ESTATE PLANNING & DISABILITY PLANNING

Our Wills and Trusts Estate Planning supports the following objectives:

- Estate Planning Documents for Life's Events

- Which Estate Planning Tools Best Fit Your Needs

- Protecting Your Surviving Spouse

- Protecting Your Heirs (children)

- Preserving Your Estate

- Avoiding Probate

- Providing for Special Needs (Disabled) Heirs

- Family Complications, Second Families and Ex-Spouses

- Avoiding Disputes and Litigation

We primarily serve typical middle class familiies.  That allows us to better manage our fees.  We provide estate planning services to families that own a home, have IRAs and 401Ks, may have a pension, have a life insurance policy, may own one or more rental properties; and may have some other investments (e.g., stocks, bonds, mutual funds) and there is not a business to be inherited or other complicated financial circumstances. These estates typically have a range of net wealth from $200,000 to $2,000,000.

We do not litigate wills and trust matters; we do not  modify existing wills and trusts or provide consultation regarding an existing will or trust.  Our trust services focus on getting you, the client, a completed trust; for your family' financial security and peace of mind. This well defined focus allows us to keep our fees competive and reasonably affordable.

We believe that our primary focus should be on creating a plan that matches the unique needs of our client.   It is our experience that each family, no matter how traditional or non-traditional, is truly unique. Our job is to help our clients to select the right people to fill the important decision-making roles and make the best choices that will protect themselves and their loved ones in a crisis and after they are gone.  



In addition to the basic trust document, we also include the following documents as part of our package pricing:

Transfer & Assignment of Assets: a document that declares that certain property is held and vested in the name of a trust. 

Nomination of Guardianship: Names those individuals who are to act as your minor children’s legal guardian.

“Pour-Over” Will: names your trust as beneficiary of any property it does not already hold.

Advance Health Care Directive: this is the best way to make sure that your health care wishes are known and considered if for any reason you are unable to speak for yourself.

Durable Power of Attorney for Finances: allows an individual to act in the place of someone else for financial needs only. The principal grants these powers to a trusted friend or relative called an agent. The agent can only act as the principal specifies and the agent has a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of the principal. 

Community Property Agreement: a binding contract between spouses which designates all of their assets (generally excluding IRAs, pensions, and other tax-deferred assets) as “community property” under California law. This serves two primary purposes:

• Along with other appropriate estate planning documents, it helps ensure that all of your marital property is transferred to your spouse at the time of death.
• It can substantially reduce the tax consequences for your estate and your beneficiaries.

Trust Certification: substantiates that certain property is indeed held in the trust’s ownership.

PRICE

For a typical middle class estate, we charge a flat fee of $1,350 for a trust; inclusive of the documents described above.  In addition, there is a charge of $175 for each property deed required for transfering real property to the trust (e.g., personal residence and rental properties). Deed filing fees required by the county  will also be charged to the client.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ABOVE SERVICES DO NOT INCLUDE A SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST FOR A DISABLED CHILD.  REFER TO OUR SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST WEBPAGE TAB ABOVE FOR MORE INFORMATION.





Call us at ( 949) 419-6196 or

(562) 699-2412 for further information.

We look forward to hearing from you.