Estate Planning

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DLK Law Corp. is experienced in all forms of California estate planning - from the most complex to the simplest - but always personalized to the client's needs and desires. 

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The most important goals of any estate plan are to provide for beneficiaries and minimize estate tax liability.  We accomplish these goals by providing comprehensive planning, preparation, and implementation of estate planning documents while balancing our clients’ interests in limiting estate and gift taxes.

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We also work closely with clients who own and manage family-owned and closely-held companies to provide a coordinated, full-service approach to the estate planning issues affecting their businesses and families.

 

Our estate planning services include:

• Development, analysis, and creation of estate plans 

• Preparation of wills, revocable living trusts, powers of attorney, durable powers for health care, and real property deeds

• Consultation with clients’ bankers, investment advisors, insurance agents, and pension managers to ensure proper transfer of assets to the trust and beyond

• Estate, gift, and income tax planning

• Business succession planning

• Charitable gift planning

• Life insurance trusts

• Special Needs Trusts

 

Before any estate planning documents are drafted, we meet with clients to review their family and financial goals and to explain the role of estate planning in carrying out those goals. Once the documents are drafted, our goal is for clients to know what their estate plan does and says.  We see each of our clients as an individual, and each client’s estate and goals are distinct from the next client. 

 

We encourage our clients to review their estate plans every few years and communicate with us if there are significant changes in their lives, such as the birth of a child or grandchild, the acquisition of real property, or the inheritance of assets.  

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Trust Administration

​DLK Law Corp. also assists clients, as trustees, in the administration of decedents’ trusts.  Although trusts are generally designed to avoid the need of administration through the probate courts, many tasks remain.  It is essential that the successor trustee consult with an attorney to understand his or her duties as trustee, follow the provisions set forth in the trust document, and comply with state and federal laws. The successor trustee’s duties include the following:

• Notify each of the decedent’s beneficiaries regarding the trust administration

• Gather and consolidate the decedent’s assets

• Identify the decedent’s creditors and arrange for payment

• Maintain records and provide trust accounting to beneficiaries

• Prepare and file an estate tax return when necessary and trust income tax returns

• Plan for and carry out the distribution of assets to beneficiaries in a timely fashion