Estate planning is about more than deciding who receives your property. A properly prepared plan can protect you during incapacity, provide for your family, reduce unnecessary expense and delay, and give the people you trust the authority to act when needed.

At the Law Offices of Oliver Greenwood, we prepare thoughtful estate plans tailored to each client’s assets, family circumstances, and long-term goals.

Your estate may include:

• Your home and other real property
• Bank and investment accounts
• Retirement accounts
• Life insurance
• Business interests
• Vehicles and personal property
• Digital assets
• Property held jointly with another person

A complete estate plan considers not only how these assets should pass at death, but also how they should be managed if you become unable to handle your own affairs.

Depending on your circumstances, your estate plan may include:

A revocable living trust allows you to retain control of your assets during your lifetime while naming a successor trustee to act if you become incapacitated or die.

When properly prepared and funded, a trust can:

• Avoid probate for assets held in the trust
• Provide for management during incapacity
• Establish clear instructions for distributing property
• Protect beneficiaries who should not receive an inheritance outright
• Preserve greater privacy than a probate proceeding

Creating a trust is only the first step. Assets must be properly titled or otherwise coordinated with the trust for the plan to work as intended.

A pour-over will directs property remaining in your individual name to your trust after death. It can also nominate guardians for minor children.

A will does not avoid probate by itself, but it remains an important part of a trust-based estate plan.

A durable power of attorney authorizes a trusted agent to handle financial and legal matters if you are unable to act personally.

Depending on the authority granted, an agent may be able to manage accounts, pay expenses, address tax matters, manage property, and communicate with government agencies.

An advance health care directive allows you to appoint an agent to make medical decisions if you cannot communicate or provide informed consent. It can also record your preferences concerning treatment, end-of-life care, organ donation, and disposition of remains.

A special needs trust can provide financial support for a beneficiary with a disability without unnecessarily disrupting eligibility for means-tested public benefits.

The trust must be carefully drafted and administered so that its distributions supplement—not improperly replace—the benefits and services available to the beneficiary.

Estate plans should reflect the realities of each family. Additional planning may be appropriate for:

• Married couples
• Unmarried partners
• Blended families
• Minor children
• Beneficiaries with disabilities
• Beneficiaries who need financial oversight
• Business owners
• Clients with property in more than one state
• Clients who wish to benefit charities
• Families concerned about future incapacity or long-term care

Clear drafting can reduce uncertainty and help prevent disagreements after incapacity or death.

When a person dies without a valid will or trust, California law determines who inherits property subject to probate. The result may not reflect the person’s actual wishes.

Failing to plan may also result in:

• Probate proceedings that could have been avoided
• Additional delay and expense
• Uncertainty concerning the management of assets
• Court involvement during incapacity
• Disputes among family members
• Property passing to unintended beneficiaries
• An inheritance being distributed outright to someone who needs protection

If minor children are involved, a will allows parents to nominate a preferred guardian. The court ultimately decides who will serve based on the child’s best interests.

An estate plan must be properly implemented after it is signed.

We assist clients in coordinating their plans by:

• Preparing deeds transferring real property to a trust
• Reviewing ownership of bank and investment accounts
• Providing trust-funding instructions
• Reviewing beneficiary designations
• Coordinating retirement accounts and life insurance with the overall plan
• Identifying joint-tenancy and pay-on-death accounts that may conflict with the trust

Retirement accounts, life insurance, joint accounts, and pay-on-death accounts generally pass according to their ownership or beneficiary designations—not under the terms of a will or trust. These arrangements should therefore be reviewed as part of the complete estate plan.

Clients with larger estates, business interests, charitable goals, or complex family circumstances may require additional planning.

Available strategies may include:

• Disclaimer and marital trusts
• Credit-shelter or bypass trusts
• Irrevocable trusts
• Irrevocable life insurance trusts
• Charitable planning
• Lifetime gifting
• Business-succession planning
• Special needs planning

These strategies do not automatically eliminate estate, gift, income, or capital-gains taxes. Their effectiveness depends upon how the documents are drafted, how assets are transferred, and the tax laws in effect at the relevant time.

Your estate plan should identify trusted people to act on your behalf.

Important roles may include:

• Trustee or successor trustee: Manages trust property during incapacity and after death.
• Executor: Administers property passing through probate under a will.
• Financial agent: Acts under a durable power of attorney.
• Health care agent: Makes medical decisions under an advance health care directive.
• Guardian nominee: The person you recommend to care for minor children.
• 
  

We help clients evaluate whether these responsibilities should be assigned to family members, trusted friends, licensed professional fiduciaries, or institutional trustees.

An estate plan should be reviewed periodically and whenever there is a significant change involving:

• Marriage, divorce, or separation
• Birth or adoption of a child
• Death or incapacity of a beneficiary or fiduciary
• A substantial change in assets
• The purchase or sale of real property
• A move to another state
• Changes in tax or estate-planning law
• A change in family relationships or intended distributions

We prepare trust amendments and restatements and review existing estate plans to determine whether they continue to reflect the client’s wishes.

The Law Offices of Oliver Greenwood provides clear explanations, careful drafting, and practical assistance implementing each estate plan.

Whether you are creating your first plan, updating older documents, providing for a beneficiary with special needs, or addressing a complex family situation, we can help you put the appropriate protections in place.