Our Services
Guidance • Clarity • Protection
Wills & Trusts
Estate planning is personal. We take the time to understand your values and background so we can help you choose an estate plan that fits your needs—now and in the future.
Whether you have a large estate or relatively few assets, someone will have to address the distribution of those assets in the future. With proper planning, the process can be simplified. We often help clients balance tax impacts, family issues, designating beneficiaries, and more.
Planning may include:
- Revocable and irrevocable trust planning
- Tax and family management
- Planning for asset transfers to beneficiaries, such as friends, children, grandchildren, and charities
- Elder law
- Medicaid planning
- Pet trusts
- Dispositions of art and collectibles
End-of-Life Decisions
We help clients navigate end-of-life choices with clarity and care. When possible, many individuals want some level of control over their final moments. We can help ease your mind and simplify your options by putting the right guidance and documents in place.
End-of-life planning is about reducing uncertainty for you and for the people you trust. With proper documents in place, you can feel more confident that your wishes will be understood and respected—and your loved ones will have clear guidance when decisions need to be made.
Planning May Include:
- Advance directives and end-of-life preference planning
- Health care proxy and medical decision-making guidance
- Living wills and documentation of personal wishes
- Powers of attorney and planning for decision-making support
- Guidance for communicating wishes to loved ones and care providers
- Coordination of planning so documents work together clearly
Trust & Estate Administration
We carefully guide families through the trust administration and probate process and help keep the work organized during a difficult time. Our goal is to make the process clearer, reduce stress, and help ensure nothing important is overlooked.
Whether an estate is handled formally through a court process or a trust is administered outside of court, the responsibilities can feel overwhelming—especially during a time of grief. We help families stay informed and organized so the administration moves forward as smoothly as possible.
Services include:
- Trust administration
- Estate administration, including Surrogate’s Court proceedings
- Retirement account management
- Informal collection of assets and value determinations
- Payment of debts, taxes, and administration expenses
Estate, Probate & Trust Litigation
Our office currently handles uncontested estate and trust matters. When a controversy arises, we help clients connect with experienced estate litigation counsel and provide support to keep the matter organized and moving forward.
Contested matters often involve sensitive family dynamics and overlapping legal and financial issues. When disputes arise, we help clients pursue practical next steps, stay organized, and work toward solutions that protect both legal rights and long-term peace of mind whenever possible.
We can assist with:
- Disputes about the validity or terms of a Will or Trust
- Asset transfer and ownership disputes
- Disputes between beneficiaries and trustees
- Questions about the competence or honesty of a fiduciary, whether executor, administrator, trustee, or guardian
- Claims for an accounting
- Questions about the need for a guardianship, or its proper scope or duration
- Disputes over actions taken under a financial or medical power of attorney
- Actions to replace fiduciaries such as trustees or guardians
Specialty Legal Services
Some clients come to our office because they do not have family members or friends they can comfortably rely on to assist them. For those clients, additional legal support may be needed to help manage personal, financial, and care-related responsibilities with privacy and professional oversight.
If you would like help with your personal affairs, we can discuss what level of support makes the most sense for your situation. Call (315) 500-2025 or request a consultation to get started.
Services may include:
- Serving as trustee, executor, or agent under a power of attorney or health care proxy
- Care coordination (in-home, nursing level, institutional)
- Management of day-to-day finances
- Coordination with accountants, care providers, and financial advisers
- Personal organization and life-management assistance