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Our Services Whether you need to plan your estate for the very first time, update your entire existing plan, have one "little" change you need to make, or need advice regarding the administration of a loved one's estate, we are happy to help. Please call our office to schedule a complementary initial consultation. We believe that a good relationship between attorney and client is critical, and afford every client an opportunity to meet us before engaging our services. ESTATE PLANNING Consider estate planning to be insurance for your family and loved ones. It is, quite simply, planning for the future. It doesn't matter if you have earned assets, inherited assets, or hope to do one or both, you should be certain that your assets pass to your loved ones according to your wishes, with minimal transfer taxes, estate taxes, probate fees, and other costs. We can help you attain your estate planning goals. Our firm believes in personalized service for each and every client. For individuals with larger estates, proper estate planning will minimize or reduce estate tax liability, and preserve your wealth. Depending on how much you own when you die, your estate may have to pay estate taxes before your assets can be distributed (federal estate taxes are 46% in 2007). We can provide you with a number of strategies to reduce or even eliminate estate taxes - if you plan ahead. Other estate planning issues may be more important to you than taxes, particularly if you have minor children. For instance, who will take care of your minor children if you die or become incapacitated? How do you choose the best guardian? At what ages should your children receive your assets? If you are incapacitated, who will make medical and financial decisions for you? Do you want to be kept alive on life support if you are in a permanent vegetative state? If you don't make these decisions now, a court will make them for you when the time comes. A comprehensive estate plan almost always includes:
PROBATE & TRUST ADMINISTRATION We also handle all aspects of administration after the death of a loved one. We assist with the administration and distribution of revocable and irrevocable trusts. We work closely with the family's accountant to ensure that all federal and state estate tax returns are properly prepared, and assist in the division of trust assets among the subtrusts commonly used in zero tax marital deduction situations. We consult with fiduciaries on their accounting and investment duties. We also handle the probate of estates when necessary. (See: What happens if I die without a will?) BUSINESS FORMATION & SUCCESSION PLANNING In addition to Estate Planning, we can assist with business formation and succession planning. We can implement a variety of asset protection strategies designed to protect those with high incomes or high-risk investments, like owners of rental properties, from creditors. Strategies include setting up business entities such as a limited liability companies or family limited partnerships, which can also save your family in estate and gift taxes. Strategies such as Buy-Sell Agreements can also be implemented to protect those who own properties or businesses with more than one person. SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS Melinda and Gigi both speak regularly to corporations, small businesses, mothers' clubs, play groups, new, and not-so-new parents, about both basic and more complex estate planning issues. For more information or to schedule a speaking engagement, please contact us at (510) 594-8483 or by email at Gigi@oolawlaw.com or Melinda@oolawlaw.com. PROBATE (or, what happens if I die without a will?) If you die without a will in California, your estate will go through the probate system in the California courts. The term "probate" refers to the legal process by which a court oversees the distribution of your assets to the new owners. In California, the probate procedure is complicated, stressful, and public, and oftentimes lasts for several years. It is also expensive, as attorneys' fees and executors' fees are set by statute. More importantly, if you die without a will, your property may or may not pass the way you would wish. If you don't have a will, your assets will pass by "intestate succession," which is the distribution of assets dictated by state law. While this system may distribute your assets to the people you would want to, consider two things: (1) your children will receive your assets when they reach age 18, and (2) if you spouse remarries, he or she is free to give your money away to anyone, including to his or her new spouse. To ensure your loved ones receive their inheritance as quickly and easily as possible, you may want to avoid probate. We can show you techniques and strategies to help you do just that. Probate Administration In addition to intestate estates, all wills must pass through probate. If you are the beneficiary of a probate estate, we can guide you through the process quickly, compassionately and effectively. In addition to our years of experience handling wills and administering trusts, our personal experiences give her a unique perspective on the potential emotional and financial hardships often associated with probate. How Do I Avoid Probate And Protect My Family? Property held in joint tenancy or community