Our Practice Areas
Estate Planning Services
Living Trusts
Living trusts are a method of protecting your assets from the probate process. Living trusts allow you to distribute your assets either while you are still living, or in the event of your death, for a family member or friend to carry out your wishes. A living trust is a revocable document. This means that you can update it, change it, add or subtract to/from it, or destroy it at any point during your lifetime (assuming you are still legally competent to do so).
Wills
Wills are similar to a living trust in that a will provides for the distribution of your assets. However, the major differences are that a will only makes distributions after your death and a will must still be probated through the courts. This can be costly and time consuming.
Conservatorships
A Conservatorship is the court process for appointing someone to manage financial and/or health care decisions for an adult loved one who can no longer make those decisions for him/her/their self. Most often a Conservatorship is necessary because a loved one is diagnosed with a medical condition such as Alzheimer’s or Dementia that impairs their ability to remember or process information properly. Although we strive to avoid the necessity of a Conservatorship through advanced Estate Planning, sometimes it becomes necessary and we are here to help guide our clients through this very difficult time.
Guardianships
A Guardianship is the court process for appointing someone to manage financial and/or health care decisions for a minor child. While Guardianships are often thought of in the case where a child no longer has parents who are capable of managing these things on the child’s behalf, Guardianships may also be necessary when money is left to a minor in someone’s Will or Trust…even if the child’s parent(s) are still present and capable. Although we strive to avoid the necessity of a Guardianship through advanced Estate Planning, sometimes it becomes necessary and we are here to help guide our clients through what can be a daunting and confusing court process.
Advance Health Care Directive
An advance health care directive allows you to name a representative who will work with your doctors to insure that your wishes regarding your medical care are carried out. This can include everything from preferences on what types of treatment be administered (or withheld) to end of life decisions.
Durable Power of Attorney
A durable power of attorney can be used to name representatives to carry out your wishes regarding your finances, businesses, and other aspects of your life in the event that you become incapacitated.
Special Needs Trust
A special needs trust is an irrevocable trust. This means that once the trust is created, it can not be destroyed. This type of trust may be used for a child, parent, loved one, friend, etc. Who is in need of special care.
Adult Adoptions
An adult adoption may be necessary in cases of step-parents or other individuals in a person’s life who for any number of reasons could not adopt the “child” as a minor. An adult adoption allows for a legal relationship between two adults who have a parent-child relationship. This may be significant for matters of inheritance, gifts, life insurance, retirement policies, or any other number of legal and personal events