ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY - ESTATE PLANNING AND TRUST ADMINISTRATION

LifePath Law; Sacramento (CA); Hybride; USD 120 000 - 140 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Health insurance

Retirement savings plan

Flexible PTO

State Bar dues paid by firm

Quarterly performance bonus

Résumé du poste

LifePath Law, APC in Sacramento seeks an Associate Attorney focusing on estate planning and trust administration, with option for litigating related matters. This part-time to full-time, hybrid role invites you to grow with a supportive team.

You will handle design meetings, maintain the annual reviews, and collaborate with paralegals and staff while expanding the administration practice and potentially leading it as it matures.

Qualifications

• Active California State Bar license in good standing.
• 2 to 5 years of experience in estate planning and administration, including disability administration, death administration, and probate.
• Some litigation experience (trust and estate, probate, or civil) is a plus.

Responsabilités

• Estate planning: conduct design meetings with new and returning clients, review and revise trusts and ancillary documents, and lead signing meetings.
• Maintenance program: manage the program's annual client reviews, conference calls, restatements and updates; prepare the annual Summary of Changes in the Law; and present at the Annual Education Meeting and client workshops.
• Administration: handle post-death trust administration, disability (incapacity) trust administration, and probate matters, including court filings and appearances in Sacramento and surrounding counties.
• Litigation: assist on trust and estate litigation matters as needed, such as research, discovery, drafting, and court appearances. This is a smaller part of the role.
• Team: work closely with our paralegals, drafting and funding assistants, and client services coordinator, and help refine the firm's processes and templates.

Connaissances

Strong client communication

Time management

Team player

Formation

Active California State Bar license

Outils

WealthDocs

Description du poste

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY - ESTATE PLANNING AND TRUST ADMINISTRATION

Part-time (30+ hours/week) to full-time | Hybrid (Sacramento area required)

ABOUT LIFEPATH LAW

LifePath Law, APC is a Sacramento estate planning and trust firm that stays with clients and their families through every stage of life: planning, incapacity, and administration after death. Our practice includes estate planning, trust and estate administration, disability (incapacity) trust administration, probate, and trust and estate litigation.

We also run one of the region's most comprehensive estate plan maintenance programs, which keeps our clients' plans current through annual reviews, a full restatement every four years, an annual summary of changes in the law, and an education program for clients and their families. Long-term client relationships are at the center of how we practice.

WHY THIS ROLE

This role is grounded in estate planning and trust administration. It also offers something most estate planning positions do not: the chance to learn trust and estate litigation from an attorney who handles it every day.

At LifePath Law you will build a strong estate planning and trust administration practice and, with hands-on mentoring from an attorney who litigates trust and estate disputes every day, learn how the same documents get tested in court: trust contests, accounting disputes, petitions for instructions, and financial elder abuse. You will understand why plans break down, and how to draft and administer them so they hold up.

• The whole life of a trust: planning, incapacity, administration after death, and disputes.
• Exposure to trust and estate litigation, with guidance, not a sink-or-swim assignment.
• A clear path to leading our administration practice as it grows.
• A team that supports you: drafting, funding, and client services staff handle data entry, funding, and scheduling so you can practice law.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

The right person has a solid foundation in estate planning and trust or probate administration and values the precision, patience, and close client care that work demands. Some litigation background (trust and estate, probate, or civil) is a plus, along with an interest in learning how trust and estate disputes are handled. You are comfortable in court, including on uncontested probate calendars, and comfortable working in gray areas: competing beneficiary interests, incomplete records, and judgment calls no template answers.

THE POSITION

We are looking for an associate attorney to join our estate planning and administration team and to assist with our trust and estate litigation practice as needed.

This is a growth role: as our administration practice expands, especially disability trust administration, this attorney will take on increasing responsibility, with a clear path to leading the administration side of the practice.

Responsibilities

• Estate planning: conduct design meetings with new and returning clients, review and revise trusts and ancillary documents, and lead signing meetings.
• Maintenance program: manage the program's annual client reviews, conference calls, restatements and updates; prepare the annual Summary of Changes in the Law; and present at the Annual Education Meeting and client workshops.
• Administration: handle post-death trust administration, disability (incapacity) trust administration, and probate matters, including court filings and appearances in Sacramento and surrounding counties.
• Litigation: assist on trust and estate litigation matters as needed, such as research, discovery, drafting, and court appearances. This is a smaller part of the role.
• Team: work closely with our paralegals, drafting and funding assistants, and client services coordinator, and help refine the firm's processes and templates.

SCHEDULE AND LOCATION

• Start date: as soon as possible.
• Full-time or Part-time (30 or more hours per week). Billable expectations are set in proportion to the schedule.
• You must live in the Sacramento area. The position is hybrid. For approximately the first six months it will be mostly remote while we expand our office space; after that, you will work from the office part of the time and as client meetings, signings, and court appearances require.
• Core availability during business hours is required. Court calendars and some client meetings fall outside a standard workday, and the attorney in this role is responsible for arranging their schedule so those commitments are met.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Active California State Bar license in good standing.
• 2 to 5 years of experience in estate planning and administration, including disability administration, death administration, and probate.
• Some litigation experience (trust and estate, probate, or civil) is a plus.
• Comfortable appearing in court, including on probate calendars in Sacramento and surrounding counties.
• Experience drafting and revising revocable trusts and related documents; experience with WealthDocs or similar document-assembly software is a plus.
• Strong client communication skills, especially with families going through incapacity or loss.
• Careful, organized, and accurate in timekeeping.
• A team player who takes ownership of client service.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

• Salary: $120,000 to $140,000 full-time equivalent, prorated for part-time schedules and based on experience, including litigation experience.
• Quarterly performance bonus.
• Health insurance.
• Flexible paid time off.
• State Bar dues paid by the firm.
• Retirement savings plan.

LifePath Law, APC is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to any characteristic protected by law, and we consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with California's Fair Chance Act.