Legislation Alert

This California Constitutional Amendment has three components. Read more

In recent weeks, California Senate Bill 939 has garnered significant attention from the commercial real estate industry. This controversial legislative proposal written by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) is designed to provide relief to small business commercial tenants during the state of emergency issued by the Governor on March 4, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic threat. Read more

The most significant change in the SECURE Act that estate planners must address with clients is replacement of the ability to stretch out mandatory withdrawals of an inherited IRA over the life of the beneficiary with a ten-year mandatory withdrawal period for all but “eligible designated beneficiaries.” Eligible designated beneficiaries consist of a surviving spouse, a minor child of the IRA owner until the minor reaches majority, a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary, and an individual who is not more than ten years younger than the IRA owner. Read more

Short summary: Increases the value of a decedent’s estate that can pass without probate under the small estate provisions; provides for automatic increases in the amount that will transfer under the small estate provisions based on a consumer price index; and gives the court discretion to excuse a person who erroneously received property under these provisions from payment of interest to the rightful owner, if a person acted in good faith. Read more