Orange County Estate Planning Firm

Estate Planning in Orange County

When Orange County residents think of estate planning, they tend to think of creating a will.

While we will help you write your will, our estate planning services go far beyond this first step. We form a strategy and craft legally sound documents to help you protect your assets and provide for your loved ones.

Estate planning involves more than just deciding what will happen to the people and things you care about after you die. An effective estate planning lawyer in Orange County will also draft documents to protect your interests during periods of injury or illness when you cannot make your own decisions.

An estate plan answers the most pressing questions during some of life’s most stressful moments:

• Who can access your financial accounts, pay necessary bills, and handle your affairs?
• Who has legal custody of your children if the other parent is also unavailable?
• What medical care do you need, and who can speak to doctors and hospital staff on your behalf?
• To whom should your property and assets be given?
• What long-term goals do you want to achieve with your assets and property?

With help from our team of estate planning attorneys, you can answer these and other critical questions in a way that aligns with your beliefs, values, and goals.

Trust Administration

Our Orange County trust attorneys assist trustees — and successor trustees, if applicable — with the various tasks required of someone managing a trust’s assets, including:

• Analyzing the decedent’s living trust and other estate planning documents to determine the trust’s assets and beneficiaries
• Notifying the court and beneficiaries of the decedent’s passing and the trust
• Distributing assets to the beneficiaries in accordance with the trust’s provisions

Having an experienced trust administration attorney help you with these tasks can save you significant time and resources, and it can ensure that beneficiaries receive their designated assets faster.

Some of the core services an estate planning attorney at Morgan Law Group can help with include: 

Special Needs Estate Planning

When you have a loved one with special needs, you’ll likely need to take extra steps to protect them after you are gone. For example, leaving money directly to a disabled loved one in your will may inadvertently disqualify them from benefits they depend on, such as Medi-Cal coverage. That kind of misstep can have a catastrophic effect on the beneficiary at a time when you are no longer available to help them resolve the problems.

A special needs trust attorney can help you create a trust that helps provide for your loved one without jeopardizing necessary services. While there are some limits on what a special needs trust can pay for, this type of trust can provide assistance to a disabled loved one while preserving access to key government benefits.

Young Adult Estate Planning

Many young adults believe they don’t need an estate planning attorney, either because they don’t yet have significant assets or because they assume they have plenty of time to make arrangements for the future. However, every adult should have at least basic estate planning documents, such as a will or living trust and a medical power of attorney. 

Incapacity Estate Planning

Most people think of estate planning as a way to protect others after they pass away. However, incapacity planning is a critical element in an Orange County estate plan. Incapacity planning includes documents such as an advance directive making your medical wishes known, appointment of a healthcare proxy to make decisions for you if you are unable, and a power of attorney to allow someone you trust to manage your affairs if you can’t. 

Elder Law & Medi-Cal Planning

Long-term care is expensive. According to the California Health Care Foundation, more than 60% of California nursing home residents are dependent on Medi-Cal to pay for their care. But Medi-Cal eligibility depends on income and assets being below a certain cut-off. An experienced elder attorney can help protect your eligibility. But, successful Medi-Cal planning starts years before you need benefits. In other words, you’ll want to talk to an Orange County elder care lawyer early–long before you believe you may need nursing home care.

Premarital Agreements

Often, people think of premarital agreements as more of a family law matter than estate planning. But, the two are entwined. Premarital agreements can impact more than the couple making the agreement, as they help to keep assets in the family while ensuring that both parties are provided for. Each party to a prenuptial agreement should have their own premarital agreement attorney.

Asset Protection

The more wealth you have, the more vulnerable you are to lawsuits. That’s true because you are more likely to have properties, business operations, and other interests that may open you up to litigation. But it’s also true in part because people with deep pockets are often targeted by unscrupulous litigants. 

An experienced Orange County asset protection attorney can help you structure your assets in a way that protects them for you and your family. But, as with so many other areas of estate planning, the time to act is before you need the protection. Our asset protection law firm is here to help you secure your assets now, before a threat arises. 

Trust Modification or Amendment

When you have a trust created by an Orange County living trust attorney, you should be aware that the trust may need to be updated at some point in the future. For example, you should check in with your living trust attorney if you marry or divorce or have a child. You should also talk to your lawyer if one of your beneficiaries dies, if you want to add or remove a beneficiary, and if a change in the trust assets requires reapportionment or a change in the planned distribution of trust assets. 

Talk to an Estate Planning Attorney in Orange County

Whether you’re looking for general estate planning assistance or need to address one of the specific issues discussed above, your best next step is to speak with one of our attorneys for estate planning. We have extensive experience with all aspects of the estate planning process and can help you put together a combination of documents that achieve your goals for protecting yourself and your family.

Orange County Probate Attorney

Probate is the court-supervised process during which a deceased person’s final affairs are concluded and their assets divided.

The estate of someone who only had a will or had no estate plan at all will pass through probate. In this process, there are numerous opportunities for that person’s assets to be depleted and their heirs and beneficiaries to be negatively affected.

A skilled probate attorney in Orange County can help if you have been appointed to administer your loved one’s estate. A lawyer can also provide advice to heirs and beneficiaries who have concerns about how an administrator is managing the estate.

In both situations, our team of probate lawyers is available to provide effective advocacy and address your most pressing needs and concerns.

What Sets Morgan Law Group Apart?

At Morgan Law Group, we want our clients to be happy with our attorneys and the plans they receive. We pride ourselves in our ability to make the entire estate planning process easy to understand and accessible for clients from all walks of life.

At Morgan Law Group, your estate planning lawyer does not talk down to you or dictate a solution that you’re not fully on board with. Instead, we take the time to explain each plan in a way that makes sense to you and we avoid using confusing legal jargon. Your attorney will walk you through the best estate planning options available to you.

We want to empower you to choose what is best for you and your family. By the end of the process, you will also know how your estate plan will protect those you love.

Contact Your Orange County Estate Planning Law Firm

If you have been putting off creating or reviewing your estate plan, or if you are just curious about the process, don’t wait any longer. Book an appointment with Morgan Law Group today to learn how our experienced lawyers can help, or call 949-260-1400 to get started.