{"id":741,"date":"2014-03-20T09:24:29","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T16:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/?p=741"},"modified":"2015-08-18T00:36:39","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T07:36:39","slug":"wills-and-trusts-planning-for-what-if-part-4-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wills-and-trusts-planning-for-what-if-part-4-of-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Wills and Trusts, Planning for &#8220;What if&#8230;&#8221; (Part 4 of 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is a continuation of\u00a0<a title=\"Wills and Trusts, Planning for \u201cWhat if\u2026\u201d (Part 3 of 4)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wills-and-trusts-planning-for-what-if-part-3-of-4\/\">last week\u2019s informational post<\/a>\u00a0on Wills and Trusts, a Q&amp;A with\u00a0<strong>Steve Araiza<\/strong>, a lawyer in West L.A.<\/p>\n<p><em>Steve Araiza is a work-from-home dad that says his primary job is taking care of his one year old daughter, Isla.\u00a0 But when he\u2019s not wrangling a toddler he spends his spare time preparing estate plans.\u00a0 He graduated from UCLA Law in 2009 with a specialization in business law, specifically focusing on taxation.\u00a0 After graduating from law school, he worked with Southern California Edison until Isla came along and decided to build his own legal practice.\u00a0 You can find him online at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thinktrusts.com\/\">www.thinktrusts.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Disclosure: While Steve Araiza is a lawyer, he is not offering legal advice. Posts on legal matters are intended to provide legal information and do not create an attorney\/client relationship.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/476980785?et=IOJd_7io7U6rA7PX_RGLNA&amp;sig=UM6Qhs_9nNf52feJjngV2KwT0fnIvgI43cKYqPBmXlM=\" width=\"507\" height=\"407\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>Q. \u00a0If a person is designated in the will as a legal guardian of a minor and have changed their mind about doing so, what happens next? \u00a0Can they change their mind?<\/h4>\n<h4>A.<\/h4>\n<p>First, it is very important to have a discussion with the person being named as a personal guardian for your children, prior to the designation.\u00a0 This is also a one of the many reasons that estate plans, once created should not just sit in a safe somewhere until they are executed.\u00a0 Instead, you should look at your estate plan as a potentially evolving document, which <strong>should be reexamined on a regular basis<\/strong>.\u00a0 I would recommend reviewing a will and trust at least every five years, but more often if there is a significant change in your personal or financial situation.\u00a0 During such a review it would be appropriate to once again discuss guardianship with any designated legal guardian. That said, <strong>yes a guardian may always change their mind and decline to act as a personal guardian<\/strong>.\u00a0 For this reason it is wise to also appoint a couple of backup guardians in case the primary guardian is unable to accept the responsibility. If you already have a completed estate plan, and the person you have appointed as the personal guardian of your children informs you that they can no longer accept that responsibility, you should have your estate plan updated with a new guardian immediately.<\/p>\n<h4>Q. \u00a0Is it important to bequeath something that you might find is insignificant but others may find of value? \u00a0(i.e. an expensive bottle of wine)<\/h4>\n<h4>A.<\/h4>\n<p>That comes down to personal preference.\u00a0 I am a fan of being open with family members now \u2013 in the hopes of resolving any possible disputes before they happen.\u00a0 How your estate is divided is ultimately your choice alone.\u00a0 But it can be helpful to have conversations with family members so that they can make their wishes known, and so that your final decisions don\u2019t come as a surprise to them when your estate plan is eventually executed. So, if you feel that certain items may cause turbulence after your death, because several of your inheritors may want keepsakes \u2014 <strong>I would encourage you to have that discussion with those family members now<\/strong>.\u00a0 Mention that you\u2019re putting together an estate plan and that you want to make sure that everyone gets a few keepsakes they feel are important and then talk about what those items might be. \u00a0 And then based on that discussion I would bequeath specific items to specific people.\u00a0 This will hopefully diffuse, in advance, some of the tension that can occur after the death of a loved one.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Special Thanks to Steve Araiza for contributing to these posts. \u00a0Please visit him online at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thinktrusts.com\/home.html\">thinktrusts.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>This is the finale of this four-part series. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/category\/planning\/\">Click here<\/a> to read all posts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a continuation of\u00a0last week\u2019s informational post\u00a0on Wills and Trusts, a Q&amp;A with\u00a0Steve Araiza, a lawyer in West L.A. Steve Araiza is a work-from-home dad that says his primary job is taking care of his one year old daughter, Isla.