Michael Gilfix

Estate Planning focuses on development of a comprehensive, multi-generational plan to manage, protect, and preserve family assets. It includes trusts, powers of attorney, tax planning, special needs planning.

32 years, 2,000 cases

Elder Law addresses all legal planning needs of older clients and their families. It often focuses on addressing of long term care -- qualifying for Medicaid/Medi-Cal, asset preservation, and ensuring quality of care. Special Needs planning for the benefit of disabled family members is often related. It includes surrogate decision making, relying on personalized Durable Powers of Attorney, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and steps to avoid court involvement unless it is unavoidable.

42 years, 2,000 cases

Trusts are at the heart of estate planning, elder law, and special needs planning. Revocable living trusts are appropriate for the vast majority, while a number of irrevocable trusts are utilized for tax, asset protection, and special puroposes. Dynasty trusts are typically established for the benefit of children to maximize protection of inherited assets from divorce, litigation, and estate tax exposure for future generations.

32 years, 1,800 cases

Probate is the court supervised process by which an individual's estate is passed along to heirs. While we routinely and successfully handle probate matters, we emphasize that probate is to avoided by more sophisticated trust planning. Probate can include dispute resolution, easily managed by our Litigation Department.

32 years, 200 cases