Estate planning services include revocable living trusts, last wills and testaments, conservatorships, probate, and trust administration.
We have specialized in estate planning, trust administration, probates and inheritance issues for over 20 years.
What are estates and trusts?
An estate is what we call the collection of assets and property that someone leaves after dying. Estate planning involves creating legal documents (like wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance healthcare directives, deeds, and more) that help an individual or a couple plan for their death, arrange for their wishes to be carried out, and their assets distributed how they see fit. The most common (and well-known) estate planning instrument is the last will and testament. However, a will does not offer protection from probate (the default, court-led process for determining succession), and is generally limited in its scope. Trusts are legal instruments similar to wills that offer more flexibility and protect assets from probate.
A wholistic estate plan considers assets, debts, financial and healthcare decisions, young and disabled beneficiaries, the potential costs and risks of probate, and more, in order to avoid excessive costs and legal battles for heirs.