Estate Planning

The Importance of Estate Planning

“Estate planning” is simply creating your personal plan for your property and person in the event of your disability and after your death. Your home state has an estate plan for you and it might not be what you want. The need for estate planning is not limited to the very wealthy. Everyone needs some degree of estate planning, even young, single people with modest net worth. We offer a no-fee, no-obligation, limited telephone consultation for California residents to determine if they qualify for a no-fee, no-obligation consultation. More extensive telephone consultations can be charged to your credit card.

Estate Planning Services

Estate planning and asset protection services include: ante-nuptial agreements; asset protection strategies and trusts; avoid estate taxes and probate; charitable foundations; charitable trusts; community/marital property agreements; conservatorship planning/avoidance; disability planning; durable powers of attorney for health care and for asset management; estate tax planning and return preparation; family limited partnerships and limited liability companies; health care planning; insurance trusts; inter vivos trusts; living trusts; long term health care; offshore entities; pre- and post-nuptial agreements; limited probate services; and wills.

Estate planning services can be provided either through our personalized, full service, office-based program which is particularly well-suited for larger estates or complex family circumstances, or through our soon to be released LegalQuickDocs™ virtual law office system. The LegalQuickDocs™ comprehensive Estate Planning document directory offers complete packages for singles and couples plus a broad range of individual and specialized documents that can often be available in as little as 24-48 business hours. This is particularly helpful in late planning before major travel or medical procedures.

The Estate Planning Information Center

Our VERY EXTENSIVE Estate Planning Information Center is one of the most voluminous and complete collections of estate planning legal information anywhere on the Internet. Select the various links below for a treasure trove of more than 150 Frequently Asked Questions, multiple slide shows including advance topics, over 150 definitions of estate planning words and phrases, a growing library of estate planning articles, plus an estate tax calculator and more!

• Frequently Asked Questions

• Library of Estate Planning Articles

• Several Online Slide Presentations

• Estate Tax Calculator

• Glossary of Terms

Free California Will and Health Care Directive

California law provides for a statutory Will form. We do not use or recommend this form because it will not meet most needs and most people make errors when completing it; however, if you have an emergency and need to do provide for the most basic circumstances right away, you can click on this link to download the California statutory Will form for free in Adobe Acrobat format. (You might need to right-click your mouse and use the “Save Link As” command to save this to your hard drive.)

The California Legislature also adopted a statutory form “Advance Health Care Directive” as a substitute for the prior Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. The new form is broader and provides more options. However, you should still have a custom form prepared by an attorney for your specific needs. We offer this form as a public service with the encouragement that all people should have at least the statutory form; however, there is no substitute for the skilled drafting of your personalized document after a consultation advising you of the options and issues not shown on the statutory form. Please click here to download the new form in Adobe Acrobat format*.(You might need to right-click your mouse and use the “Save Link As” command to save this to your hard drive.)