Assets and Ownership in San Luis Obispo

Effective estate planning allows you to make decisions about what happens to your assets—including your real estate, vehicles, and family heirlooms—upon your death. You must complete several important steps to determine how to protect and distribute these assets. First, you must identify the owners and value of each asset in your estate.

This process is often more difficult than people expect. In some situations, it may be difficult to determine how title to a specific property is held, especially for real estate. At other times, you may face challenges appraising high-value and unique assets. Fortunately, experienced legal counsel is available. One of our dedicated estate planning attorneys from Toews Bio & Abram, Inc. can use their experience handling assets and ownership in San Luis Obispo to help you clearly outline your goals.

Identifying Ownership of Assets

The first step in creating a comprehensive estate plan is identifying every asset in someone’s possession. In addition to identifying where each asset is located, estate planners also must determine legal title to the asset. When an asset is owned by one person, they have “sole possession.” A person with sole possession of an asset can transfer that asset to their trust and direct that their estate plan distributes it as they see fit.

Joint ownership can, sometimes, complicate an estate plan. People often share ownership of property such as co-ownership of property with their spouse or business partner. Due to the “right of survivorship,” the specifics of this joint ownership could thwart the goals of an estate plan. Spouses who do not have a trust in place will typically acquire real property as “community property with rights of survivorship”. This vesting interest provides that when one joint owner passes away, the other joint owner inherits the full rights to a property. This makes it impossible to dictate what happens to the property in an estate plan while both owners are still living.

It may not always be clear whether high-value or complex assets such as real estate are owned by a single individual. In such situations, investigating the ownership history of the property to determine whether it is individually owned may be necessary. An attorney in San Luis Obispo can help with determining whether someone has adequate ownership rights of the assets they want to include in their estate plan.

Determining the Value of Assets

In addition to determining ownership of specific assets, estate planners must also establish the financial value of assets they intend to give to their named beneficiaries. Knowing the value of these assets is important for advising clients as to the potential tax effect of their estate plan and can assist with providing beneficiaries with clarity on what they are inheriting.

When establishing an estate plan which does not deal with the federal estate tax, obtaining formal appraisals is typically unnecessary. Typically, a prospective client can provide the current values of their bank accounts, estimated averages for stock and retirement accounts. For real property assets, real estate agents will often provide a free market comp analysis. While not exact, these analysis can provide a good estimate of the real estate value of specific properties. A San Luis Obispo attorney has the resources to help someone determine the value of assets that they own, allowing them to make a comprehensive estate plan that suits their goals.

Speak With a San Luis Obispo Attorney About Determining Asset Ownership

Drafting an estate plan that encompasses your needs and addresses your wishes can be a long and complicated process. One of the first steps is having a clear picture of the value and ownership rights of all the property that makes up your estate. To learn more about assets and ownership in San Luis Obispo, reach out to an attorney at Toews Bio & Abram, Inc.