Areas of Practice
➔ Estate Planning
Give your loved ones peace of mind.
Proper estate planning developed by our firm will help to avoid high estate taxes and the lengthy and costly process of probate. Additionally, a well-drafted estate plan can provide you with the peace of mind of knowing that assets will go to the designated heirs in an orderly manner upon your passing. Estate planning can serve other needs as well. For instance, you can dictate your course of medical care should you become incapacitated or on life support with an advanced healthcare directive. Orderly arrangement of our clients’ estates create for the best tax and family effect. The Law Offices of Verleana D. Green provides full service estate planning to clients by preparing wills, trusts and related documents. Our firm also probates estates and assists with conservatorship and guardianship proceedings.
➔ Trust Administration
We assist you in protecting your family’s future.
Trust administration is often complicated and confusing, and can seem overwhelming at times. The process is strained even further due to the emotions and conflicts that arise among the trust beneficiaries as a result of family dynamics and the grieving process. If not properly dealt with, these emotions and conflicts often play out in court in protracted and expensive trust litigation. We can help you avoid such a result by offering you competent and capable assistance throughout the trust administration process.
If a person dies and they have a Trust, then the successor Trustee, named in the Trust, must “administer” the Trust. They read the Trust and follow all of the instructions in the Trust; they must also follow all of the state and federal laws that impact the decedent’s estate. This is called a Trust Administration or a Trust Settlement.
The process for administering a Trust is similar to a probate in many important ways; however, the biggest difference is that a Trust Administration is a private process whereas a Probate is a court-supervised process. A Trustee acts in a fiduciary capacity in the administration of a Trust, owing certain legal duties to the beneficiaries.
If the Trustee exceeds their powers, they may be held liable for loss or damage to the Trust Estate. It is essential that the successor Trustee obtain legal advice in order to properly administer the Trust and be protected from liability to the beneficiaries.
If you were named as successor trustee of a trust, and were expected to act as trustee tomorrow, would you know what to do? If you’re like most people, you would be overwhelmed with just trying to figure out what you are supposed to do and have no idea how to do it. You would therefore immediately retain an attorney to assist you in the routine tasks of administration. VDG Law provides comprehensive Trust Administration services to make it easy for any Trust, large or small, to be administered in a low cost, time efficient manner.
➔ Probate
We handle the probate process from start to finish.
Losing a loved one is a sad and difficult time for family, relatives, and friends. In addition, those left behind must often figure out how to transfer or inherit property from the person who has died. This process is probate.
To do this, you must usually go to court. Dealing with the courts and the property of someone who has died is very complicated. Sometimes, however, family or relatives may be able to transfer property from someone who has died without going to court. But it is not always easy to tell whether you need to go to court for probate or qualify to use a different procedure.
If probate is necessary, someone must come forward to start the process. If there’s a will, the executor named in the will should get the ball rolling. If there’s no will, or the person named to serve as executor isn’t available, then usually a family member asks the court to be appointed as the “administrator” of the estate. It’s the same job.
VDG Law is here to assist executors, administrators and families going through the death of a loved one. We draft the necessary documents, hire other necessary professionals (such as real estate brokers to sell property), and make sure that all Probate procedures are adhered to. The services you will receive from the staff at VDG Law are unique to fit your families’ particular situation, and provided with the utmost professionalism.
➔ Contract Review & Negotiation
An attorney review of any contract is an important aspect of protecting yourself from unwanted and unneeded litigation. After all, attorneys usually are the ones drafting complicated agreements that are in “legalese”, so why not have an attorney review your contract to ensure you understand the terms fully. The Law Offices of Verleana D. Green provides comprehensive contract drafting, reviewing and negotiating services for individuals, families and businesses. As a former mutual funds contract negotiator for Charles Schwab & Co., and Robert Half International Inc., Ms. Green has experience negotiating complicated broker dealer agreements, employment agreements and RFP’s. Ms. Green was also certified by the National Football League as a Certified Contract Advisor in 2009, and has experience reviewing and negotiating sports contacts. In addition, Ms. Green drafted, reviewed and negotiated a variety of contracts as owner and operator of the Law Offices of Verleana D. Green. Before you sign on the dotted line, have your contract reviewed by VDG Law.
