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Practice Areas
Primarily limited to three basic areas of law:
estate planning (including probate, wills, and trusts),
business, and
real estate. In each of these areas the office does both
transactional drafting and analysis and litigation.
- Wills and Trusts:
In the area of estate planning, the firm does Wills, Trusts, Durable
Powers of Attorney, Advance Directives (formerly called Declarations
Under the Natural Death Act and Directive to Physicians) and other related
documents.
Living Trusts: The simplest trusts we write we call "probate avoidance
trusts" because they have one main purpose: to avoid probate. The next
level of complexity of trusts we write we call "family circumstances trusts"
because they not only avoid probate, but they also contain what we call
"hold back provisions" so that the ultimate beneficiaries of the trust do
not receive distributions until certain milestones are reached (usually
milestones are birthdays, sometimes they are a number of years after the
settlor's death).
We also write A - B and A - B - C (including QTIP provisions) trusts and
some Disclaimer Trusts, all of which we call "estate splitting trusts"
because they seek to lower a couple's death tax bracket by using the lifetime
exemption of both spouses (as opposed to just one exemption without the trust).
Upon request we have done Crummey Trusts, Permanent Trusts (for life insurance),
Family Limited Partnerships, Charitable Remainder Trusts and other kinds of
estate planning.
In the area of estate planning, the firm does Wills, Trusts, Durable
Powers of Attorney, Advance Directives (formerly called Declarations
Under the Natural Death Act and Directive to Physicians) and other related
documents.
- Probate:
Probate includes a variety of services. The traditional probate consists of
processing a decedent's estate through court. The process typically takes
about eleven months, but the process does not freeze the estate in a solid
condition. Businesses can be continued or sold. Houses can be rented or sold.
Family allowances can be paid. Distributions can be made. Fees for the
processing of a decedent's estate are established by the California Probate
Code and are usually payable only at the end of the process.
The term probate also includes "protective proceedings" which are usually
conservatorships (usually for the elderly) and guardianships (usually for
minors). While we never encourage embarking upon such proceedings, it is
sometimes unavoidable. A conservator or guardian manages the well-being and
finances of the conservatee or ward. The court supervises the management of
the conservatee's or ward's well-being and estate. Fees in these cases are
generally figured on an hourly basis and payable after the Judge has
approved them. You may expect an uncontested proceeding to cost a minimum
of $2,500 to be established.
Probate also involves various types of contests. Will contests, Trust contests,
demands for accountings, objections to actions taken by executors,
administrators, trustees and others are all proceedings which have been
frequently handled by this office. To the extent this office may be said to
have a specialty, it is probate litigation. Probate litigation is usually
charged hourly but it is possible to work out contingent fee arrangements.
In the area of business, this office handles the formation and dissolution of all
regular forms of business entities, including partnerships, limited partnerships,
limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, corporations (including
C and S or Sub-S), statutory close corporations and other business entities. In
addition, business includes all forms of litigation by and against such entities and
among the owners of interests in such entities. We do some collection actions. We
quote flat fees for all uncontested formation and dissolution work. All of the
other work is handled on an hourly basis based on monthly statements.
Our real estate practice is limited to more unusual real estate problems. We have
done many construction defect cases and have been involved in a number of disputes
within homeowners' associations. We have handled quite a few boundary dispute cases
and several condemnation cases. We do relatively little landlord-tenant law and
real estate sales / purchase transactions, except in the course of probate cases.
We seldom prospectively review leases.
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