Firm Overview

Northern California Wills, Trusts, and Probate Law Firm

Our Philosophy

Perhaps more than any other legal specialty, estate planning, probate, and trust administration involves intensely personal issues for our clients. Estate planning requires individuals to plan for their deaths, and probate and trust administration requires individuals to deal with the loss of a family member or loved one. At the Hardin Law Offices, it is our mission to provide personal, high-quality, and cost-effective services to our clients. We accomplish this mission by building close personal relationships with our clients, striving to understand our clients' personal and financial needs, and providing a practical, holistic approach to problem solving.

About Our Firm

We offer extensive knowledge of the legal issues involved in wills, trusts, and other estate planning tools. We simplify complex issues, giving clients the information they need to know to make informed decisions. We handle a full range of estate planning, trust administration, and probate services, such as:

• Basic estate planning through the use of standard foundation documents including wills, living trusts, advanced health care directives, and durable powers of attorney.
• Advanced estate planning through the use of various techniques, including personal residence trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, grantor-retained annuity trusts, defective-grantor trusts, and other advanced techniques.
• Planning for persons with special needs or disability through the use of well-crafted special needs trusts.
• Planning for pets in the event of incapacity or death through the use of pet trusts and other standard foundation documents, such as living trusts and durable powers of attorney.
• Succession planning for family-owned businesses, including forming the business and ensuring business survival following the death of a key business partner, executive, or owner.
• Charitable planning through the establishment and use of trusts or entities, including charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable gift annuities, and charitable foundations (both private and public).
• Will and trust litigation including representing named executors and trustees, challenging wills or trusts, representing beneficiaries, and other matters before both civil and probate courts.
• Administration of continuing trusts including advising trustees and representing trustees in legal actions.
• Probate and estate administration guidance, enabling clients to move through the overwhelming and complex process in a smooth, simplified, and efficient manner.
• Other important matters including representation in conservatorship and guardianship matters, trust and estate settlement disputes, and other wealth and succession matters.

Contact Hardin Law Offices

Our thorough knowledge of the law, attention to detail, and personal client commitment enables our firm to provide the quality guidance you need to obtain peace of mind that your family will be protected and assets will be preserved.

Contact our San Francisco or Walnut Creek law offices to speak with an experienced estate planning lawyer—Shannon L. Hardin.