Areas of Practice

It is important that your Living Trust or Will is drafted by a Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate law under the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Your Living Trust protects the people most important to you and all of your assets, so most clients will never be made aware of a latent deficiency or defect in improperly constructed documents. Since our firm also specializes in trust and probate litigation, our fully customized estate planning documents reflect the issues which have been tested and tried in courts in order to help avoid potential complications in the future. Therefore, we can review your current documents and prepare amendments when necessary.

Revocable Living Trusts and related ancillary estate planning documents are designed to avoid costly and complicated probate and conservatorship proceedings. However, all Revocable Living Trusts are not created with the same level of professionalism, competency and diligence. We fully customize every Revocable Living Trust for each client, based on their individual interests, family dynamic, assets, business entities, and so forth. There is never a “one size fits all” approach to planning properly, plus tax rules and laws are constantly changing, so please allow us to review your existing trust for latent deficiencies and defects before they become problematic.

Everyone has a unique situation when it comes to their individual family and friends. We take pride in protecting persons with disabilities, which may have occurred at birth, or developed as the result of an illness or accident. We want to ensure that governmental eligibility for those with Special Needs is preserved, while also allowing them to improve their quality of life through customized estate planning. We have handled thousands of Special Needs cases and we can guide you through the options that best support your family and friends.

Advance planning can maintain your business continuity in the event of retirement, disability or the untimely passing of an owner or “key person.” A well-drafted and executed succession plan can keep your business profitable and help to avoid major setbacks during transitional periods. Many employers consider their employees extensions of their own family and want to ensure that the livelihood of each member of their organization will not be compromised by an unexpected incident.

California law allows for the creation of a guardianship for people under the age 18 when a person becomes legally incapacitated and can no longer manage his or her own affairs. This can be planned in advance or accommodated if an accident or unexpected onset of incapacity results in an instant need for a guardianship.

Upon the passing of the person(s) creating the Living Trust, this now irrevocable trust document needs to undergo a mandatory trust administrative process in order to wind down the decedent’s affairs. This is accomplished by first satisfying all legal obligations, creditors, taxes, and funeral expenses, before ultimately transferring all remaining assets to the intended beneficiaries. Simply having a trust does not mean assets somehow “magically” transfer themselves to the beneficiaries. A Successor Trustee has a fiduciary duty to perform this role after the passing of the trust creator in a diligent, objective and impartial manner, which is in the best interests of the beneficiaries. Even sole beneficiaries who are also the Successor Trustee have many legal requirements that must be performed before actually inheriting assets. Our attorneys can provide you with the highest level of services and advice you need to successfully navigate through this complicated process. We can handle all aspects of the trust administrative procedure and help insulate the Successor Trustee from personal civil or financial liability, which may by imposed upon them for not following the rules in their entirety. Unfortunately, we spend a lot of our professional time trying to assist people who did not follow the rules and as a result, there were adverse tax and legal consequences which could have been avoided.

The legal process by which an estate’s assets are distributed to the decedents or heirs under the supervision of the probate court. This occurs when someone has passed away without a Living Trust or with only a Will.  Many people have misunderstandings about probate, but generally speaking, probate should be avoided, as it is expensive, complicated and time-consuming. Below is a table of California probate fees, which are mandated by law.

Estate value Minimum Fees*
$200,000 $14,000
$300,000 $18,000
$400,000 $22,000
$500,000 $26,000
$750,000 $36,000
$1,000,000 $46,000
$2,000,000 $66,000

*If contested, fees can be much higher.

If you do not have a Living Trust, a possible alternative to probate for a surviving spouse may be the filing of a Spousal Property Petition.  In this case, a surviving spouse may be able to present information and facts demonstrating the community property ownership interest of their deceased spouse and request that a court consider awarding the surviving spouse the deceased spouse’s community property.  This approach saves considerable time and money when applicable.

Questions about a legal issue?

ASK OUR EXPERTS

Questions about a legal issue?

ASK OUR EXPERTS

Awards & Honors

Distinguished Specialization

It’s important to have knowledge and expertise you can count on. We are proud that our attorney is certified as a Legal Specialist by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization, in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate law, a certification and distinction awarded to less than 1% of all California attorneys.

Nationally Recognized

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The patented selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. We pride ourselves that our attorney continues to hold this honor.

Trusted Reputation

Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™, the gold standard in attorney ratings, have recognized lawyers for their strong legal ability and high ethical standards for more than a century. This designation is the product of our commitment to excellence in communication skills, legal knowledge and ethics. Our attorney has received this distinguished honor of professional excellence.

Highly Rated

Our attorney has consistently received the annual Avvo Client’s Choice Award for exceptional ratings in professionalism and client satisfaction. This distinction reflects the overall experience our clients have when retaining our services, as well as how often we are recommended to others by our clients.

Voted Best Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Attorney

Easy Reader newsweekly recognizes outstanding establishments in the South Bay community, from Manhattan Beach to Redondo Beach. In their “Best of the Beach” magazine, which circulates 45,000 households, Mark Swatik was voted Best Trust Attorney. We are so grateful to the local residents for this honor.

Voted Best Living Trust Attorney

The Daily Breeze, The Beach Reporter and the Palos Verdes Peninsula News have teamed up to recognize outstanding businesses in the community. We are so thankful for this award as South Bay’s Best Attorney and are committed to upholding this honor for many years to come.

OFFICE

Telephone:
(310) 540-6000

ADDRESS

21250 Hawthorne Blvd, Suite 500
Torrance, CA 90503

OFFICE

Telephone:
(310) 540-6000

ADDRESS

21250 Hawthorne Blvd, Suite 500
Torrance, CA 90503

Contact Us