Practice Areas
Estate planning and trust administration for individuals and families throughout California.
Your legacy deserves thoughtful planning.
We take a personalized approach to every estate plan, tailoring strategies that honor your family’s unique needs and goals.
Whether you are creating a plan for the first time or updating an existing one, we guide you through wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care directives, tax considerations, and advanced techniques. Our goal is not only to protect your assets but to preserve your wishes, your values, and your legacy for future generations.
- Revocable living trusts for individuals and married couples
- Pour-over wills, and nomination of guardians for minor children
- Durable powers of attorney for financial matters
- Advance health care directives and HIPAA authorizations
- Special needs trusts for beneficiaries receiving public benefits
- Planning for blended families and for children from prior relationships
- Trust funding: deeds for real estate and instructions for accounts and beneficiary designations
- Amendments and full restatements of existing trusts
Providing for a loved one with a disability.
A special needs trust lets you leave money to a child or relative with a disability while helping protect their eligibility for the government benefits they rely on.
Programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medi-Cal have strict limits on the assets a person can own, and an inheritance received outright can end those benefits. When the inheritance is held in a special needs trust instead, a trustee you choose can use it to pay for things the benefits do not cover. A properly drafted and administered special needs trust may help preserve eligibility for means-tested benefits. The details depend on the benefit program and the individual’s circumstances.
Discuss a Special Needs Trust- Third-party special needs trusts funded by parents, grandparents, or other family members
- Stand-alone trusts, or special needs provisions within your revocable living trust
- Choosing a trustee and successor trustees to manage the funds
- Guidance on permitted uses, such as medical and dental care not covered by benefits, education, therapies, equipment, transportation, and recreation
- Coordination with your overall estate plan, and with the plans of other family members who may leave assets to the same person
Guiding families through transition with care and expertise.
Losing a loved one is difficult, and managing their trust can feel overwhelming, both emotionally and financially.
We support successor trustees and families through every step of the trust administration process: offering legal guidance, ensuring compliance with fiduciary duties, and helping them move through this transition with care and clarity. With our help, trustees can meet their legal responsibilities with confidence.
- Interpreting the trust and explaining the trustee’s duties
- Required notices to beneficiaries and heirs, and lodging the will
- Communicating with banks, brokerages, and title companies
- Working with CPAs on income and estate tax matters
- Accounting, records, and distributions to beneficiaries
- Sub-trust allocation and ongoing administration where required
The Trust Administration Process
Every trust is different, but most California trust administrations follow the same general sequence. Several steps carry deadlines set by the Probate Code. The deadlines below are general rules with exceptions, so it is important to get advice promptly after a death.
1. Gather documents
Obtain certified death certificates, locate the original trust, any amendments, and the will, and identify the successor trustee and beneficiaries.
2. Lodge the will
The person who has custody of the original will generally must deliver it to the clerk of the superior court in the county where the decedent lived within 30 days after learning of the death, and mail a copy to the named executor (Probate Code section 8200).
3. Notify beneficiaries and heirs
When a trust becomes irrevocable, the trustee generally must serve a notice on beneficiaries and heirs within 60 days (section 16061.7). A recipient generally has 120 days from service of the notice to contest the trust. If a copy of the trust is requested and delivered during that time, the period can extend to 60 days after delivery (section 16061.8).
4. Identify and value assets
Obtain an employer identification number for the trust, collect account statements, and establish date-of-death values, which set the new tax basis for many assets.
5. Pay debts, expenses, and taxes
Pay final bills and administration expenses, and work with a CPA on the final personal income tax returns, trust income tax returns, and any estate tax return.
6. Account and distribute
Prepare an accounting for the beneficiaries, fund any continuing sub-trusts, and distribute assets, including transferring real estate by deed, according to the terms of the trust.
What to gather before we meet
- Certified copies of the death certificate
- The original trust, any amendments, and the original will
- Recent statements for bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts
- Deeds or property tax bills for any real estate
- The most recent income tax returns
- Names and contact information for the beneficiaries
How to get help
Call our office or schedule a consultation. You do not need to have every item on the list before you contact us. If you use the contact form, please send only a short, general message. Do not send documents or confidential details through the form; Julie will explain how to share them after you speak.
A straightforward administration often takes nine months to a year. Estates with real estate sales, tax filings, or disagreements among beneficiaries can take longer.
Business Entity Formation
For clients who own a business or are starting one, Julie helps set up the business entity and put the core documents in place.
Choosing the right structure can help keep business liabilities separate from your personal assets, and makes it easier to bring in partners or eventually pass the business on. Because a business is often one of a family’s most valuable assets, we also coordinate it with your estate plan, so that your ownership interest passes the way you intend.
Discuss Your BusinessHow we can help
- Forming limited liability companies (LLCs) and corporations in California
- Operating agreements for LLCs, and bylaws and organizational documents for corporations
- Filings with the California Secretary of State
- Holding your business interest in your revocable living trust
- Coordination with your CPA on the choice of entity
Answers to what families ask us most.
Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?
In California, a will alone generally does not avoid probate. A revocable living trust, once properly funded, generally allows the assets held in it to pass to your beneficiaries without court supervision, privately and usually much faster. Which approach is right for you depends on your assets, your family, and your goals, and that is exactly what we discuss in your first meeting.
What does it mean to “fund” a trust?
Funding means retitling assets (such as real estate and financial accounts) into the name of the trust and updating beneficiary designations so the trust controls them. An unfunded trust is one of the most common and most avoidable estate planning problems. As part of your plan, we prepare and record the deeds for your real estate, give you funding instructions for your other assets, and review your progress with you.
What documents are included in a typical estate plan?
Most plans include a revocable living trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney for financial matters, an advance health care directive, a HIPAA authorization, and the deeds and assignments needed to fund the trust. Families with minor children, blended families, or special needs beneficiaries often need additional provisions.
How often should I review my plan?
We recommend a review every few years, and sooner after a major life event: marriage, divorce, the birth of a child or grandchild, a death in the family, a move, a significant change in assets, or a change in the law.
I was named successor trustee. What do I have to do?
A successor trustee has legal duties: providing required notices to beneficiaries and heirs, lodging the original will, gathering and valuing assets, paying debts and taxes, keeping records, and distributing the trust according to its terms. We guide trustees through each step so they can meet those responsibilities with confidence.
Will I work with Julie directly?
Yes. When you call, our receptionist connects you to Julie whenever she is available, and Julie is the attorney who meets with you, designs your plan, and walks you through signing. You will not be screened or handed off to a paralegal.
Do you work with my CPA or financial advisor?
Yes. Good planning is a team effort. We regularly coordinate with our clients’ accountants, financial advisors, and insurance professionals so that the legal plan, the tax picture, and the investments all point in the same direction.
This information is general in nature and is not legal advice for your situation. Please contact us to discuss your specific circumstances.
Ready to put a plan in place?
A conversation is the first step. Schedule a consultation or call the office, and we will help you decide what makes sense for your family or business.
(949) 436-9090Consultation fees: online, $150 for 30 minutes or $300 for 1 hour; in person, $400 for 1 hour; trust review, $550 for 1 hour. You choose a time and pay when you book. If you then hire the firm, the consultation fee is credited toward your legal fees.