Porter Ranch Estate Planning Attorney

Dedicated Estate Planning Attorneys Advise Clients Throughout Porter Ranch, California

Estate planning can be a daunting and complicated process, but the benefits of providing protection for your relatives and loved ones and ensuring that your affairs are in order should you become ill or disabled cannot be overvalued. Establishing a will and a trust are critical components of any successful estate plan, but an experienced Porter Ranch estate planning attorney will help you ensure that even the frequently overlooked aspects of estate planning—such as establishing a conservatorship and advance health care directive—are included in your plan.

At the Law Offices of Darrell C. Harriman, I skillfully help clients create thorough and comprehensive estate plans that anticipate all possible outcomes. The estate planning process is not one that you have to undertake alone. I am here to provide guidance and expert legal advice every step of the way so that you can have the peace of mind of knowing that your affairs are in order should the unexpected occur.

Every Porter Ranch Estate Plan is Unique

Avoiding probate in California is particularly important because of the high fees and lengthy timelines associated with the basic probate process. Despite this, successful estate planning does more than simply remove your assets from the probate process. All comprehensive estate plans will have several essential documents at their core, including:

• A last will and testament,
• A revocable or living trust,
• An advance health care directive, and
• A power of attorney, so that an individual is appointed to make financial and/or medical decisions on your behalf in the event of incapacity.

Our estate planning attorney gets to know you on a personal level so that he is able to evaluate your unique situation in order to formulate an estate plan that will work for you. Comprehensive estate planning takes all aspects of a client’s life into consideration and also accounts for potential complications that may arise in the future, including:

• The potential impact of a child’s future divorce, or a surviving spouse’s later remarriage, on his or her inheritance,

• Blended family situations where it becomes necessary to protect both a spouse, children from a prior marriage and even step-children,
• The need to appoint a guardian to care for minor children in the event of premature death or disability,
• Appointment of a conservator, and creating a conservatorship, which is a situation where one party is given the responsibility of caring for you and managing your assets in the event of illness or incapacity,
• Evaluating who is best suited to act as personal representative to the estate, considering the burden this role could place on children,
• The need to use trust structures that can protect your family and loved ones from creditors and potential lawsuits that may be brought against your estate after your death, and
• The difficult task of establishing an all-inclusive advance health care directive to ensure that your medical wishes, including those regarding end-of-life care, are carried out.

It is, of course, also necessary to consider taking steps to minimize your eventual estate tax burden. Although federal estate tax laws have recently been revised so that only the extremely wealthy will be subject to the hefty 40 percent maximum estate tax, the new law is temporary—set to expire after 2025. This uncertainty means that it remains important for all individuals to take planning steps to avoid this tax, including by setting up bypass trusts and taking advantage of the estate tax portability rules.

Retain an Empathetic and Skilled Estate Planning Attorney to Safeguard Your Family’s Future

At the Law Offices of Darrell C. Harriman, I provide more than cookie-cutter estate planning advice. While decades of experience in estate planning has provided me with in-depth knowledge of the technical estate planning rules and complex tax considerations that must be taken into account in any estate plan, I also focus on the human aspect of estate planning. I am empathetic and understand the aspects of an estate plan that may cause conflict down the road. I take steps to protect your family from future conflict, as well as drafting documents designed to ensure that your assets are protected.