California Estate Planning Services in Orange County, California


We are a full-service estate planning law office working to provide Peace of Mind to our clients and their families. We are committed to personal service to each client, using only those legal tools and techniques that suit the individual client's needs, goals and personal situation.

We are committed to providing legal life legacy planning - planning from a holistic approach. A complete plan often includes holistic values you would like to impart on your heirs, or crafting a family narrative that encompasses more than simply real estate or cash assets. You may also wish to provide for charitable giving. Packages are available for recording your values and desires to preserve your legacy.

Every family is different and therefore needs an estate plan to fit their family. Our approach to estate planning is to ensure that your wishes are fulfilled. We will work with you to create a unique and personalized plan that meets the needs of your family. Families are always growing and things are constantly changing, so even after your plan is complete, we will continuously follow-up, send you the latest news and changes in the law, and be available to answer any questions you may have in the future.

Services provided include legal consultation and the preparation of:

 Revocable Living Trusts  Pet Protection Plan Plus
 Wills and Pour-Over Wills  Guardian Nominations
 Advanced Healthcare Directives  Trust Amendments
 Power of Attorney  Trust Restatements
 Legal Legacy Wealth Planner  Asset Transfer Facilitation
 HIPAA Authorizations  Kiddo's Safety Plan
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Revocable Living Trusts


A Revocable Living Trust (often called a “Living Trust” or “Revocable Trust”) is a method to designate your assets while you are living to create a legal legacy plan for the benefit of your beneficiaries. By transferring your home, bank account, business, or other major assets into a trust, you avoid the cost, time, and expense of the court process known as probate. This is called “funding” the trust. It is a process that we can assist with or do for you. The trust becomes the “owner” of the assets, but you retain control over the assets during your lifetime.

The Revocable Living Trust can be altered or amended during your lifetime based upon your desires (and capacity). If you become unable to make decisions on your behalf, a successor trustee is named and steps in to perform those tasks. You make these decisions ahead of time and can change the successor trustee at any time during your lifetime (and based upon your mental capacity). In other words, it is a way to protect your assets from court and conflict to benefit your family legacy. You make the decisions of who gets your assets upon your passing, and you designate who should oversee the distribution of the trust. You are in control as long as you have the capacity to do so. [See our FAQ section regarding court fees for Revocable Living Trusts and avoiding Probate in California].


Wills and Pour-Over Wills


A Will is a type of legal life legacy which is generally valid if in writing, dated, and written by a person 18 years of age or older who is of “sound mind” when making the will. A written will does not avoid probate. It does, however, record the wishes of the person making the will regarding distribution of their assets after death.

A Pour-Over Will is a special type of will that is used in a trust-based legal legacy plan. The Pour-Over Will transfers your remaining assets that are not previously named in the trust at the time of death to your trust (i.e. the assets pour into your trust), thereby avoiding court and conflict. It allows you to determine who receives your personal assets, rather than the court or the state deciding for you. [See our FAQ section regarding Wills].

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Advanced Healthcare Directives


An Advanced Healthcare Directive is a document in which you nominate loved ones to make medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to make those decisions for yourself. A famous case involving medical decisions was the Terri Schiavo case. After approximately 14 appeals, the decisions about her continued care were finally settled. An Advanced Healthcare Directive made prior to her incapacity would have prevented years of family conflict, public outcry, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The Advanced Healthcare Directive can also designate what you would like to happen in the event of your passing in terms of burial or cremation, organ donation, and any preferences you have about continued care while you are still living but unable to make your own decisions. [See our FAQ section regarding Advance Healthcare Directives and our Blogs for more information]


Power of Attorney


A Power of Attorney nominates a trusted individual to make financial and legal decisions on your behalf should you become unable to do so. For example, if you become unable to manage your bank account or personal finances, a Power of Attorney allows the designated person to step-in and take over those tasks on your behalf and in your best interests. [See our FAQ section regarding Power of Attorney]


Legal Legacy Wealth Planner


We offer a Legal Legacy Wealth Planner which puts all of your assets, including bank accounts, IRA, 401k, etc. all in one place so that your loved ones never have to search for accounts, numbers, phone numbers. They are all in one place for your convenience.

