Annual Review
We offer families the chance to review their estate plan every year, as part of an ongoing asset-protection strategy that keeps the plan aligned with your life.
Estate Administration
Planning your affairs to avoid probate.
Settling a loved one's estate is hard enough without a courthouse maze. We guide Ohio families and help structure estate plans that avoid probate entirely, so the next generation skips the court process.
What is Probate?
A public process, on the court's terms.
A will tells the court what to do. It becomes part of the public record and almost always triggers probate, the formal process of settling an estate under judicial supervision.
When there is no will, state law decides who inherits, in a fixed order that may not reflect what your loved one actually wanted.
Either way, once an estate enters probate, an executor is left to manage a court process, a stack of accounts, and a family that's looking to them for answers.
There are several good reasons to want to avoid probate:
- Public by default. Anyone can read what the estate held and who received it.
- Slow. Beneficiaries often wait the better part of a year before assets are distributed.
- Costly. Court costs, filing fees, and bond premiums come out of the estate and add up.
- Stressful. The executor juggles strict legal deadlines during a season of grief.
Avoiding Probate
The best probate case is the one you never file.
Most of the pain above is avoidable with planning done in advance.
A will alone typically still requires probate. But a properly funded revocable living trust can keep many assets out of court, and certain accounts can pass straight to the people you name when they're set up correctly.
A trust tells your trustee what to do. It stays private and can keep your family out of court entirely.
- Hold real estate and key accounts in a funded revocable trust, so they pass to your trustee, not the court
- Add transfer-on-death and payable-on-death designations to deeds and accounts where they fit
- Keep beneficiary designations current on retirement accounts and life insurance
- Review the plan after major life events so nothing slips back into probate by accident
Estate Administration
Create an estate plan that avoids probate.
We'll work with you to put estate planning documents in place that are built to keep your affairs out of the courts. All at a flat fee, with no billing surprises and a real person to call when you have questions or updates.
Free Periodic Updates
Most families need estate plan updates every few years as circumstances change. When yours does, we make those updates for free.
A Plan That Evolves With You
New addition to the family? New property or account? We keep your documents current so the plan still does its job when it matters.
“When a parent passes, the last thing a family needs is a courthouse. Our job is to plan so that weight never lands on them.”
Wills & Trusts
The foundation: a will that directs your wishes and a living trust that keeps your family out of probate court.
Learn more
Living Trusts
A revocable living trust that keeps your estate out of probate, private, and under your control while you're alive.
Learn more
Powers of Attorney
Name who can act on your behalf (financial and healthcare) if you can't speak for yourself.
Learn moreLiving Wills & Advance Directives
Your wishes on life-sustaining treatment, in writing, paired with a healthcare power of attorney so your family never has to guess.
Learn more
Advanced Trust Planning
Tailored trusts for minors, special-needs heirs, blended families, and staged distributions over time.
Learn more
Dynasty Trusts & DAPTs
Permanent protection for real estate, investments, and business, shielded from taxes, creditors, and probate.
Learn moreIrrevocable & Asset Protection Trusts
Irrevocable structures (including the Ohio Legacy Trust) that put wealth beyond the reach of future lawsuits and creditors.
Learn moreCommon Questions
Estate administration questions, answered plainly.
Funding means retitling your assets (real estate, accounts, and other property) into the name of the trust. A trust that isn't funded gives you no probate protection, which is the step most DIY trusts quietly skip.
No. A will directs how your assets are distributed, but assets passing under a will still go through probate. Avoiding probate takes a different set of tools, such as a funded trust or beneficiary designations.
Yes. A revocable living trust can be amended as your life changes, whether you acquire a new asset, add a beneficiary, or simply change your wishes. That flexibility is one of its main advantages.
After any major life event (a marriage or divorce, a birth or death in the family, a move, or a significant change in assets), and every few years otherwise, to make sure everything is still properly funded and up to date.