The LAW OFFICES OF JAMES E. BERGE is a full service elder law and estate planning law firm, specializing in tax and estate planning, trust and probate administration, disability and Medi-Cal planning, asset protection, and conservatorships.

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, we serve a wide variety of clientele with diverse needs.

ESTATE PLANNING

For clients interested in maintaining management and control of their estate, while at the same time avoiding probate, protecting family members, ensuring their financial privacy, and obtaining peace of mind, we offer basic estate plans which include revocable living trusts, pour-over wills, powers of attorney for property management, advance health care directives, special needs trusts, children’s trusts, and community property agreements.

For clients interested in minimizing the impact of transfer taxes on their estate, we offer simple estate tax savings and asset protection strategies, such as credit shelter trusts and qualified terminal interest property (QTIP) trusts, to more sophisticated transfer tax savings and asset protection strategies, including the use of family limited partnerships, family limited liability companies, buy-sell agreements, estate freeze and valuation discount strategies, charitable remainder and charitable lead trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, dynasty trusts, grantor retained income trusts, qualified domestic trusts (QDOT), and qualified Sub-S trusts (QSST), among others.

CONSERVATORSHIPS

For clients who have assumed the responsibility of taking care of a loved one who is unable to physically or financially take care of himself or herself, we represent conservators in conservatorship proceedings, from initial appointment to final accounting.

ELDER LAW AND MEDI-CAL PLANNING

For clients of moderate net worth, we provide advice on how to preserve assets and still achieve Medi-Cal qualification, how to avoid Medi-Cal liens at death through proper use of lifetime transfer strategies, and how to reduce or eliminate a Medi-Cal recipient’s “share of cost” when necessary to protect a “healthy” spouse.

ESTATE ADMINISTRATION

For clients who have experienced a death in their family, we provide estate administration services, including probate and trust administration, spousal property petitions, non-probate collection of personal property, trust division upon the death of a spouse, funding stale trusts, amending “irrevocable” trusts, preparation of gift and estate tax returns, and fixing “botched” trusts through the proper use of disclaimers.

This list of services is not all-inclusive. Please call our office at 1-800-583-2060 if you have any questions.