What is Estate Planning?

A well-crafted Estate Plan protects your assets, safeguards your loved ones, and minimizes stress.

Collection of Polaroid photos showing happy moments with family and friends outdoors.

What's an Estate Plan and what are the benefits?

Collection of Polaroid photos showing happy moments with family and friends outdoors.

An Estate Plan is a strategic arrangement of legal documents that ensure your wishes are honored, your assets are protected, and your loved ones are cared for, even when you can no longer make decisions yourself.

Safeguard Your Assets

A well-crafted Estate Plan helps you avoid costly Probate, can reduce taxes, and ensures your wealth is distributed precisely as intended.

You’ve worked hard to build your legacy.

Protect it.

Protect Your Loved Ones

An Estate Plan ensures your family is cared for and your wishes are honored, avoiding confusion or disputes during challenging times.

It provides clear instructions that ease the burden on your loved ones and helps them confidently navigate difficult decisions.

Ensure Clarity and Control

Take charge of your future! Make key decisions about your healthcare, finances, and legacy ahead of time.

With an Estate Plan, you maintain control over key aspects of your life despite unexpected circumstances.

Tailor to Your Needs

Every individual and family is unique, and your Estate Plan should reflect that.

You can tailor your plan to your specific circumstances, priorities, and goals, ensuring your legacy is preserved exactly as you intend.

Here's how we can help.

Vanguard Estate Planning Services

Elderly woman laughing while seated at an outdoor dining table with family and friends.

Revocable Trusts

A Revocable Trust, also known as a Living Trust, is a legal arrangement in which an individual (the grantor or settlor) transfers assets into a Trust during their lifetime.

Man working on a laptop and taking notes at an outdoor cafe.

Irrevocable Trusts

An Irrevocable Trust is a legal arrangement in which the grantor, or person creating the Trust, relinquishes control and ownership of the assets placed in the Trust.

Older woman holding hands with a child wearing a dress with bunny patterns.

Trust Administration

California requires a process called Trust Administration to transfer control of assets so they can be legally distributed after death.

Elderly man and young woman using a laptop, smiling as they work together.

Professional Trustee Services

When a Trustor names a Successor Trustee, this individual will assume responsibilities when the trustor is incapacitated or dies.

Elderly woman smiling while holding hands with a younger woman.

Special Needs Trusts

A Special Needs Trust is a legal instrument designed to provide financial support for individuals with disabilities without jeopardizing their eligibility for government assistance programs.

Close-up of a contract with a pen resting on top.

Heggstad Petitions

A Heggstad Petition is a legal action filed in California Probate court to validate the intent of a decedent who failed to transfer an asset into their Trust.

Woman typing on a laptop at a desk with notebooks and a cup of coffee.

Probate

Probate in California is a legal process for all estates valued over $184,500 when the property or assets are not in Trust.

Two professionals shaking hands, with a third person holding a tablet nearby.

Property Deed Services

Whether you’ve recently purchased or refinanced your home or inherited real property, we can ensure your property is properly held inside your Trust.

Man sitting at a desk, using a smartphone with a laptop open in front of him.

Estate Planning Checklist

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc elementum eu ante sed scelerisque. Nunc elementum eu a.

Results You Can Trust.

Open quotation marks

27,000+

Satisfied clients

50+

convenient locations

30+

years of practice experience​

Ready to get started with your Estate Planning?

Get started today!

How Can We Assist You?

Use the form to tell us your needs, and we’ll provide the guidance you’re looking for.

Contact - What is Estate Planning