Ms. Widenor is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Law School, and has twenty-two years of experience practicing law in Alameda County. Her firm provides services in the following areas:
- Estate planning: The first step is a personal consultation with you to review your current estate plan, provide an estimate of estate taxes and expenses that will be incurred in the administration of your estate, and discuss the pros and cons of using a will, a living trust, and other probate-avoidance techniques for your particular estate. You will be advised of the various planning options for minimizing estate taxes, such as exemption trusts, family limited partnerships, life insurance trusts, and trusts to make gifts to family members. The next stage is planning and preparing the documents you will need. Wills and trusts are personally drafted for the individual needs of the client.
- Conservatorships: Individuals who become physically or mentally incapacitated sometimes need court-supervised management of their affairs. This proceeding is called a conservatorship. We provide assistance with this and with other options for estate management of incapacitated persons, including planning to avoid a conservatorship through the use of durable powers of attorney, trusts and health care powers of attorney.
- Probates, Non-Probate Administration and Trust Administration: Estate administration takes place when someone dies, and may involve a probate court proceeding, other shorter court proceedings, or non-probate transfers. Trust administration is necessary during the lifetime of an individual who establishes a trust, and also after that person's death. Trust administration services consist of advising the trustee of legal and tax requirements, and preparing documents required for transfers of trust property, succession of trustees, and distributions. Trust and estate administration services include preparation of estate tax returns and assistance with accountings, where required.
If you need assistance in one of these areas, please call my office to schedule an appointment. My
Contact page has various ways you can reach me.