San Jose, California, Trust Attorneys

A properly designed and funded trust can help avoid California probate for assets held in the trust, provide for management of those assets during incapacity, provide for loved ones, address long-term-care and public-benefit concerns where appropriate, and carry out your wishes for the disposition of your assets after death. Our role is to help you understand the available options, evaluate the legal, tax, family, and practical tradeoffs, and make informed decisions about the trust plan that best fits your circumstances and goals.

Our trust lawyers at the Law Offices of Berge & Berge can help you put the right trust into place. Based in San Jose, we focus solely on estate planning and elder law in the South Bay area. Our lead attorney, James Berge, is a board-certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law (through the California Board of Legal Specialization) with more than 25 years of experience. You can benefit from our team’s financial and legal insight.

Who We Help And What We Solve

Every estate plan should reflect your unique priorities. We build tailored trust strategies for:

• Retirees and seniors: Plan for potential incapacity, help avoid California probate for assets properly funded into the trust, and provide for the private administration and disposition of assets for your beneficiaries.
• Married couples: Coordinate estate, tax, long-term-care, and beneficiary-protection strategies appropriate to each spouse’s circumstances.
• Seniors and long-term care seekers: Plan for long-term care and Medi-Cal eligibility while addressing asset preservation and potential estate-recovery exposure under applicable law.
• Families with special-needs beneficiaries: Plan for a loved one with a disability through an appropriate first-party, third-party, or other special needs trust designed to provide supplemental financial support while seeking to preserve eligibility for applicable public benefits.
• High-net-worth families and real estate investors: Address estate and gift tax exposure, Proposition 19 property-tax considerations, and strategies for preserving and transferring wealth across generations.
• Business owners and property owners: Consider trust and ownership strategies that may help protect family wealth and manage exposure to creditor, liability, and divorce-related claims.

If you fall into one of the above categories and would like to explore your options, contact us online.

Why Clients Choose Berge & Berge

Choosing an estate planning attorney is one of the most important decisions you will make for your family’s financial future. You deserve guidance that goes beyond standard template documents to protect your family, your assets, and your wishes.

• Dual attorney and CPA perspective: Managing Partner James Berge is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law through the California Board of Legal Specialization and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). This combined legal and tax background allows him to evaluate estate-planning issues from both perspectives.

• Over 25 years of experience: We bring more than two decades of hands-on legal and financial insight to every estate plan we craft.

• Exclusive practice focus: We do not handle general civil matters or court litigation. Our firm is dedicated exclusively to personal estate planning, elder law, probate, and trust administration.

• Medi-Cal and special needs expertise: Deep experience navigating complex California Medi-Cal eligibility rules and structuring First-Party and Third-Party Special Needs Trusts to protect vulnerable family members without risking public benefits.

• Serving San Jose and the South Bay: Based locally in San Jose, we help families throughout the South Bay area navigate California’s unique legal and property landscape.

• Advisory, not product-driven: Our approach is centered on informed decision-making. We use legal and tax judgment, experience, and careful analysis to help clients understand their options, evaluate tradeoffs, and make informed planning decisions based on their circumstances and goals.

Trust Structures We Commonly Create For Our Clients

Depending on your circumstances, trust planning may be used to address family asset preservation, Medi-Cal and other public-benefit eligibility, potential estate and gift tax exposure, and planning for loved ones with disabilities.

Trusts For Probate Avoidance And Family Protection

If one of your goals is to make things easier for your loved ones after your death, the right trust can help your estate avoid probate while providing clear instructions for managing and distributing your assets. Depending on your family and financial situation, different trust structures offer different advantages.

• Revocable living trusts: Designed to avoid probate while leaving you in complete control of your assets. You maintain full flexibility to amend your plan over time, while ensuring a trusted individual can step in to manage your affairs seamlessly upon incapacity.
• Survivor’s trusts: Created for married couples to protect the surviving spouse after a partner’s passing. This structure maintains financial stability and keeps your long-term estate plan intact without court intervention.
• Separate share trusts: Tailored for beneficiaries with distinct financial needs or family situations. By managing each inheritance independently, you ensure assets are distributed according to each recipient’s specific circumstances.

