Law Offices of Debra L. Koven

Law Offices of Debra L. Koven Based in Manhattan Beach, California, the Law Offices of Debra Koven proudly provides comprehensive

Did you know? A godparent has no automatic legal authority to care for your children. Naming someone as a godparent is a...
06/05/2026

Did you know? A godparent has no automatic legal authority to care for your children.

Naming someone as a godparent is a meaningful personal and sometimes religious designation. But it creates no guardianship rights. If something happened to both parents tonight, a godparent would have exactly the same legal authority to take custody as anyone else with no relationship to the child: none.

And here is something else most parents don't know: even a guardian named in a will must be formally appointed by a court before they can take legal custody. That process takes weeks, sometimes months. A complete plan closes that gap, naming both who will raise your children long-term and who has legal authority to care for them immediately while that process unfolds.

This week's article walks through exactly what a complete plan looks like.

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/post/who-would-raise-your-kids-if-you-couldn-t-what-you-don-t-know-about-the-first-72-hours

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

Most parents have thought about who would raise their children if something happened to them. Maybe during a long drive....
06/04/2026

Most parents have thought about who would raise their children if something happened to them. Maybe during a long drive. Maybe in a conversation with a partner that reached an agreement in your heads, but never made it onto paper.

Here is what most parents don't realize: that agreement doesn't exist in the eyes of the law. If something happened to you tonight, the decision about who raises your children wouldn't belong to you anymore. It would belong to a court.

And there is a second question almost no one plans for: what happens in the first 72 hours? Who has the legal authority to pick up your children from school if you were hospitalized tonight? Who can authorize emergency care? Even the people who love your children most have no automatic right to step in.

This Thursday’s blog is about both questions and what it takes to actually have an answer to each.

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/post/who-would-raise-your-kids-if-you-couldn-t-what-you-don-t-know-about-the-first-72-hours

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

There is a question I ask when parents tell me they've already thought about who would raise their children: What happen...
06/03/2026

There is a question I ask when parents tell me they've already thought about who would raise their children: What happens in the first 72 hours?

Most have never thought about it. They've planned for the long-term, the question of who would raise their children through childhood, and that is the right question to ask. But almost none have planned for the immediate question: who has legal authority to pick your children up from school tonight? Who can authorize emergency medical care before any court process has begun?

A complete plan addresses both. A plan that only names a long-term guardian leaves a gap. And gaps are where already hard situations get much harder. If you are a parent and you haven't addressed both pieces, that is the conversation I want to have with you.

And that conversation doesn't end at signing. I stay in a relationship with the families I work with, so that when something happens, your family has someone to call who already knows the plan and can help them activate it. That is the part no document, on its own, can do.

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

Most parents have had the conversation. Some have even shaken hands on it. But an agreement that lives in your heads and...
06/01/2026

Most parents have had the conversation. Some have even shaken hands on it. But an agreement that lives in your heads and nowhere in a legal document carries no weight in a courtroom.

If something happened to both of you tonight, the people you trust most (the grandparents who live 20 minutes away, the sibling who already loves your children like their own) have no automatic legal authority to take custody. A sitter has no legal authority. Neighbors have no legal authority.

This week's article covers the question we hear most often: Does talking about it count? Find out this Thursday!

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

Did you know? Most surviving spouses end up paying tax on a larger share of their Social Security benefit after their sp...
05/29/2026

Did you know? Most surviving spouses end up paying tax on a larger share of their Social Security benefit after their spouse dies, and not because their income went up.

When a spouse dies, the threshold that determines whether up to 85% of your Social Security becomes taxable drops by $10,000. That shift, on top of the standard deduction loss and tighter tax brackets, is part of what makes the widow penalty so costly for so many families.

And here is the part that surprises most people: the Social Security taxation thresholds have not been adjusted for inflation since 1983. Every other part of the tax code scales up over time. These do not. That means more surviving spouses cross into taxable territory every year, simply because they are now filing alone.

This week's article explains how it works and what you can do to plan around it now.

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/post/no-one-warned-her-about-the-widow-penalty-her-first-tax-return-did

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

Most people find out about the widow penalty from their tax return… when it’s too late.When a spouse dies, the tax code ...
05/28/2026

Most people find out about the widow penalty from their tax return… when it’s too late.

When a spouse dies, the tax code reclassifies the surviving partner as a single filer for the first full tax year after their spouse's death. Same house. Same savings. But a standard deduction that just dropped by more than $17,000, and tax brackets that push the same income into a higher rate, sooner.

This week's article breaks down what the widow's penalty is, and what couples can do now to reduce its impact before it becomes someone's first tax return as a widow.

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/post/no-one-warned-her-about-the-widow-penalty-her-first-tax-return-did

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

There is a question I raise with almost every couple I sit down with: What does the financial life of the person left be...
05/27/2026

There is a question I raise with almost every couple I sit down with: What does the financial life of the person left behind actually look like?

Most estate planning conversations stop at document transfer. A will, a trust, beneficiary designations. Who gets what and how it passes.

The widow penalty lives in the space most plans never reach. A surviving spouse can do everything right: will, trust, beneficiary forms all in order, and still face thousands of dollars more in taxes the first April they file alone. Higher brackets. Smaller deduction. Medicare surcharges that did not apply before.

The decisions that prevent it are made during the planning process, while both spouses are still here. That is when I raise it. That is the conversation this week's blog is about. Find out more tomorrow!

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

The widow penalty is not a vague concept. It has a specific dollar figure attached to it. In 2026, the standard deductio...
05/26/2026

The widow penalty is not a vague concept. It has a specific dollar figure attached to it.

In 2026, the standard deduction for a married couple over 65 is $35,500. For a single filer, it drops to $18,150. That one change alone creates more than $17,000 of additional taxable income, before anything else in the surviving spouse's financial picture has shifted.

This is one of the first things I walk couples through when we sit down together. Not because it is the most complicated part of estate planning. Because it is the part nobody else is raising, and by the time most surviving spouses discover it, the window to do anything meaningful has already closed.

This week's article answers the question. Read the full article on Thursday for what you can do about it now.

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

Today, we honor the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.Their sacrifice gave us the freed...
05/25/2026

Today, we honor the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.

Their sacrifice gave us the freedoms, opportunities, and moments with loved ones that we often take for granted.

This Memorial Day, may we pause to remember, reflect, and express gratitude for those who never made it home.

Did you know? Many major financial institutions, including Chase, Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab, have their own interna...
05/22/2026

Did you know? Many major financial institutions, including Chase, Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab, have their own internal Power of Attorney forms. A state-compliant, attorney-drafted document can be rejected simply because it is not their paperwork.

This is one of the things most families don't find out until they're already in a crisis.

A plan that works isn't just a stack of signed documents. It's knowing which institutions hold your accounts, which ones require their own internal forms, and whether key accounts are held in a trust so the bank's compliance process never becomes your family's emergency.

We don't just create documents and send you on your way. We begin with a Life & Legacy Planning Session so we understand what legal documents you actually need and what matters most to you, instead of selling you a one-size-fits-all solution. We help you make great decisions throughout your life, and we are there for your loved ones when you can't be.

This week's article covers what a complete plan looks like, and how to find out whether what you have will actually work when your family needs it.

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/post/the-document-that-fails-when-you-need-it-most

https://www.debrakovenlaw.com/
(310) 979-3131

Address

1230 Rosecrans Avenue , Suite 300
Manhattan Beach, CA
90266

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+13109793131

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