Estate Planning Attorney Orange County
Why Leave Your Legacy to Chance?
It’s no surprise that when we are out making life plans, life often sends us the unexpected. This is why beginning the estate planning process is critical to protecting your loved ones and your legacy.
Protect What You’ve Worked to Build.
No one wants to endure California’s challenging probate process, but without an estate plan in place at the time of your passing, this stressful process will happen. No matter how close your family may be, without an estate plan, relationships and families can be torn apart. Family members can become combative or burdened by the complex and lengthy legal process required to sort out property, businesses, wealth, and other assets. In contrast, with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney, you can go about living your best life knowing that your legacy is protected. An estate plan is one of the best and most enduring gifts you can leave your family and those you love.
Our firm’s principal attorney, Ariana Burris, leads our Estate Planning practice. Over the past two decades, Ariana and her team of Orange County Estate Planning Lawyers have helped families, trustees, and business owners with everything from basic protection for small estates to sophisticated estate plans for multi-million-dollar portfolios. Regardless of the value of your assets, a well-thought-out estate plan can protect your future and your legacy.
What Does An Estate Plan Include?
An estate plan is a comprehensive set of legal documents and strategies that protects and preserves your assets and your estate, and includes the following legally-binding documents:
- Trusts
- Wills
- Financial Durable Power of Attorney
- Property and Title Transfer
- Certification of Trust
- Healthcare Power of Attorney/Living Will/Advance Directive
How Our Orange County Estate Planning Attorneys Help
- We work with individuals and families to protect assets, provide for minor children, and create a workable, flexible plan.
- We assist with funding a variety of assets such as business interests and real property holdings.
- We maintain lifetime relationships, and our estate plans take into consideration different seasons in life, which reflect your changing goals.
- We create Trusts that include revocable living trusts, pour over wills, financial power of attorneys, and healthcare directives.
- We provide advanced planning tools that include charitable remainder trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), and classic irrevocable trusts.
- We build special needs plans for beneficiaries who are vulnerable, due to their reliance on income from need-based government programs such as Social Security Disability benefits (SSDI and SSI), MediCal benefits.
What Is Estate Planning and Why Is It Important?
Estate planning is the process of creating a legal framework to manage your assets, healthcare decisions, and financial affairs during your lifetime and after your death. The plan includes documents such as wills, trusts, advance healthcare directives, and powers of attorney to ensure your wishes are clearly outlined and legally enforceable. An estate plan is a roadmap that you leave for your loved ones to follow that reduces stress and protects precious relationships.
Estate planning is critical to protecting your loved ones from having to endure a stressful and challenging probate legal process following your death. Without a clear estate plan detailing where your estate will go, family members can become combative and/or burdened by the lengthy and challenging legal process. But with the help of an experienced and knowledgeable estate planning attorney, you can clearly define how you’d like your estate divided upon your passing.
Ariana Burris and her team of experienced Orange County estate planning attorneys have helped families with everything from essential protection for small estates—to sophisticated estate plans for multi-million dollar portfolios.
Our Wide-Range of Estate Planning Services
Trusts
A Trust protects your assets during your lifetime while providing a roadmap of how you want them distributed after you pass. Unlike a Will, which must go through probate, a trust enables your beneficiaries to access your assets quickly and privately, and helps avoid the time-consuming and often costly probate process.
Your Trust can be tailored to meet your unique needs, and you can make necessary changes with a revocable living trust. Because trusts don’t go through probate, this ensures your assets are not made public. At Burris Law, we design personalized Trusts to safeguard your assets, provide security for your loved ones, and preserve your legacy.
Wills
While Wills go through the probate process, they still legally declare how you want your assets distributed after passing, which the probate court must honor. It allows you to choose your beneficiaries, appoint an executor to manage your estate, and designate guardians for minor children. Without a valid Will, a probate court will distribute your assets according to California intestacy laws that may not align with your wishes, and often creating unnecessary complications for your loved ones.
At Burris Law, we help clients draft wills that provide the most protection for their loved ones, no matter how complex their needs are.
Financial Durable Power of Attorney
When you can’t manage your finances because you are incapacitated, a financial durable power of attorney appoints a trusted individual, known as an agent, to do it for you. Your agent can pay bills, manage your investments, and handle all transactions on your behalf. Without a financial durable power of attorney, your loved ones may need to go through a court process known as a conservatorship proceeding to gain authority to manage your finances. Our skilled attorneys can help you avoid this outcome, providing peace of mind that your financial situation will be sound.
Property and Title Transfers
Often, your most important and valuable asset is your home. At Burris Law, we assist with the funding of an estate by ensuring your home and any other real property is properly held by your Trust. Our knowledgeable Orange County estate planning attorneys will draft the trust transfer deed and preliminary change of ownership report and record it for you. Ensuring proper funding and titling of assets is crucial to any estate plan.
Certification of Trust
A certification of trust is a condensed legal document that verifies the existence of a Trust and provides essential details about its terms without disclosing sensitive information. You and your Trustee can use this document to authenticate fiduciary authority when accessing trust assets. This document helps you and your trustee maintain privacy, as it includes key information like the Trust’s name, the date of creation, and the identities of the Trustees without releasing sensitive information like the names of beneficiaries and specific distribution terms.
