Estate & Probate

Lawyer Harry J. Histen provides both estate planning and probate administration services for clients in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties in California with the aim of reducing or eliminating probate costs and estate taxes.  He offers a free initial consultation to discuss your estate planning or probate needs.

Estate planning services:
Estate planning is highly personalized, and may involve a number a number of legal tools.  These include:

• Revocable Trusts, which are means of holding assets so that the trust survives the death of the maker, thereby avoiding probate.  In larger estates, revocable trusts can substantially reduce or eliminate estate taxes, while allowing assets to pass directly to heirs without court involvement.  Trusts also provide for delayed distribution to children.
  
  
• Irrevocable Trusts, which are often used by high-net worth individuals to hold life insurance policies.  Life insurance benefits paid to an irrevocable trust are not considered part of a person’s estate for estate tax purposes.
  
  
• Special Needs Trusts, to provide for children or adults with special needs such as physical or mental disabilities.
  
  
• Powers of Attorney, which allow a trusted family member to make financial and health care decisions in event of your incapacity.
  
  
• Advanced Heath Care Directives (also called Living Wills), which allow you to specify what steps you want medical providers to take to prolong your life in the event of a terminal illness.
  
  
• Wills, which are often used by young couples without significant assets to designate a guardian for their children.  Some clients also use wills if they want a portion of their estate to pass through the probate process to adjudicate claims of potential creditors.

Probate Services:
If you do your estate planning with trusts, the trust assets can pass directly to heirs upon your death without court involvement.  The probate process is used to distribute assets and pay legitimate bills of a person who dies either with a will or without a will (also known as intestate).

If you are named as executor of a will or as administrator of a estate for a person who dies without a will, Attorney Histen can help you perform an accounting of the estate assets and liabilities, review and negotiate payment of creditor’s claims and assist in distributing assets to heirs. He often helps family members who are called up to be the executor of the estate of their last surviving parent.

The assistance of an experienced probate attorney can help you administer estates promptly and accurately.  A probate attorney can also provide you with some protection against liability issues.

Estate litigation:
Lawyer Histen also provides litigation services for:

• Will contests
• Trustee or executor disputes, including misappropriation of assets
• Failure to distribute estates on a timely basis

Call Harry Histen at (951) 682-4121 for a consultation about your legal needs.

Law Firm of Harry Histen
1485 Spruce Street, Suite E
Riverside, CA 92501
Phone (951) 682-4121
Fax (951) 682-0480
 Email