental function deficits. She explains how capacity is situational, what attorneys can do to optimize client decision-making ability, and how to get beyond the label of a diagnosis. Dr. Ol...
Aug 07, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 7
The world is getting smaller and smaller. As estate planners, we need to be aware of cross-border issues when it comes to estate planning and taxation. In this episode, our guest Chris Nason will be discussing a basic and practical overview of international estate planning and tax planning issues. About Our Guest: Chris Nason is a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery based in their San Francisco office. Chris focuses his practice on private client matters. He is the managing editor of Internat...
Jun 26, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In January of 2009, the infamous and anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin Network. Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency, which is a digital asset that lives on a decentralized public ledger, also known as the blockchain. Over a decade later, crypto has solidified itself as a legitimate asset class and a major player in the financial space. There are now thousands of different crypto assets—like Ethereum, Litecoin, and even Dogecoin—many of which hold significant value. This has made pr...
May 29, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this episode, our guests, Marguerite Lorenz, Master Trustee, and Todd Stephenson, estate liquidator, will be discussing the difficulties that are encountered in dealing with personal property after someone has died. This episode is geared towards estate planners who are looking to create a well-rounded plan to avoid unnecessary family strife after a client’s passing, as well as to the general public to get ideas on how to keep children from fighting after their passing. We will share stories ...
Apr 24, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Trust and estate lawyers have a keen interest in state legislation. The California Lawyers Association gives them a voice in Sacramento. When conservatorships became a hot topic in the Legislature, the Trusts and Estates Section of CLA was there to provide real-world input from experienced practitioners. The Section regularly sponsors bills to advance the fairness and efficiency of California law. Get the inside scoop from Saul Bercovitch, who leads CLA’s advocacy efforts, and Mary deLeo, Chair ...
Mar 27, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Private letter rulings (PLRs) are one of many tools that tax and wealth planning professionals can employ to benefit their clients, but many professionals are unaware of the benefits of PLRs or don’t know how to obtain PLRs. Our guest, S. Eva Wolf, will provide us with guidance on the PLR process as it relates to common estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax issues. About Our Guest: S. Eva Wolf’s 15-year legal career has followed an atypical path; she has twice moved between private p...
Feb 27, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 2
