Rawlins Estate Planning Lawyer

More than forty years of estate planning for families across Rawlins and Carbon County.

If you own a home, land, or other property in Rawlins, an estate plan determines how it passes to the people of your choosing. Putting a plan in place early spares your relatives the problems that delay creates.

Our Rawlins, WY estate planning lawyer can turn your intentions into documents built to last, from a simple will to a trust that holds a ranch together. Davis & Johnson Law Office has worked with Wyoming families since 1979, and a flat fee covers most of our planning. Reach out whenever you are ready to begin.

Estate Planning Lawyer Rawlins, WY

Estate planning covers more than distributing property after a death. It also designates who will manage your affairs and care if you become unable to do so yourself.

A complete plan is a set of documents, each with a distinct role. A will assigns your property. A trust can hold it and keep it clear of probate. Powers of attorney put trusted people in charge if you cannot act. Taken together, they keep control in your hands and your family’s, not a courtroom’s. For many households around Carbon County, the stakes are highest when a ranch, mineral rights, or long-held acreage is involved.

Types of Estate Planning Cases We Handle in Rawlins

No two estates are alike. Young parents need someone named to raise their children. A ranch family needs the operation to remain intact rather than be divided among heirs. We handle the full range of estate planning for Rawlins and Carbon County.

• Wills. Nearly every plan starts with a will. It records who gets your property, who you appoint to settle things, and who would step in as guardian for your children. Without one,  dying without a will leaves the division to Wyoming’s statutes.
• Trusts. A trust puts your property to work for the people you want to provide for and can skip probate entirely. We draft revocable trusts for ordinary planning and irrevocable ones when tax or creditor questions enter the mix.
• Probate and estate administration. Most estates have to go through probate before heirs can collect anything. We walk executors through the filings and deadlines and take on the probate questions that crop up.
• Powers of attorney. This document lets a person you choose manage your money when you no longer can. It applies during life and stops at death. Put in place ahead of time, it can keep your family out of a costly guardianship proceeding.
• Advance health care directives. These spell out the care you would and would not want and appoint a voice for you when you cannot speak for yourself. Since they reach into your health records, a HIPAA authorization usually comes with them, letting your agent access the medical records they need.
• Medicaid and long-term care planning. A nursing home can consume a lifetime of savings in a year or two. Decades of Kelly’s work have gone into elder law and Medicaid strategy, positioning assets so families qualify for help without surrendering everything. For an older rancher, that planning can determine whether the next generation keeps the ground.
• Special needs trusts. Handing an inheritance directly to a disabled relative can strip away the public benefits they depend on. A special needs trust steps in for that person while leaving those benefits intact. We shape each one to fit the situation.
• Asset protection. Some people want their savings and property kept at arm’s length from lawsuits or creditors down the road. Trusts and a handful of related tools can protect those assets within the limits allowed by Wyoming law.

Why Choose Davis & Johnson Law Office as my Estate Planning Lawyer in Rawlins, WY?

Roots in Wyoming and a Focus on Elders

Estate work has been Kelly Davis’s focus since he opened the firm in 1979, though his start in the law came earlier, when he tracked down Medicare fraud across the state. That early work pointed him toward older clients, and his practice has centered on them ever since. He is part of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. His legal training came from the University of Wyoming College of Law. Audiences at the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America have heard him speak on powers of attorney. Jason Johnson handles estate matters here too. Between the two, they have guided countless families as land, livestock, and savings pass from parents to children.

Flat Fees and a Track Record That Holds Up

For most plans, the fee is flat and set at the start. You will see the number before we draft anything, with no hourly charges accruing. Probate is the exception, billed to fit the estate it involves. We have drawn up wills, trusts, and complete plans for Wyoming families going back more than forty years, for small estates and for complex ones involving ranch land, mineral royalties, and second marriages. Plans built that carefully tend to hold when a family finally has to lean on them. Knowing the price in advance means putting your affairs in order without an open-ended bill.

Understanding Estate Planning Cases

Key Estate Planning Documents and What They Do 

A working plan usually comes down to a few essential documents, each with a clear role. Build it around a trust and you can largely bypass wills and probate, though that approach does not suit everyone. We determine which documents your situation calls for rather than applying a standard package.

• Last will and testament. Names who inherits your property and puts an executor in charge, with guardians for minor children if you need them.
• Revocable living trust. Holds your property during life and moves it to beneficiaries when you die, no probate required.
• Durable power of attorney. It gives a trusted person authority over your finances once you cannot manage them.
• Health care power of attorney and living will. Picks who makes medical decisions for you and sets down the treatment you want.
• Beneficiary designations. These route things like a 401(k) or a life insurance payout straight to the named person, often around the will.

What Are Important Aspects of an Estate Planning Case?

A few specifics decide whether a plan holds together. They are worth getting right.

• Keeping documents current. A wedding, a divorce, a new baby, or a death is a cue to look the plan over again. Most trouble starts with a plan nobody revisited, which is where costly errors show up.
• Funding the trust. A trust only controls assets you retitle into it. Without it, the document controls nothing.
• Naming the right people. Whoever you choose as executor, trustee, or financial agent has to be trustworthy and ready to do the job. The wrong name can bog an estate down for months.
• Syncing your beneficiaries. The names on your accounts override the will and must match the rest of the plan.

What Is The Estate Planning Case Timeline?

Most plans take less time to finish than people expect. A basic one can be done in a couple of weeks.

• An initial meeting to map out what you own, who is in your life, and your aims
• A first draft of the documents for you to read through
• Changes until the language says exactly what you mean
• A signing session, witnessed and notarized as the law requires
• Moving assets into a trust and updating beneficiaries when that applies

Probate moves on its own slower timeline, often months on end, depending on what the estate holds.

What Should You Bring to Your Estate Planning Consultation?

The more complete a picture you can give us of your holdings and the people who rely on you, the more the first meeting accomplishes. Bring what you can from this list.

• A list of your holdings, with estimated values and the title on each
• Account and policy statements, plus the beneficiaries you have listed on them
• Names of the people you trust to serve as executor, trustee, or financial agent
• Any wills, trusts, or estate documents you have signed before
• Notes on anything special in the family, like a member with a disability

That meeting is where we settle on your goals, put forward a plan that fits, and you leave knowing the next step and what it costs.

Important Wyoming Legal Resources for Estate Planning Cases 

The rules for estates and probate in Wyoming come from statute and from the judges who interpret them. Treat the links below as a first stop for reading on your own. None of them, though, can stand in for advice about your particular circumstances.

• The Wyoming Legislature’s website carries the full estate and probate statutes.
• The Wyoming Judicial Branch offers court forms and self-help resources for self-represented filers.
• On federal estate tax, which touches only the largest estates, the IRS has the details.
• Alzheimers.gov spells out how to plan after a diagnosis, from powers of attorney to living wills.

Reach Out to Davis & Johnson Law Office to Schedule a Consultation

Estate planning protects what you have built and the people who will inherit it. If you own property in Rawlins or have family to provide for, our office can help you put the right documents in place and explain what each one does. Planning is generally a single flat fee, quoted before any work begins. Contact us to get started, and we will review what you own, who depends on you, and how best to protect both.