Estate Planning Attorney in Orange County: Protecting Your Family's Future

An estate plan comprehensively covers contingencies beyond the important questions of who receives what assets of an estate on your passing. Estate planning is a complete contingency plan or set of legal instructions that also cover incapacity and disability, and guardianship planning for your children. Estate planning protects you and the people you love by keeping them out of court and conflict.

In sum, an estate plan is more than just a will. It encompasses multiple legal documents designed to protect you and your family now and represent your final wishes on your passing. Other than a will, an estate plan may also include a living trust, advance directive, financial power of attorney, and short and long term guardianship planning for your children.

A will is a legal document that directs the distribution of your property on your death, chooses who oversees that process, and can help determine who cares for your children.  A will must go through the public probate process, which usually begins with filing the original will and a petition with the probate court. A will only takes effect when the testator, or the person who made the will, passes and the will is filed.

A living trust, also sometimes called a family or revocable trust, is a private legal document designed to help you avoid probate. A trust can immediately distribute your assets upon passing. Critically, it does not need to be filed with a court or reviewed by a court before anything happens. This means the successor trustee, the person you name to administer your trust on your passing or incapacitation, can begin distributing your assets without court involvement.

Estate planning with a living trust lets you entirely avoid probate. However, just having a living trust is not enough to avoid probate; an estate planning attorney in Orange County can ensure your living trust is fully funded and properly drafted to avoid probate.

Both wills and trusts seek to distribute your assets upon your passing, but differ in important ways. Wills and trusts can also work together in estate planning.

A will must be filed with a probate court. Once filed, a will becomes a public record. It must be reviewed and approved by a probate judge before anyone may receive assets from your estate. The probate process is often lengthy, taking many months or even longer.

A trust, however, is a completely private document drafted by a trust attorney in Orange County.  Only you and your heirs get to see it. A trust does not become part of a public court file. The successor trustee, the person you choose to administer your trust upon your passing or incapacitation, can act immediately to distribute your estate without going to court or making any court filings. With a properly drafted and funded trust, you avoid probate.

Many estate plans, however, will need both a trust and a will: a centerpiece trust and a pour-over will to complement it. A pour-over will serves to “pour” assets into your living trust, if needed.

Yes. A will generally determines who gets what assets on your passing, but that is not the only concern. Estate planning is not simply a question of what happens to your assets after your death. Estate planning also determines who is in charge of your medical and financial decision-making if you are incapacitated and who takes care of your children if you cannot.

A will, while often part of an estate plan, does not cover all your estate planning needs. An experienced trust attorney in Orange County can craft a full estate plan for you that includes important legal documents to protect you, your finances, and your family, if something were to happen to you.

Yes. A financial power of attorney lets you designate the person of your choosing, called an attorney-in-fact, to make financial decisions, from the mundane to the crucial, for you if you are incapacitated or otherwise unable to manage your own finances. If something happens to you, your attorney-in-fact will be ready to make sure you fulfill routine financial obligations and make serious decisions about how to finance your medical care. No matter your age, a financial power of attorney is an important part of your estate plan to protect you now.

This question is personal for us because we have children. The best guardian is someone who would parent like you would. It is important to think through the potential guardian’s parenting philosophy and style.

In considering a potential guardian, ask yourself questions like, “Does the potential guardian share my beliefs and values about my children’s education, discipline, extracurricular activity involvement, and religion or spirituality?”

Focusing on whether a potential guardian would make decisions for your children that align with your parenting beliefs and values;  making this important decision is one of the best places to start.

Many parents believe choosing a guardian is solely a financial decision. However, you ideally will be leaving enough financial support for your children’s upbringing with your estate planning. With your children’s finances secure, you can focus on the important question: “Who will raise my children most closely aligned with my values and how I would raise them?”

Probate is the court proceedings that oversee the transfer of assets from the deceased to the deceased’s heirs or beneficiaries. Probate can be thought of as the plan for those who failed to create an estate plan.

Every state has its own probate court system where a judge gets involved and picks who oversees the process, making sure your assets go to the entitled heirs. A probate court also makes decisions when someone cannot take care of themselves because they are a minor  or become incapacitated. A probate judge gets to select the person in charge of your assets, body, or medical decisions.

In probate, court records are public, and a judge makes decisions along the way. A probate attorney in Orange County can help you avoid probate. Instead of a court potentially making important decisions about your assets or medical care, an estate planning attorney in Orange County can make sure you have a plan.

If your estate planning does not avoid probate, you are choosing to let a probate judge determine who looks after your finances if you are incapacitated, who is a guardian and raises your children if something happens to you, and, on your passing, who oversees getting your assets gathered, inventoried, and distributed.

Along with giving a probate judge choice over these important decisions, a probate court’s involvement also usually makes the process more difficult, expensive, and public. Most of all, you do not know how it will turn out. The point of much estate planning is avoiding probate and putting you in charge of these important decisions.

The typical process takes 4-6 weeks from start to finish: from your first appointment to the signing ceremony. At your first appointment, you will meet with your estate planning attorney in Orange County, ask questions, and decide whether to move forward with the peace of mind that your family is protected. We will discuss the exact fixed fee once we determine your needs and goals.

Your estate planning attorney in Orange County will then prepare all the legal documents that comprise your estate plan. About a month later, you will return for your signing ceremony to sign the prepared legal documents, and your estate plan will be fully in place. 

While your estate plan may be complete, the signing ceremony just starts the lifetime relationship we maintain with our clients. We stay in touch, host special client only webinars, and perform no-charge, three-year review meetings with you, so your plan always stays up-to-date.

Unlike many estate planning attorneys in Orange County who use unpredictable hourly billing, all our estate planning fees are fixed fees and they are agreed upon in advance. You will know in advance exactly what you will pay to protect your family’s future.

At our initial meeting, we will discuss your estate planning needs and help figure out what is right for you. We have three levels of planning. Our will plans start at $2,000.00 and our trust plans start at $3,500.00. You choose the level of planning and fee that works best for you and your family, and with our flat fees, there will never be any surprise bills.