property with right of survivorship, and the proceeds of life insurance, retirement accounts, and annuities should pass to the surviving joint owner or the named beneficiaries without the necessity of probate, so long as the named beneficiaries survive the owner of the asset. Assets held by a revocable living trust also avoid probate. REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST Assets held by a revocable living trust ("RLT") will avoid the cost, delay, and hassle of probate. The trustee of the RLT will distributed your assets to your heirs privately and without the high statutory fees. By using an RLT, you can ensure that your money is held in trust for the benefit of your heirs under the terms you feel are best. For example, you can provide for your spouse during your spouse's life, but on that spouse's death, dictate that the money will go directly to your children, and will not be affected by your spouse's potential remarriage. You can also dictate the ages at which your child receives his or her inheritance, such as providing that the trust may always pay for health and education, but will not distribute the assets outright to the child until the child reaches certain ages of maturity. Many clients choose to distribute 1/3 of the assets to the child upon reaching age 25, another 1/3 at age 30, and the balance at age 35. Your living trust can also be prepared so that it allows your spouse or another family member you choose to manage your financial affairs for you if you become disabled or seriously ill. Trusts can also help you take care of those who can't take care of themselves. You can set up a trust to send grandkids to college, to pay for weddings, and to keep up a family property. You can also provide for the necessities of a family member who you believe is unable of taking proper care of himself or herself, providing asset protection, and can create a Pet Trust, to ensure the care and feeding of your companion animal after you pass on. We can prepare a living trust for a single person, a married couple, or a non-married couple. IRREVOCABLE TRUSTS There are many types of irrevocable trusts and they are used for many purposes, including income tax and estate tax savings, asset protection, and wealth preservation and transfer. We can advise you about trusts for minors, life insurance trusts, charitable trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, and other forms of irrevocable trusts designed to suit your needs. CHARITABLE TRUSTS Many of clients wish to combine philanthropy, personal financial security, and tax benefits by establishing a charitable trust. We work with you and many charitable organizations to design and implement the charitable trust that best meets the planned giving strategy of your estate plan. Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRT) A CRT allows you to designate assets, such as stocks or real estate, as a gift to one or more qualified charities during your lifetime. Because the gift isn't transferred to the charity until you or your beneficiary dies, you or your family will continue to receive income from those assets throughout your lives. By creating a CRT, you can support a cause (or causes) you care about, defer, reduce or eliminate taxes, and provide income for you or your beneficiaries. Charitable Lead Trusts (CLT) A CLT allows the charity or charities you designate to receive income from your gift for a period of time. At the end of that term, the asset is transferred to your beneficiaries. By creating a CLT, you can support a cause (or causes) you care about, reduce or eliminate income taxes and estate taxes, and pass your legacy to your beneficiaries. ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES An important part of estate planning is enabling our clients to ensure that their desires concerning medical treatment and "end of life" care are carried out. Under California law, all persons have the right to give instructions about their own health care, and to name someone else to make health care decisions for them if they cannot make those decisions themselves. In the absence of such instructions, the medical care of an incapacitated patient can be the subject of protracted court proceedings, with no guarantee that the patient's actual (but unwritten) wishes will be honored. Many aspects of estate planning are a concern of the very wealthy, but medical care issues affect everyone. So we believe that all estate plans should include some form of health care instructions. Instructions can be stated in a variety of formats, such as powers of attorney for health care, living wills, and do not resuscitate ("DNR") orders. Under current California law, any or all of those formats can be combined into a single document called an "Advance Health Care Directive." Using an Advance Health Care Directive, a person (the "principal") may appoint a health care agent who has the authority to make decisions about the principal's medical care if the principal is unable to make those decisions. This portion of the Directive functions as the power of attorney for health care. We recommend that our clients provide written health care wishes in the Directive, such as a desire not to receive treatment that only prolongs the dying process during a terminal illness. This portion of the Directive carries out the functions of a living will or DNR order. | |
