COSTA MESA
ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY
COSTA MESA ESTATE PLANNING LAWYER
Planning beyond your passing from this earth can be stressful and emotionally charged, even under the best circumstances. Estate planning law is complex and involves complex decisions about your assets and conversations with your closest loved ones. This is a critical process. When someone dies without a valid will or without setting up the necessary trust administration details, the stress, sadness, and turmoil of an already challenging time are greatly exacerbated.
Death is never an easy topic, but when your estate has been properly ordered, it can significantly ease the burden on your family. With proper planning, your family will be able to access the resources they need, avoid lengthy and stressful probate battles, and focus on healing, just as you would want them to.
Estate Planning Attorneys for Costa Mesa and Orange County
The median household income in Costa Mesa is over $20,000 higher than the national average, pointing to the fact that many households have significant assets. Only a qualified attorney can help ensure that those assets are handled in accordance with your wishes (and your family’s needs) upon your death.
Attorney Christopher P. Walker has intimate knowledge of the Orange County court systems based on a quarter-century of experience fighting for families. Estate planning and family law can be highly complex topics, especially when valuable assets and multiple heirs are involved.
A good estate planning lawyer will sit with you and discuss every detail of your financial portfolio, your family situation, and your desires. Some people think of drafting a last will and testament as a DIY project and don’t realize there are many possible strategies available to you. Christopher P. Walker and his high-powered legal team can help you choose the correct legal instruments to implement and then draft air-tight documents that ensure your wishes are carried out.
Here are a few of the critical family law and estate planning situations we’d be honored to help you sort out:
- Creating a comprehensive plan for your estate (rather than simply charging you for a generic last will and testament the way some online “legal help” websites do).
- Drafting a legally binding succession plan for any business or commercial interests you wish to keep in your family.
- Preparing legal documents related to end-of-life medical care and other medical decisions that may need to be made on your behalf if you are incapacitated.
- Understanding the difference between estate planning and probate and how avoiding probate can protect your family, assets, and legacy.
- Assisting you in creating, funding, and administering any trusts that may need to be set up as part of your estate plan.
- Interfacing with the Orange County courts and handling probate on behalf of your beneficiaries and surviving family.
What Are the Three Primary Goals of Estate Planning?
The legal field of estate planning can encompass a daunting variety of situations, tactics, and legal processes. A good attorney specializing in estate planning and family law can help you determine which ones apply to your situation.
In general, you can break the purpose of estate planning down into three central tenets:
- Protecting your family. A correctly implemented estate plan can help to avoid lengthy cases in probate court. No probate judge can know your domestic situation, financial history, or personal wishes as well as you do. Even the best outcomes in probate court can take an unreasonably long time. With a solid estate plan in place, a judge needs to do little more than review your documents and verify their legality. After that, your assets are distributed to precisely the people you want them distributed to and on a greatly expedited timeline. Writing your own will can sound like a significant money saver, but consider the actual cost to your heirs if your DIY will doesn’t hold up in court.
- Distributing assets according to your wishes. Making sure your spouse or children get the assets you want them to have is critical for most people, but if you have no surviving family or would like your assets transferred to someone other than your next of kin upon your death, estate planning can become even more important. Without a strong, legally enforceable will or trust backing up your wishes, it will be left up to the probate court and their interpretation of a situation in which you can no longer speak for yourself.
- Planning for medical incapacity. Estate planning is not merely an end-of-life consideration. There are specialized power of attorney documents and various other legal instruments that can ensure your wishes are carried out if you should ever become medically incapacitated. By working with the Law Office of Christopher P. Walker to draft vital, legally enforceable estate planning documents, you and your family can plan for any situation. There is great peace of mind that comes with knowing medical care decisions, financial responsibilities, and stewardship of your assets will be handled according to your exact directions.
How Much Do Attorneys Charge to Settle an Estate in California?
