Estate Planning

It gives me great satisfaction to work collegially with clients of all ages to (1) create an estate plan expressing the client's goals, (2) help ease administration of an estate or trust, or (3) create an agreement to prevent future property disputes.

CA, Dec 2000
Bar Number: 212008

California State Courts

State Bar of California; Sonoma County Bar Association

I consistently complete about five times the hours required by the State Bar for continuing education. In addition, I attend out-of-state intensive programs in estate planning and elder law.

I represented through trial a case between a daughter and her step-father. The issues centered on financial and physical abuse of the mother during her lifetime and interpretation of the mother's estate plan. My work ranged from inventorying the disputed furniture to working closely with the CPA in analyzing financial records.

A settlement was negotiated between a surviving spouse and her step-children that put in place a neutral trustee as a buffer. The spouse felt she was protected from the step-children's greed; the step-children felt the spouse was protected from financial abuse by other family members and caregivers. The outcome permitted the spouse to continue to live independently in her home.

1

California

This firm was established in 2001 with the intent of providing personalized service in a smaller office environment.

From the beginning, I focused on estates and trusts, elder law and business: the same areas I had worked in the prior ten years as a paralegal. In particular, the hands-on work advocating to keep elders at their highest level of independence in the 1990s has provided a wealth of practical experience to help clients and their families in not only planning for the future with estate planning, but in working through the family dynamics and administration needed at the time of incapacity or death.

It is especially effective helping a client with both estate and business planning.

I had worked as a paralegal starting in 1980 in personal injury. Since 1990, my focus has been estate planning, elder law, and business law.

I have also worked in business. The spectrum of employment included being a sole proprietor of a dessert baking business, providing customer service for a local insurance and retirement planning office, and working for a mid-size manufacturing corporation.

I am past president of the Redwood Empire Estate Planning Council and I designed and implemented an educational outreach program for our county that provides speaker panels of professionals, working in an interdisciplinary team.

I support Justice Ministry, a Sonoma County legal service for poor people.

I coordinated one of the first foreign student home-stay programs in this county, have served as president of a local classical music organization, have been moderator of my church and currently coordinate semi-annual women's retreats.

Jennifer Bedoka

(707) 577-7313

Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

No

None

For a new estate plan, a range of fees is quoted after meeting the client, and is based on the estate plan complexity.

The hourly rate applies to amending existing plans, trust administration, elder law, business law, and drafting agreements.

$300

I regularly offer a half-hour complimentary consultation, whether by telephone or in person.

For an estate plan, $400.