Oregon Estate Planning
A good estate plan does more than determine who receives your property. It provides a plan for your family, protects the people you care about, identifies who can act for you if you become incapacitated, and makes the administration of your estate easier when you die.
Andrew Downs Law, LLC helps individuals and families create practical estate plans tailored to their assets, families, and goals.
Based in St. Helens and serving clients throughout Oregon.
START YOUR ESTATE PLAN
More Than a Will
Estate planning is the process of deciding what should happen to your property, who should make decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself, and how your family should be protected if something happens to you.
A comprehensive estate plan may include a will, revocable living trust, financial power of attorney, advance directive, beneficiary designations, deeds, and other documents depending on your circumstances.
There is no single estate plan that is right for everyone.
We begin by understanding your family, assets, concerns, and goals. We then help you determine which planning tools make sense—and which ones you do not need.
Living Trusts
A revocable living trust can provide for management of assets during your lifetime and allow properly funded trust assets to pass outside probate after death.
Trusts can be particularly useful for certain families, but they are not necessary for everyone.
LEARN ABOUT TRUSTS →
Wills
A will directs how probate assets should be distributed, nominates a personal representative to administer your estate, and can nominate guardians for minor children.
We prepare wills designed around your family, property, and overall estate plan.
LEARN ABOUT WILLS →
Building an Estate Plan Around Your Life
An estate plan should reflect your actual circumstances rather than simply provide a collection of standard documents. Andrew Downs Law, LLC can help with:
Planning for Minor Children
Nominate guardians and establish appropriate arrangements for property inherited by children rather than leaving substantial assets directly to a minor.
Beneficiary and Asset Coordination
Coordinate wills and trusts with retirement accounts, life insurance, jointly owned property, transfer-on-death arrangements, and other assets that may pass outside a will.
Estate Tax Planning
Identify potential Oregon and federal estate-tax issues and incorporate appropriate planning for families whose estates may be subject to estate tax.
Business Succession Planning
Coordinate ownership of closely held businesses with the owner's broader estate plan and succession goals.
Wills
Direct how property should be distributed, nominate a personal representative, and address guardianship for minor children.
Revocable Living Trusts
Create a framework for managing and distributing trust assets during incapacity and after death while potentially avoiding probate for properly funded assets.
Financial Powers of Attorney
Authorize trusted individuals to handle financial and legal matters if assistance becomes necessary.
Advance Directives
Document health-care wishes and designate individuals to participate in medical decisions when appropriate.
Our Estate Planning Process
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We begin by gathering information about your family, property, existing estate-planning documents, and the people you may want to serve in important roles.
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We discuss what you want your plan to accomplish, including inheritance, incapacity, minor children, probate avoidance, tax concerns, business interests, and other priorities.
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We recommend an estate-planning structure appropriate for your circumstances and prepare the documents necessary to implement it.
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We review the documents with you, answer questions, complete signing, and discuss any additional steps necessary to coordinate assets with the plan.
Do I Need a Living Trust?
Not everyone needs a revocable living trust.
For some Oregon families, a well-drafted will, power of attorney, advance directive, and properly coordinated beneficiary designations may accomplish their planning goals.
For others, a living trust can provide significant advantages—particularly when avoiding probate, managing property during incapacity, controlling the timing of distributions, owning property in multiple states, or addressing more complicated family or financial circumstances.
The important question is not whether a trust is generally "better" than a will. It is whether a trust makes sense for your particular situation.
We help clients understand the advantages, limitations, costs, and ongoing requirements of each approach before deciding how to structure their estate plan.
Estate Planning for Families With Significant Assets
As an estate grows, estate planning can involve considerably more than deciding who receives property.
Real estate, retirement accounts, investment portfolios, life insurance, business interests, and other assets may pass under different rules and require careful coordination.
Oregon also imposes its own estate tax, making tax planning particularly important for some Oregon families.
We help clients evaluate the structure of their estates, coordinate assets with their estate-planning documents, consider potential estate-tax exposure, and develop plans intended to preserve and efficiently transfer family wealth.
Planning may also address:
• Oregon estate-tax considerations
• Trust planning
• Business succession
• Real estate ownership
• Retirement and beneficiary designations
• Life insurance
• Gifts and lifetime transfers
• Planning for children and future generations
Estate Planning for Parents
For parents of minor children, estate planning is about much more than property.
A thoughtful estate plan can nominate the people you would want to serve as guardians, determine who should manage inherited property for your children, and establish when and how children should ultimately receive their inheritance.
Without appropriate planning, important decisions may instead be left to default rules and court proceedings.
We help parents create plans that address both who will care for their children and how the assets they leave behind should be managed for them.
Estate Planning in Columbia County and Throughout Oregon
Andrew Downs Law, LLC is based in St. Helens, Oregon, and helps individuals and families create estate plans designed around their particular circumstances.
We serve clients in St. Helens, Scappoose, Columbia City, Rainier, Clatskanie, and communities throughout Columbia County, as well as clients elsewhere in Oregon when appropriate.
Our approach is straightforward: understand what you own, who you want to protect, and what you want your plan to accomplish—then build an estate plan around those goals.
Oregon Estate Planning Frequently Asked Questions
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A will can be an important part of an estate plan. It can direct distribution of probate property, nominate a personal representative, nominate guardians for minor children, and address other matters. Whether a will alone is sufficient depends on your assets and planning goals.
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Not everyone needs a living trust. Whether one makes sense depends on your assets, family circumstances, goals, and reasons for considering a trust.
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Assets properly transferred to and held by a revocable living trust generally can be administered outside probate after the settlor's death. Assets left outside the trust may still require probate or another transfer procedure.
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No. A will generally directs how probate property should be distributed, but having a will does not itself avoid probate.
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When someone dies without a valid will, Oregon's intestacy laws generally determine who inherits property that passes through the probate estate.
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A financial power of attorney can be useful for most adults because it allows a designated person to act on financial or legal matters within the authority provided by the document.
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Minor children generally should not receive substantial property outright. Estate planning can establish arrangements for someone to manage inherited property for children until the ages or circumstances specified in the plan.
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An estate plan should be reviewed periodically and after significant life or financial changes, such as marriage, divorce, births, deaths, substantial changes in assets, business changes, or changes in the people designated to serve important roles.
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Yes. Oregon imposes an estate tax that is separate from the federal estate tax. Families with potentially taxable estates should consider Oregon estate-tax consequences as part of their planning.
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Estate-planning documents can be created without an attorney, but the documents must satisfy applicable legal requirements and work together with the ownership and beneficiary structure of your assets. An attorney can help identify issues that standardized documents may not address.
Practical Estate Planning. Personal Legal Advice.
Estate planning involves personal decisions about family, property, finances, and the future.
Andrew Downs Law, LLC provides individualized estate-planning advice rather than treating planning as a collection of standardized documents.
We explain the available options, help identify issues that may otherwise be overlooked, and develop an estate plan designed around your circumstances and goals.
Protect What You've Built. Plan for What Comes Next.
Whether you need a first will, want to create a living trust, have young children, own a business, or need to revisit an older estate plan, the first step is understanding your circumstances and goals.
Tell us a little about yourself, your family, and what you would like your estate plan to accomplish.
START YOUR ESTATE PLAN