Practice Areas

BIOETHICS:

End-Of-Life care decisions
Decision-making by senior or disabled person
Decision-making by family or friends
ELDER LAW To remain independent, a senior or disabled person may need assistance planning the proposed Care Plan and then documenting it.

ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTATION:

WILL or TRUST and CONSERVATOR Nominations;
AHCD/ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE
per 1991 federal Patient Self-Determination Act
per 1996 California Probate Code §4701
per 1996 federal HIPAA/Health Insurance Protection & Advocacy Act
BUT see your DOCTOR about California’s P.O.L.S.T./Physician Order ~ Life Sustaining Treatment statute (eff. 1/1/09)

DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR ASSET MANAGEMENT;
Other planning possibilities include
Special Needs Trust for Ill Spouse
Personal Lifetime Right To Occupy (house issue)
Personal Care Agreement
Charitable Trust planning (for tax benefits)
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (for tax benefits)
Guardianship planning (to 18 years of age)
U.T.M.A. planning (to 25 years of age)
Trust “funding” by transfer of non-Trust assets to Trustee
Trust administration support for Trustee
Medi-Cal Lien accrual issues and remedies

ESTATE SETTLEMENT for fiduciary Clients and heirs:

PROBATE administration for Executors/Administrators;
TRUST Administration for Trustees and Successor Trustees;
“Heggstad Petition” (to fund Decedent’s Trust without Probate)
Trust Funding at death of 1st spouse (or incurrence of tax issues)
Trust Distribution at death of 2d spouse
Final Account by Trustee
CONSERVATORSHIP wind-up & distribution
Final Accounts for Attorneys-In-Fact (for Power of Attorney report)
Small Estate Set-Aside
Estate settlement without probate (Joint Tenancy, P.O.D.)
Medi-Cal Estate Recovery claims
Heirship Petition
ESTATE SETTLEMENT for creditors

Creditors’ Claim filing and post-denial litigation
Estate Recovery issues (LTC Medi-Cal claim)
Contested claims

REAL PROPERTY:

Transactions and contract review for elders or disabled Owners
For sale, purchase, or rental
Occupancy Agreement
Disputes about title, succession, or predatory lending practices
LEGAL ETHICS and PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBIILITY: 2d opinion