Areas of practice

Estate planning may be simple or complex but always requires specialized training and professional judgment obtained only through years of experience and study. A practicing attorney can help you avoid the many pitfalls and advise you of the best course of action for your individual situation. At the Gresham Law Firm, we take the time to meet with you to identify your individual needs and desires. We will advise you how to arrange your assets and prepare the appropriate documents to achieve your goals in the most efficient and effective manner. To begin your Estate Plan, send us an email and we will contact you to schedule an appointment to come in for a free consultation with attorney Spencer Gresham. 

Probate is the judicial process of gathering the assets of a deceased person’s estate and distributing those assets, or the cash derived from liquidating those assets, to beneficiaries of the decedent’s estate as set out in a will.  In some probate proceedings there is not a will, and the probate process includes determining who the heirs of the estate are, and distributing the assets to those heirs through the judicial process.  Our office can be as involved or uninvolved with the day-to-day administration of the probate estate as the personal representative (executor) desires.  The probate process is not as simple as filling out and filing the case with the court and, while we do prepare and file those forms for you, our representation goes much further.  Our staff will guide you through the process of what needs to be done each step of the way, and will counsel you on legal strategies to protect the estate and personal representative, to insure the process is as streamlined as possible.

 Trust Administration is much the same process as probate with the significant difference being there is no judicial process involved.  The trust agreement of the deceased gives the trustee of the trust the same powers that a personal representative would have in a probate proceeding.  The assets are collected (and sometimes liquidated) and distributed to the beneficiaries named in the trust agreement.