ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY IN WEST HILLS, CA

I’ve been practicing law since 1990.

I graduated from UCLA and UCLA School of Law, then spent much of my legal career helping individuals and families deal with complicated financial issues, including complex asset and creditor protection (do you remember John Grisham ?). That experience taught me something that eventually brought me to traditional estate planning:

It’s usually easier to plan for a problem than to clean one up afterward.

Today, my practice is focused on traditional estate planning —living trusts, powers of attorney, health care directives, Medi-Cal planning, special needs trusts, avoiding probate, and the questions families face when someone dies or becomes unable to manage things for themselves.

But there’s more to the story.

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I took a few detours.

After practicing law for many years, I got divorced, left Los Angeles and ran a vacation-rental business in Palm Springs. Eventually I sold the properties, retired early, traveled and lived wherever the surf took me.

Hawaii. Costa Rica. Nicaragua. Vietnam. Sri Lanka. Bali. Mexico.

I learned two things.

First, I am apparently incapable of sitting on a beach indefinitely.

Second, retirement gave me time to think about what kind of work I actually wanted to do.

So I came back.

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Back, in this case, really does mean back. My connection to the West Valley goes back a while. I graduated from Canoga Park High School, lived in Chatsworth just south of Stoney Point, bought my first house in Porter Ranch-S&S Heights right above the YMCA, and my kids were born at Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills. I even crashed my first car—a Ford Pinto—near Taft High School. I survived both the Pinto (remember the Pintos that exploded ?) and the drive through Topanga Canyon to surf Gladstones. Today, I'm back in West Hills, not far from where much of it started.

The circle of life.

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Why estate planning?

At this point in my life, I’m dealing with many of the same things my clients are.

Parents get older. Children become adults. Families change. People get sick. Someone dies. A spouse dies and nobody remembers what that old trust says. A parent begins losing capacity and suddenly everyone wants to know who has authority to do what.

And somewhere in a filing cabinet is a three-inch binder nobody has opened since 1997.

Estate planning suddenly became real.

That’s why I returned to practice with a different perspective than I had when I was younger. I’m less interested in producing impressive-looking legal documents and more interested in whether a family understands what those documents actually do.

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I listen first.

Most people don't walk into an estate-planning lawyer's office knowing exactly what legal document they need.

They have a question.

Do I need a trust?

What happens to my house if I die?

My husband died years ago. Was I supposed to do something with our trust?

Can Medi-Cal take my home?

What happens if I can no longer make decisions for myself?

Those questions are why I built this website differently.

You don't have to figure out which legal category your problem belongs in before you can start looking for an answer. Ask the question in your own words. TheLeegle searches the information throughout this site and helps you find a place to start.

And if you eventually decide you'd rather talk to a human being, that's where I come in.

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How I practice

I try to keep things simple.

No offshore trusts. No Grisham plots. No unnecessary legalese.

My job is to listen, identify the problem, explain the options in plain English, and help you put together a plan that makes sense for your family.

After more than three decades as a lawyer, I've learned that complicated problems don't always require complicated explanations.

Sometimes people just need someone to listen first.  Or just listen.

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The boring-but-important credentials

Education
UCLA — B.A., English Literature
UCLA School of Law — J.D., 1990
UCLA School of Law — Moot Court Honors

Legal Experience
California attorney since 1990
Admitted - United States District Court Central District

Admitted - United States District Court Southern District

Admitted - United States District Court Northern District

Admitted - United States District Court Eastern District

Admitted - United States Court of Appeals - Ninth Circuit
Former Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law, State Bar of California
Former Certified Specialist in Business Bankruptcy Law, American Board of Certification

Professional Membership
California Lawyers Association — Trusts and Estates Section

Languages
English
Korean

Spanish — muy poco. Muy, muy poco. 😄

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Call for a free 30-minute consultation.  Let's talk about what matters most ... your family.

I offer flat fee pricing for families in Canoga Park, West Hills, Woodland Hills, Porter Ranch and neighboring San Fernando Valley cities.