Estate Planning
A practice built around what you want to leave behind.
Estate planning isn't really about death. It's about clarity — making sure that the people you love know what you wanted, that your assets go where they should, that your family is protected from confusion and conflict at the moment they can least afford it.
I help individuals and families build estate plans that work in real life. Plans that hold up across borders, across languages, across the messy realities of modern families. Whether you have a single home in San Diego or assets in three countries, the goal is the same: a plan that fits your actual situation, in plain language, that the people who matter to you can understand and follow.
What I help with
I draft and structure estate plans across the full range of what most families and individuals need:
• Revocable living trusts — the foundation of most California estate plans, designed to avoid probate and keep your affairs private
• Irrevocable trusts — for asset protection, tax planning, special needs, and other targeted purposes
• Wills — including pour-over wills that work alongside a trust
• Powers of attorney (financial and healthcare) — so someone you trust can act for you if you can’t
• Advance healthcare directives — your wishes about medical care, in writing
• Cross-border and pre-immigration estate planning — for families with assets, relatives, or roots in more than one country
• Pre-immigration tax planning — strategies for individuals planning to move to the U.S. who want to structure their wealth before becoming subject to U.S. tax
• Asset protection planning — protecting what you’ve built from future creditors, lawsuits, and unexpected risks
• Medi-Cal planning — preserving assets while qualifying for long-term care benefits
• Trust funding and ongoing administration — making sure the plan actually works the way it’s supposed to
Every plan is built from scratch around your specific situation. No templates, no packages — because the legal questions in your life are not the same as anyone else’s.
Who I work with
I work especially well with:
San Diego families with everyday planning needs — local clients who want a will, a trust, and a clear plan, drafted carefully, by someone who will actually answer the phone when they call.
Families with international ties — clients whose lives, families, or assets span the U.S. and another country (most often China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or other Asian jurisdictions, though I work across borders generally). These cases often involve U.S. estate tax considerations, foreign inheritance laws, currency and tax-treaty questions, and the practical complexity of administering an estate when family lives in different places.
Individuals planning a move to the U.S. — high-net-worth clients structuring their assets before becoming U.S. residents, when the planning options are widest and the tax savings are largest.
Families passing down more than assets — clients for whom estate planning is also about heritage, family values, and traditions to be preserved across generations. I practice in both English and Mandarin, and many of my clients are Chinese-American families who want a lawyer who understands the cultural weight these decisions carry, not just the legal mechanics.
What makes this practice different
Three things, honestly:
Cross-border fluency. Most estate planning attorneys in California don’t handle the tax and structural questions that come up when assets, family members, or beneficiaries cross national borders. Most attorneys who do handle international tax don’t speak Mandarin. I do both.
A real understanding of immigrant families. Estate planning conversations are emotional. They involve mortality, family dynamics, money, and culture, all at once. For families with one foot in two countries, those conversations are even harder. I’ve lived in both worlds, and I know what families need to hear and what they need help thinking through.
Tailor-made plans. Every plan I draft is built specifically for the family in front of me. I don’t sell estate planning packages by the tier. I sit down, listen, ask questions, and build the structure that fits.
A note on the process
Most estate planning matters move through roughly the same stages:
1. An initial conversation. A free 15-minute call to understand what you’re trying to accomplish and whether we’re a good fit. If it makes sense, we schedule a longer working consultation.
2. A working consultation. A 60–90 minute session where we go through your situation in depth — your family, your assets, your concerns, your goals. By the end, you’ll have a clear sense of what your plan should include and what it will cost.
3. Drafting and review. I draft your documents, you review them, we revise as needed. Most plans take 2–6 weeks from engagement to signed documents, depending on complexity.
4. Signing and funding. We sign the documents (witnesses and notary handled in office) and then make sure your trust is properly funded — meaning your assets are actually retitled into the trust. This is a step that often gets overlooked, but it’s what makes the plan work.
5. Future updates. Estate plans aren’t one-and-done. Life changes — marriages, births, deaths, moves, sales. I work with my clients on an ongoing basis to keep their plans current.
Fees depend on complexity. Simple plans are flat-fee; complex international or business-related plans are quoted on a case-by-case basis. I’ll always tell you what something costs before you commit.
Let’s talk
Estate planning is one of those areas where the cost of not planning is almost always greater than the cost of planning well. If you’ve been thinking about it, the right time to start is now. Not sure which area applies to your situation? That's what the initial consultation is for. A free 15-minute call to talk through what you're facing, in English or Mandarin.