Estate Planning

We prepare estate plans for individuals and families: wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, powers of attorney and advance directives.

We write the will or trust, supervise the signing, and prepare the deeds that carry out the plan, including transfer on death deeds and survivorship deeds. Bank accounts, retirement accounts and life insurance pass by their beneficiary designations and not by the will, so we review those designations with the client. We also review documents signed years ago to see whether they still do what the client intends.

For farm and ranch families, we plan how the land and the operation pass to the next generation, using entities, leases, buy-sell agreements and life insurance, and we work with the family’s accountant.

Services we provide

• Wills
• Revocable and irrevocable trusts
• Powers of attorney and advance directives
• Transfer on death and survivorship deeds
• Farm and ranch succession planning

Statutes and rules

• ORS chapter 112, Intestate Succession and Willswho takes when there is no will, and how a will must be signed and witnessed (ORS 112.235).
• ORS chapter 130, Uniform Trust Codethe Oregon Uniform Trust Code: how a trust is created, the trustee's duties, and the rights of beneficiaries.
• ORS chapter 127, Powers of Attorney; Advance Directives for Health Carefinancial powers of attorney (ORS 127.005 to 127.045) and the advance directive that names a health care representative (ORS 127.505 to 127.660).
• ORS 93.948 to 93.979, Transfer on death deedsa deed recorded during life that passes land at death without probate, revocable until then.

Resources

• Oregon State Bar, legal information for the publicthe Bar's plain-language pages on wills, trusts, probate and powers of attorney.