Probably more than you think. If you have a bank account, a home, or anyone who depends on you, you already have an estate. The size of what you own matters less than whether you've said anything about what happens to it.

A will says where your assets go and who cares for minor children, and it goes through probate. A trust can control how and when assets are distributed, and depending on how it's set up, may avoid probate altogether. Many people benefit from having both.

State law decides who inherits your assets, and a court appoints someone to oversee the process — called an administrator when there's no will naming an executor. The outcome rarely reflects what people would have actually chosen for themselves.

A trust only controls what's actually titled in its name, or accounts specifically designated to align with it. It's a common gap — a trust exists, but an account never gets retitled to match it, so the protection everyone assumed was there isn't. Worth checking, not assuming.

A power of attorney covers financial decisions if you're ever unable to make them yourself. A healthcare directive does the same for medical decisions. Most people need both — they cover different situations entirely.

Beyond providing for your family, life insurance is often used to equalize an inheritance among heirs, cover estate costs, or support a cause you care about, alongside whatever else you're leaving behind. Life insurance and annuities are a direct part of my practice — visit the Insurance page to learn more.

Usually not directly. Retirement accounts pass by beneficiary designation, not through a will or trust, and those designations override what your other documents say. Coordinating beneficiary designations with the rest of your estate plan is one of the more overlooked parts of the process.

No — that's always your estate attorney's role, and I don't give legal advice. What I do is coordinate directly with your attorney so your accounts and your estate plan are actually working together, and make sure nothing falls through the cracks between the two.

It’s a 30-minute conversation, by phone or Zoom — no cost, no obligation. This isn’t a review of your accounts, and I won’t tell you whether your current plan is sound; that’s not something a single call can honestly answer. We’ll talk about where you are and what you’re trying to accomplish, and I’ll share how I work, so we can both get a sense of whether it’s worth continuing the conversation. I won’t ask you to do business on this call — that comes later, if at all, and only after we’ve both had time to think it over. If it feels like a fit, the next step is a fuller first meeting where we go through your complete picture together.