Estate Planning

Working with our office to prepare a comprehensive estate plan will be a wonderful gift for your loved ones and give you peace of mind. Some benefits of creating an estate plan include:
​

• Indicating what will happen to your assets (home, bank accounts, and valuables) in a will and trust.
• Maximizing your tax benefits. 
• Potentially sparing your loved ones from going through the burdensome probate process.
• Nominating a legal guardian for your minor children.
• Making your specific wishes known in the event you were to be incapacitated and nominating a person to carry out those wishes.
• Transferring your home or properties to a different family member or into a trust.
• Creating a Special Needs Trust to care for a loved one who is a disabled adult. 
• Changing or updating your existing Estate Plan.  

We warmly welcome clients with special considerations, including blended families and LGBTQ couples and individuals.  

Losing a beloved family member is hard enough, and for the person responsible for their leftover estate it can quickly become overwhelming.  An "estate" refers to all the money and property owned by a person at the time of death.

An estate with a combined value of over $150,000 will need to go through through a court-supervised process known as ​probate before assets can be distributed to heirs or beneficiaries. Examples of assets include:
​

• Real property, such as a home or land
• Cash, bank accounts, and investments
• Valuables such as furniture, art or jewelry
• ​Cars or other vehicles​

​​
​Some assets, such as life insurance policies or bank accounts designated "payable on death", are usually automatically distributed to beneficiaries (and are not considered part of a probate). ​ Assets that are part of a trust are typically also excluded from the probate process.

During the probate process, a  court-appointed personal representative will be responsible for distributing leftover assets to the proper heirs or beneficiaries, as well as settling any remaining debts. ​ Our office represents personal representatives during the probate process from start to finish. 

If you are responsible for your loved one's estate, the individual died without a trust or will, or you are simply unsure what your next steps are, contact our office to arrange a free consultation.  

A trust is an important estate planning tool that can allow a person to communicate their wishes, minimize their tax burden, and possibly spare their loved ones from going  through probate. When a person with a trust passes away, the designated trustee is responsible for carrying out the duties outlined in the trust. Our office is happy to represent trustees and successor trustees, to ensure these duties are properly carried out. 

A conservator is someone appointed by the court to care for a person, their finances (estate), or both. Conservatorships are most often used for elderly individuals who have lost the ability to care for themselves, or adults with certain disabilities. A conservator could be a family member or a professional fiduciary, depending on what is in the best interest of the individual (conservatee). Our office can offer information and guidance throughout the process of nominating and appointing a conservator.  

Our office is very experienced in navigating the challenging family dynamics that can result from the conservatorship process. We represent conservators, family members, or other interested parties who may feel a conservatee's best interests are not being taken into consideration.  This may include alleged financial exploitation of an elderly or disabled individual. 

Attorney Christina Nalchajian has also been appointed by the court to act as a Guardian ad litem (neutral party) in cases where an attorney is needed to investigate a matter and issue a report, so the court can then make an informed decision.