Services Overview
Below is a list of my services and a brief description, if you want to know more, click where indicated at the end of the paragraph.
Estate Planning
Estate planning is life planning—for you, your children and even your parents. It encompasses many areas such as making sure your assets are fairly and smoothly distributed, allowing you to step in and help aging parents, planning for guardianship for your young children and assisting you through the court process called Probate. For complete details on estate planning « Learn more »
Trust & Probate Administration
If your family has experienced the loss of a family member, I can assist you with the legal process that occurs when a loved one passes away. There are specific processes you must go through to transfer assets from your loved one to their heirs. If they had a will, there is a court process called probate. If they had a living trust, there is a private process of administration that needs to take place, with certain rules and requirements. If you’ve found yourself in the position of having to step up to the role of executor or trustee, you will need the guidance of an attorney.
Find out more about the Trust Administration process « Learn more »Find out more about the Probate Administration process « Learn more »
Estate Planning for Non-Traditional Families
If you are a member of the GLBT community and are in a relationship, you need to protect each other with an estate plan. If you fail to properly plan, the result can be devastating to your partner and family. Having no estate plan or relying upon a will, joint tenancy, or tenancy in common as an estate plan is tantamount to giving up control of your estate and management of your well-being in times of incapacitation. Through a living trust, will and supporting documents, you can effectively plan for your partner and children, without the intrusion of government or well-meaning family members.
Find out how you can protect yourself and your partner. « Learn more » Caring for Disabled Children & Adults
Special needs and disability planning occurs when you have a disabled child or relative. You want to provide for them, but also allow them to maintain their eligibility for SSI, Medi-Cal and any government services. Often, if an adult disabled child inherits from their parents outright, it will disqualify them from these needed services. Also, the same result may occur if the disabled child is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or retirement plan, or if the child owns an account jointly with another.
Parents need to plan for these situations through their own estate plans. A special needs trust can be established as an independent trust or created within a parent or grandparent’s trust.
Learn how you can protect your disabled child or heir « Learn more »
Helping Elderly Parents
As an adult child of parents who are beginning to lose their memory or ability to care for themselves, you need to know the ways in which you can step in and help. You need to know how and when to take the role of a successor trustee or be added as a trustee to an already existing trust in order to help your parents with their everyday affairs. I can provide you with guidance that allows your parents to maintain their dignity.
Learn about the tools you’ll need to care for your elderly parents, « Learn more » Trust & Probate Litigation
Probating a will or administering a trust can have some pitfalls for individual beneficiaries or trustees. You might need representation during these conflicts. It doesn’t mean there has to be a protracted legal battle. I find out a client’s individual need and represent their interest in a conflict or contest. My goal is not only to reach the conclusion my client is searching for, but to do so in an equitable fashion.
Learn more about your role and rights in a trust administration or probate« Learn more »
Serving Sonoma County & the Communities of
Windsor • Santa Rosa • Rohnert Park • Sebastopol • Petaluma • Sonoma • Novato • San Rafael
