Estate Planning

Harris, Hamman, Glick & Heckman, LLP’s estate planning principal, John T. Harris, is certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization as a specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law. Under his supervision, the firm offers a full range of estate planning, from simple wills and trusts, health care and general durable powers of attorney, to complex trusts designed to eliminate or minimize estate taxes and expenses of administration.

A good estate plan will enhance asset protection and provide a means of continuation of family businesses from one generation to another, an issue of particular importance for the family farm. Among the more sophisticated tools of the estate planner are family limited partnerships, life insurance trusts, and family buy-sell agreements.

Parents with young children, who do not yet consider themselves to have sufficient assets to require estate planning, often forget their most precious assets – their children! Harris, Hamman, Glick & Heckman, LLP can help parents of young children safeguard the financial future of their children in the event of the parents’ death before the children are self-sufficient. The choice of guardian of children can be one of the most important decisions a parent makes. After reflection, parents may realize that it would be wise to postpone the ability of children who have just turned 18 to have access to significant amounts of insurance proceeds or other assets until a later date, when bright red sports cars are not quite as exciting! There are several, simple, methods to postpone access of assets to a more mature time in a child’s life.

The firm offers two pamphlets specifically relating to estate taxes, differences between a will and a living trust, and planning for families with young children:

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