CORCORAN SMITH LAW CORP.
You Built a Legacy. We'll Protect It.
Professional, Personal, and Inheritance Security: A Holistic Legal Approach
At Corcoran Smith Law, we understand that true security balances inheritance rights, professional needs, personal legacy, and real estate goals. Our
Inheritance Disputes & Beneficiary Rights practice protects heirs and beneficiaries in contested estates, our
General Counsel & Business Law services safeguard business interests, our
Estate Planning services preserve family legacies, and our
Real Estate practice ensures property transactions and investments are secure. Together, these interconnected areas form a comprehensive legal strategy to protect your assets and enforce your rights, providing peace of mind for your business, family, and property ventures..
Core Practice Areas
- Inheritance Disputes & Beneficiary Rights: We represent heirs and beneficiaries in contested wills, trust disputes, probate litigation, and cases of fiduciary misconduct. Through our Initial Case Assessment process, we provide clarity and strategy before costly litigation, empowering clients to preserve their rightful inheritance.
- General Counsel & Business Law Services: With expertise in business law, contracts, negotiations, civil litigation, employment law, and equity plans, we guide and empower business leaders through every phase of growth and challenge, ensuring their long-term success.
- Estate Planning: Our estate planning services—including wills, trusts, and healthcare directives—are crafted to preserve your legacy and protect your loved ones. We believe in delivering customized solutions that ensure your wishes are honored with precision.
- Real Estate Transactions: We provide high-value legal support in real estate transactions, combining industry knowledge with meticulous attention to detail to secure your investments.
- Veterans Law Advocacy: Veterans Law is our passion project. Our team is dedicated to advocating for military veterans, offering knowledgeable support with disability compensation claims and related legal matters.
Schedule a free consultation today to unlock peace of mind for your business, family, and legacy.
Recent Posts
First Thing to Do and What You Can't Do Divorce is more than a personal and emotional shift; it is a legal and financial shift that will substantially impact your estate plan. Without proper action, your assets may end up in the wrong hands. Therefore, there are steps that you must take if you are in the process of a divorce or are already divorced. The first step is to review your prior estate plan after your divorce. If your divorce is still pending, you cannot change your current estate plan, except for a few exceptions. The rationale is that your spouse likely has an interest in the assets of your estate plan. Our legal system does not want spouses shielding their assets until the divorce is final. This is particularly true in California because California is a community property state, meaning thatall assets acquired during the marriage, other than outside bequests or inheritances, belong equally to the spouses. However, you can generally still revoke your Last Will and Testament, but you can only create a new one if you only devise your separate property and have half interest in the community property. You can create a new trust if you don't fund it until the divorce is final. Funding means to put assets inside the trust, usually by changing the title to the asset to the name of the trust. As you can see, there are many legal nuances here.
Purchasing a home or other property is among the most significant purchases a person can make. Real estate transactions are also complex and time-consuming. Therefore, it's critical you avoid the following real estate contract mistakes to ensure a smooth transaction: Failing to Disclose Known Defects Sellers are legally required to disclose any known material defects with the property. Disclosure is not optional. What I see as the most significant point of confusion is what is considered a material defect. So, what is a material defect? A material defect is an issue withthe property that could significantly impact the property's value or pose a danger to people. Even this definition may not be precise enough for some. Therefore, my advice would be to air on the side of disclosure. It's better than having the contract canceled or, worse, being sued later. Example: John is selling his home. John is aware that the basement of his house has a long history of flooding when it rains. John sells the home to Sally without disclosing the basement's history of flooding. Because the basement flooding is a material defect, Sally could recover damages from John for his failure to disclose.
How AI Works AI generates its responses through sorting through large quantities of data on the internet. This can include websites, novels, blogs, and sites like Facebook. This is a 1000-foot view of what AI does and is not meant to minimize the technology. However, understanding the basics is important to answer whether one should use AI to generate an estate plan. Why This matters? An estate plan is among the most personal legal endeavors a person will take. That’s because it is highly individualized and rarely are two estates the same. Clients have various intentions for how they want their estate to be distributed, often not based on what would seem logical, but instead on very personal beliefs. Clients also vary on how they want their estate handled if they are incapacitated for example, or how their pets are to be cared for, end-of-life decisions, and the list goes on and on. While an AI or software program can ask some of these questions, they will not read a client like an experienced attorney who will proactively investigate and inquire. For these reasons, AI often struggles with answering highly individualized questions. This is because AI thrives on generalizations since it gathers its data in the aggregate. This can be even more of a concern if the user is not savvy with AI. It’s often said in AI communities that an AI is only as good as the questions it's asked. AI Accuracy I’d bet most users vastly different testimony regarding AI accuracy. Some may point to different AI versions or programs having varying levels of accuracy. Based on my experience, the accuracy is often correlated with the subject matter. The more general question, the more precise. Legal nuisances, partly grey areas, are where I have noticed the most struggles with AI accuracy. Like most of you, I’d wager that AI will become more accurate with time. However, will it ever be accurate enough to bet your estate on? I say this because even if an AI is 99% accurate, it may be that 1% that makes the difference. Remember that AI owes you no legal duty whereas an attorney is accountable for their work.
