Practice Areas

Trust and Probate Administration

We provide the surviving family members with trust and probate administration services, spousal property petitions, small estate distribution, trust amendments, trust funding, trust administration and division upon the death of a spouse. We ensure that your loved one's property is accounted for and distributed as intended. We expedite the process of estate administration through both formal probate administration as well as trust administration. We take all appropriate steps to reduce estate and income taxes, while maintaining ongoing communication with our clients throughout the various phases of estate and trust administration.

Mediation of Probate, Trust & Estate Disputes

Our practice provides low-cost dispute resolution services that avoids the expense of litigation. We encourage early neutral evaluation and resolution to help parties stay out of court and save their estates and families money. Our trusted experience in estate litigation helps us "think outside the box" to arrive quickly at solutions that work for all parties. This has led to resolutions in dozens of our cases. We welcome inquires from attorneys seeking a trusted neutral mediator.

Estate and Trust Litigation, Financial Elder Abuse

When disputes arise over trust estates, trust and will contests, actions to remove a trustee, defense of a trustee's actions, demands for accounting of trust assets, or litigation involving contested conservatorships, many Santa Clara County attorneys refer their clients to our firm. Our approach is to save our clients as much money as possible by early alternative dispute resolution rather than an expensive trial. If trial becomes necessary, however, our experienced trial attorneys are ready for the challenge. Our legal efforts have resulted in many satisfied clients.

Conservatorships

We assist clients in conservatorship proceedings so that they may assume the responsibility of taking care of a loved one who is physically unable or financially incapable of taking care of himself or herself. Conservatorships are court-supervised and require filing petitions seeking the appointment of a third person to make financial and health care decisions for an elder or developmentally disabled or incapacitated person.

Guardianships

These court-supervised proceedings are available for minor children who receive assets from an estate or for whom appointment of a third person in necessary to make financial or health care decisions when no parent can do so.

Elder Law Issues

Elder law is the broad term often used to include the many areas of law that is the basis for our practice. It is not limited to Medi-Cal or long term care and estate planning, but sometimes includes real property matters or enforcement of contract rights for elders.

Nursing Home Patients' Rights

A new but growing field of our practice is the protection of patients' rights in skilled nursing homes. This includes fighting patient evictions, protecting patients from intimidation and discrimination of elders in nursing homes.