Estate Planning

In estate planning, it is important to determine an individual’s true concerns and make sure their ideas are workable.  My objective with any estate plan is to draft an orderly plan that will transfer property to their family or other heirs, and do it with a minimum of difficulty. Representative work includes:

• Various estate planning methods, including wills and trusts, and use of customized clauses when needed.
• Terminable on death interests and powers of attorney for health and financial matters.
• Probate of estates, including hearing(s), inventory of estate, transferring any real estate, resolving any tax issues, and the preparation of estate accounting prior to distribution.

Corporate

When representing an individual or corporation, my objective is to help my client achieve their business goals and obtain good business results.  I strive to develop creative and workable solutions, even when the client is involved in a challenging situation. Representative work includes:

• Setting up an organization, such as corporate formation.
• Transactional matters, such as buying or selling an existing business.
• Matters such as employment, contracts, defining a shareholder’s interest, termination of the organization, negotiation assistance and issues in government regulation.

Real Estate

My objective in real estate is to carefully document the agreement and protect the interest of my client. Most transactions involve numerous documents, conflicting interests between various parties, and usually negotiable costs and representations. To minimize the potential for unnecessary costs or future liability, most situations can benefit from legal representation. Representative work includes:

• Sale and purchase agreements, lease agreements and related agreements.
• Closing a transaction, escrow transactions, easements and other joint party agreements, warranties and representations, and liens and mortgages.
• Drafting leases, deeds, options, and land contracts clarifying legal descriptions, and curing title issues.

Employee Benefits

In working for an individual, my objective is often to interpret complex documents and communicate their content, or to work to negotiate and draft documents to resolve any differences.  For a company, it is typically to work both independently and collectively within a team structure to meet the company’s objectives and address regulatory requirements. Representative work includes:

• Benefit administration issues, such as service, participation and coverage requirements, resolving benefit discrepancies, and survivor benefits.
• Interpreting plan document(s) and any statutory rights that a participant or plan has under ERISA or other laws.
• Specific retirement plan revisions, such as defined benefit and defined contribution plans or other specialized plans, and disability plans.
• Regulatory reporting, benefit and contribution limitations, nondiscrimination requirements, and plan termination issues.