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HIPAA Authorizations


A HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is a form that allows loved ones to access your medical care and speak directly to your healthcare providers in the event that you are unable to do so yourself. Generally, HIPAA protects your privacy from medical providers divulging information about your healthcare. With the HIPAA authorization, your loved ones will be able to speak and make informed decisions about your care, insurance, etc. on your behalf, in the event you become incapacitated.


Kiddo’s Safety Plan (Protection for your kids)


With our Kiddo’s Safety Plan, you can designate short-term guardians, emergency contacts, secure identification cards and other safety plan documents to protect your children in case of an emergency. [See our FAQ section regarding Kiddo’s Safety Plan]


Pet Protection Plan Plus


Did you know you can add a Pet Protection Plan to your trust? We offer Pet Trusts as well as a Pet Protection Plan to designate an emergency plan for your fur babies, including nomination of temporary guardians. [See our FAQ section regarding Pet Trusts and our Blog section for more information]


Guardian Nominations


Designate long-term guardians and alternate guardians for your children. By designating the guardians during your life, you avoid court and conflict and avoid your children from being placed with family members that would not carry out your wishes or worse. . . becoming wards of the state or foster care.

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Trust Amendments


With our service, you will have 90 days to make amendments to your trust free of charge. After 90 days, we can draft amendments to suit your needs.


Trust Restatements


As life goes on, our trust needs change. We will review your trust once a year (upon your request) for three years following the initial plan. If significant changes need to be made, we can prepare a Trust Restatement.


Asset Transfer Facilitation


We are with you every step of the way. We are here to help facilitate the asset transfer to your trust with our Asset Transfer Toolkit (free with the purchase of a Fortin Law Group Trust Package). Don’t want to be bothered? We offer plans to perform the transfers for you.


Got A Question?


View our frequently asked questions to find the answer.

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Kelly A. Fortin

Orange County Estate Planning Attorney


Kelly A. Fortin headshot

Kelly is the founding attorney of Fortin Law Group. She focuses her California based legal practice on estate planning, public entity litigation, and construction business. Kelly literally "grew up" in the law, having held positions from a clerk, administrative assistant, law clerk, associate, partner and now owner. Her law career began in college when she landed a prestigious position with an international corporation in their law department and later as a clerk for a federal court judge. Following law school, she honed her skills in litigation, defending governments, individuals, and companies. She has been practicing law for almost 30 years.

Kelly made a heartfelt shift to include in her practice a focus on complete legal life planning for individuals and families. As a trusted legal advisor, Kelly prides herself on providing an unwavering level of service which is client-based and results-driven. She firmly believes that building authentic relationships is essential to creating favorable outcomes for clients and has instilled this mind-set in the company culture of Fortin Law Group.

In her estate planning practice, Kelly provides high-value solutions and options for families and individuals to preserve wealth, protect assets and protection planning for children as well as beloved pets. Her engagement with clients is different from "traditional" law firms - she empowers clients with knowledge, education, and options as opposed to mere document drafters. Her passion is to be in service to individuals and families, to protect their children, pets and their legacy plan. Her goal is to keep families out of court and out of conflict. Kelly graduated from Oakland University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature with honors. She went on to earn her Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University.

Kelly is a proud daughter, sister, aunt and "pet mom" to Luna and Leo, her beloved French Bulldogs. She credits her family and former business partner with the source of her inspiration for designing complete estate plans for family legacies.

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The best estate plan is to have a plan. Lack of planning will likely lead to the lengthy and expensive court process known as probate. Our approach is to keep you out of court and conflict. We co-create a family legal legacy plan to fit your individual and family needs. As your family and needs change, we continue to follow-up with you as a trusted family advisor to be available to update your plan and to answer questions you may have in the future.

We offer our services to you for the long term protection for you and your family. Please contact our Laguna Niguel, California, law firm today to discuss scheduling a free Legal Wealth Planning Session (a $950.00 value) to discuss your needs. Be sure to check out our FAQ section and Blog for more information.

Address:

28202 Cabot Rd., Suite 300
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
949-629-3640
949-209-9499
contact@fortinlawgroup.com

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