Sun Valley / Ketchum Estate Planning Attorney

JEL can work with you and your realtor through the process of buying your home.  Though it may be a form purchase and sale agreement your agent presents to you, please be aware it is a seller favored form.  JEL can also assist you with the sale of real estate.

Yes, we can educate you regarding your entity options.  We regularly form partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations.  We prepare articles of organization, bylaws, operating agreements, partnership agreements and other governing documents for entities in Idaho.

Yes, we assist both buyers and sellers of businesses in this life transition.  These matters are solely handled for Idaho businesses.  We can also assist with the legal aspects of your day-to-day operations of your business, including review of loan documents, updating governing documents and discussing employee equity plans.

In short, yes. We recommend that clients who have relocated from another state to Idaho restate their base estate plan documents (wills, revocable trusts, financial powers of attorney and healthcare documents) to ensure that the plan reflects your current goals and addresses Idaho state law issues. If an Idaho resident dies with documents that are governed by another state’s law, the process of settling the estate can become unnecessarily complicated, time-consuming, and more expensive due to differences in state rules and legal requirements.

Rather than work with old documents from another jurisdiction, we always restate estate plan documents to avoid multiple amendment documents and decrease the risk of confusion.  Further, restating documents is more efficient and cost-effective for you.

In short, no. Rather than work with old documents, we always restate estate plan documents to avoid multiple amendment documents, to decrease the risk of confusion, and avoid a lack of clarity.  Further, restating documents is more efficient and cost-effective for you.

You may not realize this, but you already have an agreement as to your property during a marriage by the default provisions set forth in the state code.   Idaho has a unique approach to community property, where the interest on separate property assets is community property.  Idaho also requires extra written evidence to prove your intentions with regards to joint property upon the death of a joint tenant.  A marital property agreement is especially important for people with children from previous relationships.   

If you do not want the state to decide ownership rights of your property during marriage, and upon a death of a spouse, then, yes, you need a property agreement.  Spouses are best served if each of you have your own independent legal counsel to advise you regarding your property agreement.

Yes, we can educate you regarding the best options for your plan including irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs), gifting and other advanced planning techniques.

We love to educate our clients and explain the planning options, benefits and drawbacks of the various options that provide flexibility, creditor protection and best use of federal estate gift and generation skipping transfer tax exemptions.  We use diagrams and videos to provide clarity regarding your options and ensure you understand your plan.  If you choose our fixed fee plan, you will receive less education of the many estate planning options and available planning tools we would otherwise provide in an estate plan, but we will ensure that you clearly understand your estate plan documents.

We believe that a complete estate plan is a gift to your family.  A complete estate plan includes a list of your assets, usually a will or a will and a revocable trust, power of attorney and healthcare documents.  Generally, we do not prepare a will on its own.

Having an estate plan allows YOU to decide where your assets should pass, and who should settle your estate on your behalf, not the state of Idaho.  Having an estate plan in place and being organized is a true gift to your family.

We recommend all adults, even young adults, have a Will, financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney in place.  Hopefully, you won’t ever need them, but having them provides you with peace of mind.

While we do not handle probate litigation, we can assist you with Idaho probate matters that are not contested, estate settlement, and trust administration.  We do not handle California probate matters but can assist with estate settlement and trust administration.

Depending upon the nature of your California matter we may be able to assist; but if we cannot, we generally can recommend another California attorney.

Sorry, JEL does not assist with landlord-tenant disputes.

Our services include buying and selling of residential and commercial properties.

Sorry, JEL does not assist in divorce representation.

No.

We generally charge hourly to give our clients the maximum attention they request and have come to expect with our high touch client service.  But we do offer a fixed fee estate planning option for individuals and first-time married couples with uncomplicated financial lives.

We take a team approach at JEL, and our clients will work with and get to know each of our team members.