Burris Law attorneys can help you create a private certification, and help you and your Trustee maintain privacy even during the most sensitive times.
Healthcare Power of Attorney and Living Wills
When you are incapacitated, a healthcare power of attorney designates a trusted individual to make medical decisions for you, including treatments and surgeries. On the other hand, a Living Will and Advance Health Care Directive, outlines your preferences for end-of-life care such as life-sustaining treatments or palliative care. This document helps relieve the emotional pressure your loved ones may feel when making decisions on your behalf without the benefit of a healthcare power of attorney. Both documents can assure you that any health decisions made for you are in your best interest and align with your stated wishes. Our Orange County, California attorneys at Burris Law can help you decide which document is best for you, and we can draft a comprehensive document to help guide your loved ones after you pass.
Comprehensive Services
At Burris Law, we understand that estate planning is rarely a one-track process. It requires a comprehensive plan, drafting multiple documents, and asking guided questions to protect your assets and family. As such, you’ll find that we do the following tasks when estate planning:
- Work with individuals and families to protect assets, provide for minor children, and create a workable, flexible plan.
- Assist with funding assets, from business interests to property holdings. Maintain a lifetime relationship with clients to support their estate planning and reflect their changing goals.
- Maintain a lifetime relationship with clients to support their estate planning and reflect their changing goals.
- Include revocable living trusts, pour-over wills, financial powers of attorney, and healthcare directives in our estate planning services.
Advanced Estate Planning Services
We also go beyond basic wills and trusts and offer advanced estate planning services, including:
- Charitable remainder trusts: These trusts assign assets or funds to charities or programs for a specific period or the program's life.
- Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs): This document prevents life insurance proceeds from taxation.
- Classic irrevocable trusts: With this trust, you can protect your assets from federal estate tax or ensure that assets are clearly designated in cases of complicated family dynamics.
Special Needs Planning
While a trust or a will can significantly improve the lives of your beneficiaries after you pass, the funds can make their lives more complicated if they rely on Supplemental Security Income or MediCal. With Burris Law, however, you can draft a special needs trust that ensures they may still be eligible for these benefits while still receiving funds from your trust or will.
Satisfied Clients
Not only do we have years of experience in estate planning, but all of our California clients have walked away satisfied with our services, such as Eddi M, who said;
Planning That Adapts as Life Changes
Burris Law will also help you avoid making any estate planning mishaps you would otherwise make on your own or with other legal professionals. For example, if you receive an inheritance after establishing your estate plan, we can advise you on allocating these funds so your family, loved ones, and charities all receive the funds they need.
No matter how complex your assets are, such as a beloved baseball card collection, a business, or a real estate empire, we’ll adapt your estate planning and specify how you’d like these assets distributed.
FAQs About Trust and Estate Planning
What Is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is the process of organizing your financial and personal affairs to ensure your wishes are conducted after your death or in the event you become incapacitated. This typically involves creating legal documents such as Wills, Trusts, and Powers of Attorneys.
What Is the Difference Between a Will and a Trust?
A Will outlines how your assets should be distributed after your death and will go through probate, while a trust allows your assets to pass directly to beneficiaries, often bypassing probate. A Trust can also provide for asset management during your lifetime if you become incapacitated.
When Should I Start Estate Planning?
It is never too early to start estate planning. Most experts recommend beginning when you have assets, dependents, or specific wishes regarding your healthcare and finances. Life events such as marriage, having children, or retirement are ideal times to review or create your estate plan.
What Happens If I Don’t Have an Estate Plan?
If you pass away without planning your estate, a probate court will allocate your assets according to California’s intestacy laws, which may not align with your wishes. This process can also be lengthy, costly, and stressful for your loved ones.
How Can Estate Planning Minimize Taxes?
Effective estate planning can help reduce estate taxes and other financial obligations by setting up trusts, gifting during your lifetime, and charitable donations.
Can I Make Changes to My Estate Plan?
Yes, you can! We recommend revising your documents if you divorce, if you want to allocate your funds to a new beneficiary, or if your financial situation changes. It is common to revise documents as your life circumstances or financial situation changes. Burris Law attorneys will work with you to document these changes.
What Is a Durable Power of Attorney?
A durable power of attorney appoints someone to manage your financial and legal affairs if you become incapacitated. This person, known as your “agent,” can conduct business and make decisions on your behalf according to the terms you specify.
How Do I Start the Estate Planning Process?
To begin estate planning, Fill out our online contact form to schedule a consultation. We’ll assess your needs, explain your options, and guide you through creating the necessary documents.
Get the One-on-One Attention You Deserve.
By listening to our clients and identifying their needs together, we guide them to the best possible solution to meet both their current needs and your future needs as your family changes and your portfolio grows.
Additionally, if your health circumstances require us to come to you, we are more than happy to do so.
At Burris Law, we regularly make home visits and even hospital visits to attend to our clients who need immediate assistance.
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Burris Law is a highly regarded law practice headquartered in Orange County, with offices in Ventura. For over two decades, the firm has specialized in probate, trust administration, estate planning, real estate law, and business law. Our firm proudly serves clients throughout Orange County including Irvine, Newport Beach, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, and throughout Orange County.
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