Patinelli & Chang

Our law firm specializes in estate planning, trust administration, and probate. As family men, we have the unique ability to understand how important it is to do proper planning to protect and provide for your family should something happen to you. A typical estate plan consists of a revocable living trust, wills, powers of attorney, advanced healthcare directives, HIPAA authorizations and guardianship documents for those with minor children.

Patinelli & Chang, LLP Serving Clients throughout Torrance, Manhattan Beach, West Hollywood and the Surrounding Areas. Comprehensive estate planning covers nearly every aspect of life. It begins with protecting yourself and your personal dignity, and extends to protecting your loved ones and your hard-earned assets.

There are a myriad of legal strategies you might consider implementing as you design your estate plan. Regardless, there are a handful of "must have" estate planning documents you must create before anything else.

You should have: (i) a will - everyone needs a will; (ii) a health care directive for decisions concerning treatment when you cannot make or communicate your own wishes; (iii) financial and health care powers of attorney authorizing "agents" you know and trust to take care of your financial matters and make your health care decisions when you are unable to do so yourself; (iv) a legal authorization that allows a loved one or friend to access your medical information; and (v) a trust (based on your situation) to manage, protect and eventually distribute your assets.

It is an unfortunate fact of life: airplanes plummet, trains derail, ships sink and automobiles crash. Sometimes there are survivors, sometimes there are no survivors. What is left when a tragedy claims both parents of minor children? Orphans and assets. Children are a family's greatest treasure.

Think of all the precautions taken to safeguard young children - from the first purchase of an infant car seat to the compulsory swimming lessons and even driver's safety instruction.Yet, most parents leave their children completely unprotected from one of life's most crushing blows - being orphaned upon the loss of their parents.

Here are two trivia questions for you movie and late night television buffs. First, what big name Hollywood stars played on-screen spouses in the 1968 film Yours, Mine & Ours? The basic storyline of the movie paired a widow and her eight children with a widower and his ten children. Second, a year later Sherwood Schwartz (creator of Gilligan's Island) took the same basic storyline and rolled out a hit television series that ran for 117 episodes.