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Preparing Plans. Providing Peace.
Promising Protection.
Schedule a free consultation
schedule a free consultation
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Meghan M. Avila Associate Attorney
Anthony Celaya, Esq. Founding Attorney

Protection

We ensure that your hard-earned assets are protected for you and your loved ones from creditors, divorce, taxes, and excessive probate costs.

Peace of Mind

Our firm develops a strategy that will give you peace of mind knowing your loved ones, whatever their circumstances, are taken care of.

Personal Touch

At Celaya Law, we make a special effort to be accessible, high-touch attorneys. We have a no-cost, lifetime client care program to accommodate family and asset changes that inevitably come.

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Meet Anthony

Meet Meghan

Estate Planning Attorneys in California

Helping You Protect Your Family’s Future with a Comprehensive Estate Plan

If you worry about your family’s financial security when you become incapacitated or pass away, you’re not alone. It’s common to be concerned about the unexpected turns your life can take over the years and how they’ll affect your loved ones. However, you can greatly reduce your worries about the future by hiring a lawyer to work on a professionally crafted estate plan. 

Maybe you haven’t put much thought into estate planning because you assumed you must have a wealthy, impressive estate for this process to be worth your time. But the reality is that anything you own is part of your estate and is therefore worth creating an estate plan for protection. This is especially true if you own a house, have minor children, or run a business. If you’re ready to draft an estate plan to protect everything you have built, contact our law firm to sit down with skilled estate planning attorneys in California. 

See How Our Process Works

If you’re ready to draft an estate plan to protect everything you have built, contact our law firm to sit down with skilled estate planning attorneys in California.

Schedule a free consultation

How may we help you?

What Legal Services Can Estate Planning Lawyers Use to Give You Peace of Mind?

At Celaya Law, we understand the power of preparation, as having a comprehensive plan lets you rest assured that you’re ready for anything. This is why we’re proud to offer a variety of legal services to residents and business owners in Napa, Sonoma, Solano, and all Bay Area Counties. Our practice areas include estate planning, tax planning, trust administration, health care directives, and more. 

If you’re ready to learn detailed information about everything from probate law to trust administration, call us at 707-754-0977 to talk to a knowledgeable, compassionate California estate planning attorney. We want to make sure you know which protections you can put into place now to ensure the well-being of your beneficiaries for years to come.

    Download Our Free GuidesEnter your email to download one of our two guides to learn how to protect your children's inheritance by setting up a Living Trust, or qualify for Medi-Cal to pay for your long-term care.

    Book Guide*

    Living Trust GuideMedi-Cal Guide

    WHY CHOOSE US?

    Estate Planning & Elder Law Exclusively

    At Celaya Law, our sole focus is Estate Planning and Elder Law (Medi-Cal Planning). This means we help people with estate and family matters daily, so you can rest assured we have a solution for every problem you face. 

    Relationship-Oriented and Accessible

    Our team’s motto is “Your Friendly Neighborhood Attorneys.” That’s because we strive to be consistently available and accessible to all of our clients. We’ll treat you like family and want you to know you can call on us any time as questions arise.

    Asset Protection for All

    Our plans will ensure your wealth is transferred to the designated beneficiaries how and when you prefer. We protect your heirs by shielding inherited funds from possible business losses, divorce, and marriage to a spouse with high debt risk. We can also establish Special Needs Trusts for family members who need help managing their funds.

    Simplicity

    During your consultation, we will address all your concerns. We will then propose options with a timeline for your trust’s completion, with our standard being two weeks. Once we collect the information we need, we’ll complete all the necessary funding to ensure your assets are included in your estate plan.

    Client Care

    We offer free, lifetime services to all clients. This includes family meetings, workshops, electronic documents, collaboration with financial advisers, funding new assets, and making updates as laws change. We’ll ensure your plan is up to date and still serves your best interests.

    No Hourly Fees

    We quote our legal services as one flat fee at the initial consultation. We never up-charge for funding, recording, or notary services. Our stated fee includes everything related to your estate plan, so there will be no surprises when paying for our services.

    Estate Planning & Elder Law Exclusively

    At Celaya Law, our sole focus is Estate Planning and Elder Law (Medi-Cal Planning). This means we help people with estate and family matters daily, so you can rest assured we have a solution for every problem you face. 

    Relationship-Oriented and Accessible

    Our team’s motto is “Your Friendly Neighborhood Attorneys.” That’s because we strive to be consistently available and accessible to all of our clients. We’ll treat you like family and want you to know you can call on us any time as questions arise.

