Stockton, the county seat of San Joaquin County, is the 13th largest city in California in population and one of the largest in area in the Central Valley. Stockton has a population of 290,409, making it the 61st largest city in the U.S. Stockton is located in Northern California south of the state capital of Sacramento and north of Modesto. Stockton is along Interstate 5, State Route 99 and State Route 4 amidst the farmland of the California Central Valley. Stockton is connected westward with San Francisco Bay by the river’s 78-mile channel, and is, with Sacramento, one of the state’s two inland sea ports. In and around Stockton are thousands of miles of waterways and rivers that make up the California Delta. The city hosts the Asparagus Festival annually, and is the location of Haggin Museum, an art and history museum built in Victory Park in 1931. The museum displays works of art of the 19th and 20th centuries. Stockton is also a rail center and a processing and distribution point for farm products and wines from the Central Valley. Stockton has been the home of the University of the Pacific since 1924, after the university moved from San Jose. Pacific's longtime emphasis has been on music education, but now supports engineering, pharmacy, and business schools as well as the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco and the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. Pacific's ivy-league atmosphere complete with old brick buildings and wide shady lawns have made it a movie location for a number of feature films. From 1995 to about 2005, Stockton and the nearby smaller cities of Tracy and Manteca experienced a population boom, due in large part to thousands of people settling in the area in an effort to escape the San Francisco Bay Area's relatively high cost of living. This influx of new residents, however, resulted in a sharp increase in the cost of living of Stockton (although it remained significantly lower than any Bay Area city of comparable size). As a result of the population increase, Stockton found itself squarely at the center of the United States' speculative housing bubble in the 2000s. Real estate in Stockton more than tripled in value between 1998 and 2005, but when the bubble burst in 2007, the ensuing financial crisis made Stockton one of the hardest-hit cities in America. Stockton housing prices fell 39% in the 2008 fiscal year, and the city had the country's highest foreclosure rate (9.5%) as well. Because of the shrinking economy, Stockton also had an unemployment rate of 13.3% in 2008, one of the highest in the U.S. Stockton was rated by Forbes in 2009 as America's fifth most dangerous city because of its crime rate.

Estate Planning And Probate Law Lawyers In Stockton California

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What is estate planning and probate law?

Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging for the disposal of an estate. Estate planning typically attempts to eliminate uncertainties over the administration of a probate and maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. Estate planning attorneys advise clients on their options for disposition of real and personal property after death, and create any number of necessary documents pertaining to the estate and finances of the client -- including wills and trusts. Estate planning law attorneys also assist clients in setting out their end-of-life health care wishes through living wills and health care powers of attorney.

Answers to estate planning and probate law issues in California

The law dealing with estates governs the passing of the property of people who have passed away as well as people...

In the administration of any estate of a person who has passed away, there may be significant tax consequences. An...

When a person dies, someone must step in to wind up the deceased persons affairs. Bills must be paid, property must...

An executor is the person you name in your will to handle your property after death. The executor--called a personal...

A trust is an arrangement under which one person, called the trustee, holds legal title to property on behalf of...

The federal government imposes estate taxes only if your property is worth more than a certain amount at your death...

Every adult should have a will. A will makes sure that your property goes where you want it to go, and makes the...