Whether you are planning for your spouse, children or other beneficiaries, choosing the right trust structure can help coordinate your family, incapacity, and distribution goals and may simplify future administration.

Trusts For Medi-Cal And Asset Protection Planning

The cost of long-term care can affect both your financial security and your family’s future. Depending on your circumstances and applicable law, trust planning may be considered as part of a broader strategy addressing long-term-care costs, Medi-Cal eligibility, asset preservation, and potential estate recovery.

• Medi-Cal asset protection trusts: Depending on your circumstances, certain irrevocable trust strategies may be considered as part of advance long-term-care and Medi-Cal planning. Eligibility and asset-protection consequences depend on the trust structure, timing, applicable Medi-Cal rules, and the individual circumstances of the person seeking benefits.
• Irrevocable asset protection trusts: Depending on your circumstances, an irrevocable asset protection trust may be considered as part of a broader asset-protection and estate-planning strategy. These trusts generally impose greater restrictions on amendment, revocation, and control of trust assets than a revocable living trust, but the degree of flexibility depends on the trust’s terms and applicable law. When properly structured and used in appropriate circumstances, they may support long-term asset-protection and estate-planning objectives.

Planning before a crisis arises often gives you more options to protect both your assets and your long-term care goals.

Trusts For Loved Ones With Disabilities

If you want to provide for a loved one with a disability, careful planning can help coordinate financial support with eligibility for applicable public benefits. The appropriate trust structure depends on the source of the assets, the beneficiary’s circumstances, and the particular benefits involved.

• Third-party special needs trusts: Funded with family assets rather than the beneficiary’s own money. This trust provides supplemental financial care for a loved one without impacting their public benefit eligibility.
• First-party special needs trusts: Used when a beneficiary with a disability receives a direct inheritance or legal settlement. It holds these personal funds securely while maintaining eligibility for vital public programs.
• Pooled trusts: Managed by non-profit organizations for individuals who do not require a standalone trust. This structure pools resources for professional investment while preserving benefit access.

Thoughtful planning today can help ensure your loved one continues receiving the care and financial support they need in the years ahead.

Trusts For Estate Tax Reduction

If you have accumulated significant assets, estate and gift tax planning may help reduce potential transfer-tax exposure and improve the tax efficiency of wealth transfers to your beneficiaries. The appropriate strategy depends on your assets, family circumstances, tax objectives, and applicable law.

• Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs): When properly structured and administered, an ILIT may help keep life insurance proceeds outside the insured’s taxable estate while providing liquidity or other benefits for beneficiaries.
• Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs): A SLAT may be used to transfer assets outside a donor spouse’s taxable estate while permitting the other spouse to remain a trust beneficiary, subject to the trust terms and applicable tax law.
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs): A GRAT may be used to transfer future appreciation to beneficiaries while managing the gift-tax consequences of the transfer, particularly for assets expected to appreciate.
• Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs): Depending on how the transaction is structured, an IDGT may be used to transfer assets and future appreciation outside the grantor’s taxable estate while causing the grantor to remain responsible for income taxes attributable to trust income.
• Dynasty trusts: Built to support multiple generations, including children, grandchildren, and beyond. This long-term vehicle may help manage transfer-tax exposure across generations while protecting family assets.

The most effective estate tax strategy depends on your assets, your family and the legacy you want to leave behind.

Trusts For Charitable Giving

If supporting a charitable organization is part of the legacy you want to create, certain trusts allow you to balance your philanthropic goals with your family’s financial future. These strategies can also provide tax benefits in some situations.

• Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs): A CRT can provide an income stream to one or more noncharitable beneficiaries for a specified period, with the remaining trust assets ultimately passing to charity. Depending on how the trust is structured and funded, charitable and other tax benefits may be available.
• Charitable Lead Trusts (CLTs): A CLT provides payments to one or more charitable beneficiaries for a specified period, after which the remaining trust assets generally pass to designated noncharitable beneficiaries. Depending on the structure and circumstances, a CLT may provide gift, estate, or other tax-planning benefits.

Whether your priority is supporting a favorite cause, reducing taxes or creating a lasting legacy, charitable trusts can be tailored to fit your estate planning objectives.

Our attorneys routinely combine multiple planning strategies into a single trust arrangement customized to each client’s goals.

Revocable Vs. Irrevocable Trusts: Which Suits You Best?

Revocable and irrevocable trusts are commonly confused terms. Both offer certain advantages during your life and after your death. However, they differ in several important ways:

• A revocable trust, also known as a living trust, generally allows the settlor to retain the right to amend or revoke the trust during life, subject to the terms of the trust and applicable law. The settlor commonly serves as both trustee and beneficiary, allowing continued control and flexibility as circumstances change. A properly funded revocable living trust can help avoid probate and provide for management of trust assets during incapacity. Because the settlor generally retains substantial control over the trust assets, however, a revocable trust ordinarily provides limited estate-tax, Medi-Cal, and asset-protection benefits by itself.
• An irrevocable trust generally places greater restrictions on the settlor’s ability to amend or revoke the trust or control trust assets. The degree of flexibility and retained control depends on the terms of the particular trust and applicable law. Depending on the trust structure, beneficiaries, timing, and applicable law, certain irrevocable trusts may provide tax or asset-protection benefits that are not available through a revocable living trust.

Our lawyers can help you craft the right trust to align with your goals. We handle a variety of trusts, including charitable trusts and trusts for loved ones with special needs. We can assist with trust formation, amendments to an existing trust and trust administration.

Frequently Asked Questions: Trusts

Planning for the future means understanding the tools that protect your assets and loved ones. Two common tools, trusts and wills, serve different purposes. Let us answer some common questions about trusts and how they function. These answers can be expanded on in a consultation with an experienced attorney who handles trusts — contact us to schedule yours.

What is a trust and how does it differ from a will?

A trust is a legal arrangement under which assets are held and managed by a trustee according to the terms established for the benefit of designated beneficiaries. Unlike a will, which generally becomes operative at death, a living trust can provide for the management of trust assets during the settlor’s lifetime, including during incapacity, and after death. A will generally governs assets subject to probate, while assets properly funded into a living trust ordinarily can be administered without a formal probate proceeding.

What steps are involved in setting up a trust?

Trust planning begins with understanding your family, assets, concerns and objectives. An estate-planning attorney can then help you identify appropriate planning options, evaluate their legal, tax and practical consequences, and make informed decisions about the design of your trust. Once the planning decisions have been made, the trust documents can be prepared, reviewed and signed. The final step is implementation, including properly funding the trust and coordinating asset ownership and beneficiary designations with the overall estate plan.

How can trusts help in avoiding probate?

Assets properly transferred to and held in a living trust generally can be administered after death without a formal probate proceeding. Instead, the successor trustee administers the trust assets according to the trust terms, which can provide greater privacy and often a more efficient administration than probate.

What tax benefits can trusts provide?

Certain types of trusts, like irrevocable trusts, can remove assets from the grantor’s estate, potentially reducing estate taxes. Some trusts can also help manage capital gains or provide income tax benefits, depending on how they are structured.

What are the limitations of revocable trusts in tax planning?

Revocable trusts offer flexibility, but they do not provide significant tax advantages because the assets remain part of the grantor’s taxable estate. Additionally, they do not shield income from taxes or reduce estate taxes, making them less effective for advanced tax planning.

No matter where you are in the planning process, our team will help you build a strategy that supports your goals and gives you greater peace of mind.