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PATERSON LEGAL FIRM

Practice Area

Estate Planning & Probate

Wills, planning documents, and guidance for executors and families during administration.

Estate planning at Paterson Legal Firm is the work of making documents match a family and the assets those documents are meant to cover. A will that named the right people ten years ago may not match the family, the home, or the business as they are now.

The firm prepares and reviews wills and related planning documents, and it explains the formalities that apply to the documents it is asked to prepare. Marriage, divorce, the arrival of a child, a move, or the sale of a major asset are the usual reasons to read an existing plan again.

After a death, executors and families need a clear account of what the documents say, what property they cover, and what has to be done in order. The firm advises on that administration. It does not tell a reader, through this website, how to sign a will or how to distribute an estate.

Planning choices are explained with their limits. The firm does not promise a tax result or a particular outcome in a later dispute.

Matters in this area

These are the kinds of questions the firm discusses. The list is not a promise that every matter will be accepted.

Wills

Documents that name executors, guardians, and beneficiaries for the client’s present circumstances.

Reviews after a life change

Reading existing documents after marriage, divorce, a child, a move, or a sale.

Planning documents

Related papers that should be consistent with the will.

Probate

The process of presenting the documents and administering the estate.

Executors and families

What the papers require and what information is still missing.

Business or property in an estate

Coordinating with the firm’s commercial and real estate lawyers when the estate includes them.

How a matter begins

The first conversation is used to understand the facts, the documents, and the timing. The firm then says whether it can assist.

  1. 1

    Describe the matter

    Use the consultation form and name this practice area. Do not include highly sensitive facts in the first message.

  2. 2

    Share the papers

    If the firm can review the matter, it will ask for the contract, notice, or other documents that control the next step.

  3. 3

    Agree the scope

    Representation begins only when the firm agrees to act. Until then, there is no attorney-client relationship.

Attorneys in this area

Portrait of James Harrington

James Harrington

Managing Partner

Civil Litigation · Family Law · Estate Planning & Probate

James Harrington is Managing Partner of Paterson Legal Firm, focusing his legal practice on International Estate and Succession Law, Probate...

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Portrait of Rebecca Collins

Rebecca Collins

Associate

Family Law · Estate Planning & Probate

Rebecca Collins is an Associate at Paterson Legal Firm. She assists individuals and families with separation, parenting and financial arrang...

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