Law Office of Janet L. Brewer

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Law Office of Janet L. Brewer Protecting the wealth and legacy of affluent families in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area—domestic and international planning for 30+ years.

www.calprobate.com | 650 325-8276 The Law Office of Janet L. Brewer has delivered trusted estate planning services to affluent families in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area for more than 30 years. Based in Los Altos, the firm helps clients navigate legacy planning with clarity, whether their needs are local, international, or both. While the firm handles a wide range of estate planning matters, about a quarter of its work involves international planning for U.S. citizens, green card holders, visa holders, non-residents with U.S. assets, and non-residents with California beneficiaries. Janet and her team design tax-efficient plans that utilize tools such as trusts and wealth transfer strategies to protect what matters most across multiple jurisdictions. As a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, and Probate Law by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, Janet Brewer leads the firm with a commitment to clarity, confidence, and personalized service. Visit www.calprobate.com to access free planning guides in the Resource Room or to schedule a consultation.

An estate plan can be entirely correct yet still rest on an assumption that is no longer true.Ten questions worth puttin...
10/02/2026

An estate plan can be entirely correct yet still rest on an assumption that is no longer true.

Ten questions worth putting to a plan you already have. Two of them:

Was the entity interest actually assigned, or was it only intended to be? Entity transfers are among the most discussed and least completed steps in planning. The intention gets recorded. The assignment, the operating agreement amendment, or the consent that had to accompany it sometimes does not.

And: has anyone named in the plan — a beneficiary, a successor, or you — changed country of residence or citizenship since it was drafted? Residence, domicile, and citizenship each carry consequences, and they don't always move together. A change that felt personal at the time may have been structural.

Continue reading to see the full list >> https://bit.ly/3VvlCcQ.

Did you know? Most families have more than one estate plan in play. Almost none have been looked at together.Your parent...
10/01/2026

Did you know? Most families have more than one estate plan in play. Almost none have been looked at together.

Your parents made theirs in a different decade, with a different attorney, under a different set of rules. You made yours later, on your own terms. Both may be well built — the difficulty is at the seam.

One example: adult children are often named across both generations' plans. Successor trustee in one, agent in another, personal representative in a third. Each appointment was reasonable when it was made, and each was made without visibility into the others.

The question isn't whether the right person was chosen. It's what happens if two of those roles activate in the same season.

New on the blog. >> https://bit.ly/4dBVtPP

A well-made estate plan does two things. It directs, and it explains.The second is quieter, and it is where a lot of the...
09/28/2026

A well-made estate plan does two things. It directs, and it explains.

The second is quieter, and it is where a lot of the craft sits — a plan answering questions before anyone thinks to ask them, at a point when the person who designed it isn't there to answer them personally.

One example. California allows a will to refer to a separate writing directing the disposition of tangible personal property (Prob. Code § 6132). Useful instrument, and it has thresholds: $25,000 in total, nothing over $5,000 per item, with real property, monetary deposits, documents of title, and securities excluded. Those limits attach to the statutory writing referred to by a will — a trust is a separate instrument and can address the same property on its own terms.

Knowing which mechanism is doing the work in a given plan, and whether the items that matter most sit inside it, is worth confirming rather than assuming. Here’s what you need to know >> https://bit.ly/4r8oCI0.

Did you know? Most families have more than one estate plan in play. Almost none have been looked at together.Your parent...
09/25/2026

Did you know? Most families have more than one estate plan in play. Almost none have been looked at together.

Your parents made theirs in a different decade, with a different attorney, under a different set of rules. You made yours later, on your own terms. Both may be well built — the difficulty is at the seam.

One example: adult children are often named across both generations' plans. Successor trustee in one, agent in another, personal representative in a third. Each appointment was reasonable when it was made, and each was made without visibility into the others.

The question isn't whether the right person was chosen. It's what happens if two of those roles activate in the same season.

