Albence & Associates

At Albence & Associates, our mission is to establish long-term relationships of trust with each client and provide competent, quality legal services that afford each client the greatest protections and opportunities under the law, at a cost-effective price. Our boutique trust, estate, and probate law firm is dedicated to providing personalized attention and expert guidance to clients navigating the complexities of estate planning, trust administration, and probate law.

Our Practice Areas

Our team of experienced attorneys specializes in Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Litigation, and Planning. We have extensive experience in drafting and administering trusts, guiding clients through the probate process, and advocating for our clients in trust and estate litigation.

Estate Planning

Our estate planning services include simple and complex will and trust drafting, educational trusts, qualified terminal interest property trusts (QTIPs), retirement benefits trusts, qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs), crummy trusts, and special needs trusts. We also provide estate and income tax planning for IRAs, 401(K)s, and other retirement accounts, as well as transfers of wealth, real estate, and business interests between generations.

Trust Administration

Our trust administration services include the distribution of assets upon death, trustee representation and counsel, representation and advisement of beneficiary rights, division of assets for A/B style trusts upon the death of the first spouse, sub-trust funding, establishing trusts for minors, fiduciary accountings, and evaluation of tax treatment for IRAs and 401(K) distributions.

Probate

Our probate services include testate and intestate estates, executor and administrator representation, spousal property petitions, petitions to determine succession to real property, petitions to determine persons entitled to distribution, transfers of small estates pursuant to probate code affidavit method, and miscellaneous probate matters and petitions.

Trust & Estate Litigation

Our trust and estate litigation services include will contests, trust contests, disputes between beneficiaries, disputes between trustees, undue influence and lack of capacity cases, prosecution and defense of caregiver beneficiary cases, omitted spouse matters, disinherited child cases, lost will cases, creditor claims against trusts and estates, trustee surcharge actions, financial abuse and fraud of elders or dependent adults, prosecution and defense of trustee removal actions, compelling trustee accountings and distributions, objections to accountings, reforming problematic trusts, court actions to modify irrevocable trusts, and establishing community property interests in a deceased spouse's estate for surviving spouses.

Meet Our Attorneys

Our team of experienced attorneys includes Founder Christopher J. Albence, Of Counsel David S. Pawlowski, Shareholder Keeley C. Luhnow, and Founder Christopher Albence. Each attorney has extensive experience in trust and estate law and has practiced exclusively in this area of law for many years.

Our Philosophy

At Albence & Associates, our philosophy is that to become a great estate planning attorney, one who drafts high-quality estate plans, one must have diverse experience in litigating and administering trusts and estates. We believe that our attorneys' extensive experience in both drafting estate plans and litigating trust and estate cases makes them well-equipped to provide exceptional guidance and representation to our clients.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or would like to schedule a consultation, please don't hesitate to contact us at (858) 454-0024 or info@albence.com.