The quality of your legal representation is a significant factor to consider when starting to plan your estate. Unfortunately, so is the cost.
Each lawyer has their own hourly or per-project rate, and it will largely depend on the complexity of your case, the size of your estate, whether extensive court appearances are required, and the overall amount of time needed to create and file the legal documents required.
The best strategy is to contact a qualified attorney directly, explain your needs, and ask for an estimate. Christopher P. Walker has over 25 years of experience protecting families and high-value assets through estate planning. Contact us today for help.
What Is the Estate Planning Process?
Although the process of planning for your death or the death of a loved one can seem intimidating and unpleasant, it can be broken down into simple steps.
- Discussions with your family and business partners about your wishes and their needs.
- Finding and contacting a qualified estate planning attorney.
- Choosing the correct strategy to protect your wishes, your family, and your assets.
- Drafting the legal documents that will enact that strategy.
- Filing those documents.
- Upon your death (or incapacitation), the court will verify your legal documents and execute them according to your wishes.
If a loved one passes without a proper estate plan in place, don’t despair. It’s not too late to contact a qualified family law attorney to help you. The legal complexities of executing someone’s estate are too consequential to be left up to chance.
Your Costa Mesa Estate Is in Great Hands With Christopher P. Walker
Once you’ve spoken to your family about your intentions and have a general idea of your goals, the next step is to contact the Law Office of Christopher P. Walker. Contact us here to learn more about the full range of estate planning services available to you in Costa Mesa.
How Much Do Lawyers Charge to Settle an Estate in California?
The quality of your legal representation is a significant factor to consider when starting to plan your estate. Unfortunately, so is the cost.
Each lawyer has their own hourly or per-project rate, and it will largely depend on the complexity of your case, the size of your estate, whether extensive court appearances are required, and the overall amount of time needed to create and file the legal documents required.
The best strategy is to contact a qualified attorney directly, explain your needs, and ask for an estimate. Christopher P. Walker has over 25 years of experience protecting families and high-value assets through estate planning. Contact us today for help.
What Is the Estate Planning Process?
Although the process of planning for your death or the death of a loved one can seem intimidating and unpleasant, it can be broken down into simple steps.
- Discussions with your family and business partners about your wishes and their needs.
- Finding and contacting a qualified estate planning attorney.
- Choosing the correct strategy to protect your wishes, your family, and your assets.
- Drafting the legal documents that will enact that strategy.
- Filing those documents.
- Upon your death (or incapacitation), the court will verify your legal documents and execute them according to your wishes.
If a loved one passes without a proper estate plan in place, don’t despair. It’s not too late to contact a qualified family law attorney to help you. The legal complexities of executing someone’s estate are too consequential to be left up to chance.
Contact Your Costa Mesa Estate Planning Attorney Christopher P. Walker
Once you’ve spoken to your family about your intentions and have a general idea of your goals, the next step is to contact the Law Office of Christopher P. Walker. Contact us here to learn more about the full range of estate planning services available to you in Costa Mesa.
From Our Clients
After years of putting off doing a will... we now can rest assured our family estate is legal and ready when we need it.
I found Mr. Walker on the net and am confident to recommend him for legal matters. Office staff was very attentive.
Hurray we finally did it!!!
- Tess
I've been through difficult times so I hired Mr. Christopher Walker to help me, I am very impressed the way he does business. He explains everything in a very professional way he did excellent job for me. I don't know many attorneys out there that answer they're office phone but he does and he returns calls quickly.
- Carlos C.
I have been working with Chris for at least 5 years. He helped us with our Trust. He is transparent and listens. I would recommend him highly.
- Octavio N.
I am not a man known for being a word smith so I am going to put it simply. The hardest year of my life has finally ended on a very high and happy note. Mr. Walker and Laurie are the best partners anyone could ask. They work tirelessly and made the difficult confusing process easy to understand and the clouds have now cleared! Thanks for everything.
- Justin C.