Estate Planning Attorney: Day In The Life

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In order to give you an idea of the issues that one estate planning lawyer deals with on a particular day, I've put this post together.

In one day, over six consecutive meetings, I handled the following issues: Getting a court appointed executor confirmed after two executors named in will died; Getting a court to appoint a new trustee of a trust appointed since both trustees named in a trust instrument died; Helping a family with no prior estate legal documentation in place put a program in order to make things simple for the surviving spouse and the children; helping a client with a large estate through issues like, step-up in basis; avoiding income tax; avoiding estate tax, charitable bequests, the SECURE Act issues, and out of state probate issues; helping a parent and her children protect funds from the parent getting scammed or from the parent being forced to spend the assets down in a skilled care environment; Helping a family specify their distribution to certain children and grandchildren; and helping client arrange for her special needs child; her child who will need his inheritance managed; and her other child.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice. Please do not act or refrain from acting based on anything you read on this site. Using this site or communicating with Rabalais Estate Planning, LLC, through this site does not form an attorney/client relationship.

Paul Rabalais
Estate Planning Attorney
Phone: [phone]

[cambria.devries]

Hi, 1st year law student here! Thank so much for such an informative, helpful video. I am planning to do an estate planning internship this summer and I am so excited! Seems like a great field :)

[ashleygill]

Thank you for this! I'm a law student interested in estate planning and this was very helpful.

[devinstewart]

Hello! First time viewer. I will be submitting my applications to law school this later this semester, and many people have asked me what kind of law I would be interested in practicing. My answer always is "I'm not sure, but whatever I do, I want to help people". And from the looks of it, you are helping people with tremendously important and potentially complex matters. This "day in the life" gave me some perspective on a field of practice to which I previously had very limited exposure, and in which I am now very interested. Assuming all goes well and I get admitted, I will keep it in mind as I start my studies next year, and I will continue to learn more about it.
I sincerely thank you for the knowledge and inspiration. Take care

[andreahaley]

Thank you for this informative video--it will help me assist any Estate Planning Attorneys in my area(Florida) as I am a Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agent!

[chelly]

Thank you. Watching these videos help me prepare for law career in estate planning law/estate administration.

[treiko]

Thank you for the video, good Sir. Looking into different fields of the legal industry at the moment, and videos like this help to navigate the obscure and expansive world of law. Videos like this mean the world.

[gabrielaa]

Hi there! First time seeing a law specific field video and I really enjoyed your openness and authenticity to share your day and job. I graduated from University (law school plans are next). I keep being asked by family and friends “What law do you want to do?” and honestly there’s so much out there. But all I knew was that I wanted to help people and see a real change happen (for the good lol). Thank you from the bottom of my heart, wonderful video. Im definitely subscribing and interested in seeing more of your videos. Thank you again!

[lindsayhengehold]

Great video on Estate Law! I e had to work with different estate attorneys over the years to litigate both my grandparents and fathers estate ( which ended up settling successfully in mediation) and to learn about estate planning, etc.

[tycrane]

Thank you... I deal with a lot of social anxiety, and have been avoiding closing out my father's affairs because all of this "adulting" is foreign territory to me... Though I suppose that doesn't mean it's all just gonna go away on its own.

[elleayah]

Thank you for sharing! Gave me an idea of what my professional life could look like. It's such an important role in people's lives.

[SusieAspen]

Gathering background information as per the family dynamics seems to be a major consideration in preparing or suggesting the final documents. A day in the life--1) meet with people (one on one, jointly, group presentations) 2) analyze the desires matching with law/expertise 3) Prepare documents.

[heeaekim]

Thank you very much. Keep doing what you are doing. You are helping people like me greatly.

[ucanthavemysn]

Considering you were in meetings all day but were still able to get things done, did you have other attorneys or paralegals helping you draft the documents up?

[Isabel-qwzf]

Great video! Coming from a potential future estate lawyer. Thanks.

[RogTrend]

Sorry... cant find a way on Youtube to ask a question other than by coments.

I have checking account and some small savings and our IRAs outside of revokable Trust...In the Trust is our homes, major investment/savings accounts. We have 3 sub trust accounts that will be created when we pass... nothing created or in them now. 1) Should we create the sub trusts now with zero in them? 2) Can we put some of our major assets, like the house and some but not all investment accounts into Irrevocable trust (protectioni from Medicaid) 3) can we have both revokable and irrevocable trusts at the same time as well as a Will for our probate assets? Roger from NJ

[ellenclareoneill]

Thank you! I found this video really helpful. Keep up the good work!

[carolineodom]

Would you be kind enough to answer a question...can a temporary administrator sell community property before seperate property to pay off debts. I'm dealimg with this currently and really dont understand how that can be.

[adeumi]

Do you happen to have a video on schooling to become an estate law planning lawyer? I am very interested and I am barely starting my college degree. I was thinking of doing my undergraduate in finance then study law for estate planning. Any advice helps 🙏🏼

[peterhoffman]

Mental exhaustion...boy, can we relate! Just visiting with our attorney last year and discussing the pros and cons of certain ideas was exhausting even for us, not to mention our poor attorney!! Anyway, early in the video (around 6:00), you mentioned putting assets in the name of the children once the second spouse dies. I think I am confused or at least not up to date on that. I had read (in an older book by E. Slott) that the funds should still remain in the parents name even after death but the child's name should be *added onto the end* after the parents name. For example ' John Smith trust' becomes 'John Smith trust for the benefit of Jimmy Smith'. The reasoning would be to avoid certain taxes because of the change of ownership. I apologize if this is not relayed in the correct 'language'. Could you please clarify this issue for us? Thank you very much.

[GunsandGrubb]

Question. My mom is the executor of my grandmother's estate which includes a house that is dilapidated and unlivable. I want to get alone to rehabilitate the house. So that I could have somewhere to live is that doable in this situation