New on the blog. >> https://bit.ly/4rcIvOh

An estate plan can be entirely correct yet still rest on an assumption that is no longer true.Ten questions worth puttin...
09/23/2026

An estate plan can be entirely correct yet still rest on an assumption that is no longer true.

Ten questions worth putting to a plan you already have. Two of them:

Was the entity interest actually assigned, or was it only intended to be? Entity transfers are among the most discussed and least completed steps in planning. The intention gets recorded. The assignment, the operating agreement amendment, or the consent that had to accompany it sometimes does not.

And: has anyone named in the plan — a beneficiary, a successor, or you — changed country of residence or citizenship since it was drafted? Residence, domicile, and citizenship each carry consequences, and they don't always move together. A change that felt personal at the time may have been structural.

Continue reading to see the full list >> https://bit.ly/4yDkOkE.

A well-made estate plan does two things. It directs, and it explains.The second is quieter, and it is where a lot of the...
09/22/2026

A well-made estate plan does two things. It directs, and it explains.

The second is quieter, and it is where a lot of the craft sits — a plan answering questions before anyone thinks to ask them, at a point when the person who designed it isn't there to answer them personally.

One example. California allows a will to refer to a separate writing directing the disposition of tangible personal property (Prob. Code § 6132). Useful instrument, and it has thresholds: $25,000 in total, nothing over $5,000 per item, with real property, monetary deposits, documents of title, and securities excluded. Those limits attach to the statutory writing referred to by a will — a trust is a separate instrument and can address the same property on its own terms.

Knowing which mechanism is doing the work in a given plan, and whether the items that matter most sit inside it, is worth confirming rather than assuming. Here’s what you need to know >> https://bit.ly/4cG2Lll.

Being someone's parent gives you no legal authority over their affairs after they turn eighteen. Not with a doctor, not ...
09/17/2026

Being someone's parent gives you no legal authority over their affairs after they turn eighteen. Not with a doctor, not with a bank, not with a university.

If your adult child would want you able to act for them, that has to be documented while they're able to sign — a durable power of attorney and an advance health care directive naming you.
Where that capacity is already gone, California's route is conservatorship, and that means court.

It's a conversation most families put off, and one that's far easier to have early.

More on planning for an adult child whose circumstances have changed. https://bit.ly/469I9y5

Families often hesitate to leave an inheritance in trust because it feels like doubting their child.It usually reflects ...
09/08/2026

Families often hesitate to leave an inheritance in trust because it feels like doubting their child.

It usually reflects the opposite. A lump sum isn't only money arriving — it's investment decisions, tax filings, recordkeeping, and requests from people who hear about it. For someone in a demanding stretch of life, that's one more thing to administer.

The question was never whether they can be trusted with money. It's whether handing them a second job is the kindest thing available.

New article on designing support that fits the life someone is actually living. https://bit.ly/4qsCGMc

Sometimes the right person to manage a trust isn't in the family. That's a finding, not a failure.Families live in diffe...
09/03/2026

Sometimes the right person to manage a trust isn't in the family. That's a finding, not a failure.

Families live in different time zones. Beneficiaries and the person deciding on their requests are sometimes the same small group. And one sibling is often already carrying everything — adding a decades-long trusteeship to that load deserves a decision rather than momentum.

California licenses professional fiduciaries and regulates them through a state bureau, which means this option comes with a credential you can actually verify.

More on when to look outside the family, and how to do it well. https://bit.ly/4gfhtRe

You don't have to live abroad for your estate plan to run into another country's rules.An apartment overseas. A second p...
08/31/2026

You don't have to live abroad for your estate plan to run into another country's rules.

An apartment overseas. A second passport held through a parent. A few months each winter somewhere warmer. None of that makes anyone an expatriate — and all of it can put a California document in front of an institution that was never designed to read it.

The question isn't how you'd describe yourself. It's where your assets sit, which passports you hold, and where you're likely to be if something happens.

More on what an international footprint asks of your plan. https://bit.ly/3SbsoDz

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94022

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