About Our Practice

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• Wills and Trusts
• Estate Administration

An estate plan is a set of legal documents—each formally signed by you—that expresses what you want to happen to you, your property, and your children (if you have any) during and after your lifetime.

Most people think only of a will, or perhaps a trust, when they think of estate plans—i.e., a device for passing along property after death. But that’s only part of the picture. A complete estate plan covers needs that may arise during your lifetime, too.

What's that mean? If you become unable to manage your affairs later in life—due to illness, age, accident, anything—your estate plan should tell people three things: how you want to be cared for; how you want your affairs to be handled; and who should be in charge. In this sense, an estate plan is really a contingency plan. It covers both your person (with an advance health care directive/power of attorney) and your property (with a power of attorney for finances and, often, a trust).

So a typical estate plan, covering your lifetime and post-lifetime affairs, includes:

-- A trust

-- A will

-- A power of attorney for finances

-- An advance health care directive/power of attorney for health care

-- Related documents (such as a certification of trust, general assignment of

personal property, and trust transfer deed).

Of course, if you’re relatively young, in good health, and not an underwater deep-sea welder (that is, not in a high-risk occupation), the likelihood of your becoming incapacitated or passing away any time soon is low. But the point isn't to create an estate plan out of fear of what your future may hold. It's to prepare thoughtfully for what the future holds, for your sake and for those close to you.

I work in estate planning because I enjoy what I do.

Helping people to plan ahead, both for themselves and their loved ones, is positive and proactive work. People feel genuine peace of mind when their plan is in place, and it heads off so much heartache and expense down the road.

I graduated magna cum laude from the University of San Francisco School of Law after working in newspaper journalism for fifteen years, including nearly a decade at the San Francisco Chronicle. I'm a member of the State Bar of California's Trusts and Estates Section and serve on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Solo & Small Firm Section.

When I’m not drafting revocable trusts or analyzing tax issues, I enjoy sports, reading, and playing board games with my wife and kids (especially Clue!). We live in San Francisco.

Chris O’Connell is an excellent lawyer and one we would highly recommend.   He’s brilliant, hard working, dedicated, diligent, thoughtful and inquisitive.  He has a great sense of integrity and cares very much about his clients.  Working with us on our will and estate planning, Chris wanted to not just get the work done, but wanted to ensure we thought about all of our potential options and opportunities.  He really helped us to be very thorough in both our initial planning as well as setting us up for our move to another state with different requirements. As important, Chris is also a great person.  We have known Chris personally for many years and can say without hesitation that he is a caring, honest individual who is also fair and focused on always doing the right thing. We would recommend Chris O’Connell without hesitation.  

As a client, you will be in great hands.

- D&J