\u00a0 But when he\u2019s not wrangling a toddler he spends his spare time preparing estate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[906],"tags":[149,150,148,104,103],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-announcements","tag-guardian","tag-planning-2","tag-steve-araiza","tag-trust","tag-will","eq-blocks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p46LgQ-bX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":633,"url":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wills-and-trusts-planning-for-what-if-part-3-of-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":741,"position":0},"title":"Wills and Trusts, Planning for &#8220;What if&#8230;&#8221; (Part 3 of 4)","author":"westsidemommy","date":"March 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a continuation of\u00a0last week\u2019s informational post on Wills and Trusts, a Q&A with\u00a0Steve Araiza, a lawyer in West L.A. Steve Araiza is a work-from-home dad that says his primary job is taking care of his one year old daughter, Isla.\u00a0 But when he\u2019s not wrangling a toddler he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/category\/news-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":524,"url":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wills-trusts-planning-for-what-if-part-2-of-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":741,"position":1},"title":"Wills &#038; Trusts: Planning for \u201cWhat if\u2026\u201d (Part 2 of 4)","author":"westsidemommy","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a continuation of last week\u2019s informational post on Wills and Trusts, a Q&A with Steve Araiza, a lawyer in West L.A. Steve Araiza is a work-from-home dad that says his primary job is taking care of his one year old daughter, Isla.\u00a0 But when he\u2019s not wrangling a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/category\/news-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":469,"url":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wills-trusts-planning-for-what-if-part-1-of-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":741,"position":2},"title":"Wills &#038; Trusts:  Planning for &#8220;What if&#8230;&#8221; (Part 1 of 4)","author":"westsidemommy","date":"February 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Before I had a child, I was pretty adventurous.\u00a0 I learned how to scuba dive, went tandem skydiving for a birthday, and even rode and owned a motorcycle because it was on my list of things to do before I die.\u00a0 Now, I have to dismiss that list because I\u2019m\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/category\/news-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/featuredgraphic_willsandtrusts_lg.png?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/featuredgraphic_willsandtrusts_lg.png?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/featuredgraphic_willsandtrusts_lg.png?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/featuredgraphic_willsandtrusts_lg.png?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7162,"url":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/dream-big-film-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":741,"position":3},"title":"DREAM BIG Film Review","author":"westsidemommy","date":"February 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The post below is\u00a0by Westside Mommy guest contributor Jake (age 12). He attended\u00a0a special media screening of the IMAX film DREAM BIG, which opens to the public Friday, February 17th, 2016 at The California Science Center (and select theaters nationwide). Jake wants to be an engineer when he gets older,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/category\/news-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/feat_dreambig.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/feat_dreambig.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/feat_dreambig.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/feat_dreambig.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7944,"url":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/tween-girls-wonder-woman-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":741,"position":4},"title":"Tween Girls&#8217; Wonder Woman Review","author":"westsidemommy","date":"June 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Shelby Recently, I saw a media preview\u00a0of the best movie I have ever seen in my whole entire life -- Wonder Woman. I went with my friend, Kaelyn.\u00a0Wonder Woman is a Warner Brothers\u00a0movie based on DC Comics character about a young girl who grows up to be a powerful woman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/category\/news-announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/feat_wonderwoman.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/feat_wonderwoman.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/feat_wonderwoman.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/feat_wonderwoman.jpg?fit=759%2C360&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15123,"url":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/mom-tshirt-design-and-giveaway-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":741,"position":5},"title":"Mom T-Shirt Release and Giveaway!","author":"westsidemommy","date":"April 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Mom-themed T-shirts GIVEAWAY and shopping links","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/category\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/feat_raising.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/feat_raising.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/feat_raising.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/feat_raising.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/feat_raising.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/featured_graphic_small_part4.png?fit=340%2C160&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1100,"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions\/1100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}