Protect Yourself, Your Family and Your Assets
To provide for your family and protect your assets, a comprehensive estate plan is essential. An estate plan allows you to distribute assets to people or organizations, avoid or minimize estate tax, choose who will manage your property and finances if you are incapacitated, choose who will make health care decisions if you are incapacitated and protect your business.
Price, Crooke, Gary & Hammers, Inc., provides sophisticated estate planning assistance for people with a high net worth as well as those with more modest assets. Attorney Bruce J. Gary is certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization as a specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law. Please call 949-261-2233 or contact us online to schedule an appointment with an Irvine estate planning attorney.
Estate Planning Basics
Regardless of income or assets, every adult should have the following documents:
- Will
- Revocable living trust
- Durable powers of attorney
- Advance health care directive
- Health care powers of attorney
One of the primary goals of estate planning is to have documents in place to avoid probate. We recommend that most people create a revocable trust to shield their assets from taxes. Anyone who owns a home or has more than $100,000 in assets needs a revocable trust to avoid probate, such as:
- ABC trusts/AB trusts
- QTIP trusts
- Survivor's trusts
- Decedent's trusts
- Exemption trusts
- Bypass trusts
- Testamentary trusts
- QNEC trusts
- GST trusts
- Exempt trusts
- Non-exempt trusts
Irrevocable trusts are different. They are meant for more sophisticated uses such as life insurance, gifts to children or grandchildren, asset protection from creditors and charitable gifts. The firm can assist you with the creation of any type of trust, including:
- Special needs trusts
- Pet trusts
- Art trusts
- Charitable trusts/charitable remainder trusts/charitable lead trusts
In addition to trust creation, we provide probate and trust litigation when disputes arise. We can also assist you with conservatorships and guardianships, representing you at hearings and litigating any disputes.
Contact an Orange County Estate Planning and Probate Attorney
To consult with one of our lawyers, please call 949-261-2233.
