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When someone dies

The paperwork does not wait for you to be ready, and some of it is on a clock.

“Well Rudy, first and foremost, I'm sorry to hear about your dad's passing.”

Shadi Ala’i Shaffer, answering a listener on Trust Talk Radio

If somebody has just died and you do not know what you are supposed to do first, start here, and start today. Some of these deadlines are short.

Call (714) 966-2646

Somebody has died. There are notices that must go out by law, accounts nobody can touch, a house in one person's name, and a court process that may or may not be avoidable depending on what was set up years ago.

If there is a trust, the work is administering it, which is a set of duties with real legal exposure for whoever agreed to be trustee. If there is not, the work is probate, which is slower and public.

You do not need to understand any of that before you call.

What lives here

  • California Probate
  • Trust Administration
What to do first(WHAT TO DO IN THE FIRST 48 HOURS, LEGAL CONTENT, SHADI TO WRITE OR APPROVE)

“My father moved to California from Philadelphia at age 99 and subsequently passed away at 101.5 yrs old. He unfortunately did not have a fully executed Trust, just a will... Both Shadi A. Shaffer and Taline Arthur have done an amazing job guiding my brother and I thru this process. I cannot imagine anybody doing a better job.”

Marc W., client

“At a time of tremendous stress and grief, Shadi guided me through the entire trust process with compassion and insight. Her ability to translate complex legal concepts into language that is comprehensible to the lay individual is nothing short of a gift!”

Lisa P., client

What lives here, in plain words

  • Trust Administration

    What the person named as trustee actually has to do after a death: the notices, the accounting, the taxes, and the distributions. It is a legal duty with real exposure, and most people are doing it for the first time while grieving.

  • California Probate

    The court process that handles an estate when there was no trust. It is public, it takes a long time, and the base cost is set by statute rather than by us.

On what probate costs, in her words

“I kind of make the analogy of Disneyland. You know, it's expensive to get in, and then once you're in, it's even more money. Probate's the same way.”

Shadi Ala’i Shaffer, on Probate Weekly

“Not a penny of that goes into our pocket.”

Shadi Ala’i Shaffer, on the court's statutory fee

“I know it's not easy to talk about.”

The most-watched video on the firm's channel is called “Notice is Required By Law to be given to the Legal Heirs of the Person that Passed Away.” It is on the channel, with the rest of the library.

“So these are really tough subjects. And I know it's not easy to talk about.”

Shadi Ala’i Shaffer

“Unfortunately, I'm having to tell the children what to expect and what the probate process is all about.”

Shadi Ala’i Shaffer, from one of her own videos
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