Probate: Orange County California

Probate is not an areana most people want to enter. The main reason for this belief is as lawyers we may have done too good a job selling Trusts and other probate avoidance vehicles. This is not to say you want to probate your estate, however, some times there is either nothing you can do to avoid probate or probate administration has some features that you want, that you will not get with non-supervised administration.

If you do your estate planning based upon a will, pourover will or last will and testemant your estate will be probated. This is often a good way to go if you have far flung family and friends, there are complex questions of valuation for which you would like court approval, or you have a very strongly opinionated and often disagreeing group of beneficiaries.

To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of will based estate planning please call Jerry at 714-985- 9025 www.gerardwobrien.com

PRACTICE AREAS

ELDER LAW | You as a senior have many rights and with those rights, protections. You need to know what your rights are and you need to how and when to assert them. We can help you.

ESTATE PLANNING | Your successor Trustee wants to complete the process as quickly as possible, while minimizing family disharmony.

PROBATE | The very word probate causes folks to dispair they envision scenes from Dicken's Bleak House and court personel who are as welcoming a crows. This is not true in Orange County California where probate can provide the formal administration framework to get families through difficult times.             Additionallywith the new technologies available to personal representatives and attorneys the process can be reasonably quick, value priced and not at all like Bleak House.

BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING | From years of planning experience, we have developed a systematic process that is both practical and client-friendly.

ASSET PROTECTION PLANNING | Keep your assets out of the hands of creditors, predators, and the public treasury, ethically and legally.

ESTATE & GIFT TAX PLANNING | Effective tax planning will not only lower income taxes while you’re alive by implementing optimal tax deferral and other strategies, but it will also free up cash for investment, business, or personal purposes.

HEALTH CARE DOCUMENTS | You need a power of attorney for health care, a HIPAA declaration, and a living will. Without them your preferences during incapacity will not be followed.

POWERS OF ATTORNEY | Perhaps the most flexible tool in an estate plan most people including many attorneys do not understand what can be accomplished using this device.