What We Do

At Summerall Law, we focus on helping people put a clear, practical estate plan in place — one that works during life and after death, without unnecessary complexity.

Who We Serve

We primarily work with people who want to:

Avoid probate, and
Create a smooth transition if something happens, whether during incapacity or after death

This includes individuals and couples who:

Own a home or have assets such as brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, or life insurance
Want a thoughtful plan for how their assets pass
Want someone they trust to step in if they become incapacitated
Do not need highly complex, tax-driven structures (generally above $15M per person)

This is what we think of as the core planning group in California — the vast majority of people.

For this group, the most important goal is: a plan that works cleanly, avoids court involvement, and provides clarity both during life and after death.

Our Core Work: Complete Estate Planning

Most people need a coordinated set of documents that work together — not just one piece in isolation.

Our core plans typically include:

Revocable Living Trust — The foundation of the plan, designed to avoid probate and provide clear instructions for management and distribution
Will (pour-over will) — A backup document that works alongside the trust
Power of Attorney — Allows someone to manage financial matters if you are incapacitated
Advance Health Care Directive — Covers medical decisions and end-of-life preferences
Guardianship Nominations (if applicable) — For minor children
Special Needs Trust provisions (if needed) — Built into the plan when appropriate
Funding Instructions — Clear guidance on how to align your assets with your plan
Deed Work (if applicable) — Including transferring real estate into your trust

Common Add-Ons

Some clients need additional structure depending on their assets or goals. We commonly provide:

Separate Property Trusts — A frequent add-on for married clients who want to keep certain assets distinct

A Note on Advanced Tax Planning

There is a category of estate planning designed primarily for very high net worth individuals — generally those with estates expected to exceed $15 million per person.

This includes strategies such as:

GRATs (Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts)
ILITs (Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts)
Other complex irrevocable structures

These strategies are designed to reduce estate taxes, but they come with trade-offs.

For most people:

These plans apply to less than 1% of the population, and
They often result in the loss of a step-up in basis, which can create significant capital gains tax exposure

Our focus is on building plans that are appropriate for the vast majority of people — without introducing unnecessary complexity or unintended tax consequences.

What We Don't Do

We intentionally focus our practice so we can do this work well and efficiently. There are several areas we do not currently handle:

Will-only plans — If you are looking to do only a will without a trust, we are not the right fit
Probate administration
Trust administration (expected to be added later this year)
Conservatorships
Litigation of any kind
Irrevocable trust planning (outside of special needs trusts)

Additional Things People Often Assume We Do (But Aren't Core to Our Practice)

These are areas that frequently come up but are outside our primary scope:

Business / entity work

Drafting or restructuring LLC operating agreements
Corporate governance or partnership agreements

Tax strategy and filings

Preparing or filing tax returns
Ongoing tax planning or CPA services

Real estate beyond trust funding

Purchase agreements
Lease agreements
Title disputes

Court-based matters

Probate litigation
Trust disputes
Guardianship or conservatorship proceedings

Ongoing fiduciary roles

Acting as trustee or executor
Day-to-day administration of trusts or estates (until that service is added)

Asset Protection Planning

(Where protection actually works)

This is an area where there is a lot of confusion.

Certain "asset protection trusts" that you may hear about are generally not available in California for your own assets
Most of these strategies rely on out-of-state or offshore structures, which typically do not protect you from liability for actions that occur in California

What we do provide, when appropriate, are irrevocable structures and provisions that are commonly built into estate plans, including:

Generation-skipping transfer (GST) trusts
Disclaimer trusts
Bypass trusts
Children's trusts with built-in asset protection (creditor protection trusts)

These types of provisions are designed to:

Protect assets for the next generation from creditors and lawsuits
Help ensure assets are not diverted to a beneficiary's spouse in the event of divorce
Create structure so that, after your death, a surviving spouse can use assets during their lifetime while still ensuring that your share ultimately passes to your intended beneficiaries

Rather than attempting to shield your own assets during life in ways that are often ineffective under California law.

Long-term care / Medi-Cal planning

Crisis planning for nursing home care
Medi-Cal eligibility strategies

Closing Thought

We focus on doing one thing well: helping people put a plan in place that actually works.

If your situation falls outside of that scope, it usually means you need a different type of planning — not a more complicated version of the same plan.