    Asset Protection for All

    Our plans will ensure your wealth is transferred to the designated beneficiaries how and when you prefer. We protect your heirs by shielding inherited funds from possible business losses, divorce, and marriage to a spouse with high debt risk. We can also establish Special Needs Trusts for family members who need help managing their funds.

    Simplicity

    During your consultation, we will address all your concerns. We will then propose options with a timeline for your trust’s completion, with our standard being two weeks. Once we collect the information we need, we’ll complete all the necessary funding to ensure your assets are included in your estate plan.

    Client Care

    We offer free, lifetime services to all clients. This includes family meetings, workshops, electronic documents, collaboration with financial advisers, funding new assets, and making updates as laws change. We’ll ensure your plan is up to date and still serves your best interests.

    No Hourly Fees

    We quote our legal services as one flat fee at the initial consultation. We never up-charge for funding, recording, or notary services. Our stated fee includes everything related to your estate plan, so there will be no surprises when paying for our services. 

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    One of the most common goals for estate planning is finding ways to ensure family members don’t have to go through probate court to get their assets. This is because the probate process is costly and takes months to complete. If you want your beneficiaries to skip probate, consider putting your bank accounts, real property, and other assets in a trust. Contact an estate planning attorney from our firm for help deciding on the type of trust to include in your estate plan. 

    A living trust lets you specify which beneficiaries get your assets after your death. Its purpose is similar to a last will, but trust assets don’t have to go through probate. With a revocable living trust, you remain in control of the trust during your lifetime to change beneficiaries and assets as needed. By contrast, with an irrevocable trust, a trustee is in control so you can only make changes to it under specific circumstances. Your estate planning attorney will help you choose between an irrevocable and revocable living trust.

    Last wills and living wills are both helpful tools for planning for the future, but they have different purposes in your estate plan. A last will specifies to your family who gets your cars, real estate property, the money in your bank accounts, and other assets. On the other hand, a living will has instructions on the healthcare treatments you do and don’t want if you’re too ill to communicate your healthcare decisions to doctors. 

    A power of attorney is a person you designate to make healthcare decisions if you’re too incapacitated to make them yourself. This is one part of a health care directive, with the other part being a living will that tells doctors what medical treatments you’ve approved and how to handle your remains after death. If you’re ready to prepare for the possibility of severe illness or death, call a California estate planning lawyer to add a health care directive to your estate plan.

    Medi-Cal can be invaluable as you age because it can pay for long-term care and nursing home costs. But many people find they make too much money to qualify, as there are strict requirements surrounding income and assets. Our lawyers can find ways to reduce the assets that the program sees, often by transferring them to trusts, prepaying future expenses, or investing in property. Contact our lawyers to determine if you need Medi-Cal planning as part of your estate plan. 

    A special needs trust (SNT) allows you to provide assets to a loved one with special needs or disabilities. Many individuals with special needs rely on government assistance programs, like Supplemental Security Income and Medi-Cal programs, to pay for their basic needs. An SNT provides them with additional income without disqualifying them from these programs. The extra income from a special needs trust can be used to pay for goods and services that improve their quality of life.

    Real property and other assets can be claimed by creditors before and after you pass away. Estate planning tools like domestic trusts, offshore trusts, business entity formations, and premarital agreements help separate your assets from your actual estate. If a creditor chooses to engage in litigation against you, they may find that you actually own very few assets. With the right estate planning tools, a creditor could only pursue claims against the assets in your name, not against any assets in trusts or business formations.

    There are a few different ways to donate to charity during your lifetime and after your death. Donating to charity can even help you minimize your taxes while also supporting the causes close to your heart. Giving as much as you can to charity during your lifetime can reduce your federal estate and gift taxes by a significant amount. You can also create a charitable lead trust to pay a charitable cause during your lifetime while preserving assets for your other beneficiaries. Other types of charitable trusts can give money from your estate to charity after you pass away.

    A business succession plan is meant to pass a business onto a new owner without any
    hiccups. Succession planning can be done to pass businesses between family members or to
    pass a business to a brand new owner. In a business succession plan, it’s important to include
    instructions to address issues related to your estate plan, issues related to cash flow, and any
    family employment plans, if applicable. A business succession plan can be tailored to your
    specific needs and the needs of the business.

    The executor of an estate is a named individual who is responsible for closing a deceased person’s estate. Typically, an executor is named in a will, but they can also be assigned by the court. If you are the executor of an estate, you must follow the instructions left in the will, distributing assets and paying taxes or creditors to the best of your ability. Executors are typically reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses they pay when closing the estate. Failing to do your duties as an executor can result in legal trouble. If you need assistance fulfilling your duties, a probate lawyer can help you.

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