About
My firm provides probate administration services as well as estate planning services. Estate planning services includes preparation of various type of revocable and irrevocable trusts, wills, powers of attorney, medical directives. I have been in practice in Missouri for over 46 years.
Most services can be performed at a flat rate which I can quote after discovering what you wish to accomplish. I will provide an initial phone consultation at no cost (not to exceed a half hour). Fees for Probate are set by law and depend upon the type of assets in the estate and the value of those assets.
Quesion: What is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is the process of evaluating the family dynamics (marital status, children, grandchildren, charitable considerations, the estate assets (both type and amount, etc.). In the process we estimate the probable costs of estate settlement including tax consideration (federal and state transfer taxes, gift taxes, generation skipping transfer taxes, inheritance taxes, etc.), probate expenses and the like. Once the dynamics of the estate have been reviewed we determine what type of documentation might be advised. This might include use of trusts, gifts, wills, powers of attorney, deeds, etc.
Question: What makes up the "estate?"
The estate of any individual includes property (real property, personal property, life insurance, assets which might be expected from an inheritance, jointly owned property, retirement assets such as pensions, 401(k) plans, annuities and the like. bank accounts, investments, business interests and more.
Question: What is Probate?
Probate is the legal process of determining how assets in the estate are to be transferred at the time of death. This is a process completed within the Probate Court of the county were a person is living a the time of death. Distribution of estate assets is usually accomplished following directions that a person specifies in his or her last will and testament or, if there is no will, according to the state laws of inheritance. Sometimes a will may direct that certain assets be distributed to a trustee of a trust established in the will.
Question: What assets would be part of a probate estate?
Assets that are in the name of the individual. These assets could be land, stocks, bonds, bank accounts, precious metals such as gold, silver and the like. Assets that are NOT subject to probate administration would be jointly owned property, life insurance proceeds (as long as the beneficiaries are other than the person's estate), property that is part of a living trust, property that is to be transferred by operation of law such as "pay on death" accounts or "transfer on death" assets.
Question: What is a trust?
A trust is a legal instrument of holding the ownership of a persons assets in the name of a trustee for the benefit of the person, his or her spouse or partner, children, grandchildren, charity or other family members. These assets are managed by the trustee who also has the responsibility of trasnsferring those assets to the beneficiaries of the trust at the times specified in the trust. In most cases the estate owner or the estate owner and his or her spouse will be the initial trustees with other family members of financial institutions specified as "successor" trustees. The trust prevents the assets which make it up from being subject to probate administration.
Question: What are my qualifications as an estate attorney?
To be admitted as an attorney in Missouri a person must have completed a Bachelor Degree and obtain a law degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association. Once those requirements are met, the person must pass an examination by the Missouri Board of Law Examiners.
I attended St. Louis University where I received an A.B. degree in 1968. I was admitted to the University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia, Missouri in 1968. My completion of my legal education was interrupted by military service from 1969 to 1971. I obtained my J.D. degree from that law school in 1973. I was subsequently admitted to the Missouri Bar in September of 1973. In 1976 I returned to law school at Washington University Law School in St. Louis where I obtained a graduate law degree (LL.M.) in Tax Law.
I am licensed to practice in Missouri and in addition to Missouri courts, I have been admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits and to the United States Tax
Court.
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