Estate Planning Attorney Serving South Florida
Most people know they should have a will or a trust and put it off anyway, often because thinking about your own mortality is uncomfortable and the whole subject feels like it can wait. It usually can, right up until it cannot, and a plan that only exists in your head is not a plan your family can actually use.
Barash-Schatten Law Firm, P.A. prepares estate plans for clients throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, and attorney Pamela Schatten walks you through the process in plain language, not legal jargon, so you understand exactly what you are signing and why.
Why the Right Attorney Makes the Difference
If you die without a will in Florida, state law decides who inherits your assets, and that default distribution rarely matches what someone would have actually wanted, especially in a blended family or a long-term relationship that was never formalized by marriage. A will you wrote yourself or downloaded online can also be challenged, or can fail to account for a home, a business, or a second marriage in a way that creates exactly the family conflict you were hoping to avoid.
A trust that is drafted but never properly funded with your actual assets does not avoid probate either, a detail that surprises a lot of people after the fact.
How We Help With Estate Planning
We build wills and trusts around your actual family and assets, whether that means a straightforward will, a revocable trust designed to keep your estate out of probate, or a plan that accounts for a blended family, a family business, or property in more than one state. We also prepare the health care and financial directives that go alongside a complete plan, and if you already have those in place, our legal directives page covers that side in more detail.
If you already have a will or trust, we review it against your current life rather than assuming it still fits, since a plan written before a divorce, a remarriage, or a new grandchild often no longer reflects what you actually want.
Why Clients Choose Pamela Schatten
Ms. Schatten is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, a distinction based on peer review of both legal ability and ethical standards, and her membership in the Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar reflects a practice built around this area specifically. Clients consistently describe her as thorough and conscientious, and she takes the time to make sure a plan actually reflects your wishes rather than handing you a document to sign at the end of a single meeting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most people have more questions about estate planning than they realize until they actually
sit down to do it. Here are a few of the questions that one may consider.
What Working With Our Firm Looks Like
Your first meeting with us is a conversation about your family, your assets, and what you are actually worried about, not a rush through a checklist. We explain what each document does and why it is structured the way it is, and our office typically responds to calls and emails within a couple of hours if questions come up along the way.
You also work directly with Ms. Schatten from your first meeting through the day you sign your documents, so the person who understood your family’s situation is the same person who drafted the plan.
If you have been putting off your estate plan, or it has been years since anyone reviewed the one you have, call Barash-Schatten Law Firm, P.A. at (954) 698-4644 to schedule a consultation at our Hollywood office. You can also reach us through the contact form on our website, and we will help you figure out what your family actually needs.
Contact the Firm
Start the conversation.
Tell us briefly what you need and how to reach you. Messages go directly to Pamela Schatten, and you will hear back within a couple of hours at most during the business day.
Office
Barash-Schatten Law
800 E Cypress Creek Rd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334
Telephone
Toll free
Areas served
Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Lauderdale by the Sea, Hollywood Beach and Pompano Beach, plus the rest of Broward and Miami-Dade County
Office location, Fort Lauderdale
Please do not include confidential details in this first message. We will arrange a private call.