Revocable living trust
The backbone for homeowners. Your assets, held your way, passing to your people without court involvement — and managed for you if you’re ever incapacitated.
Sec. 01 — Estate planning
Estate planning in Reno, for the people you love.
Wills, trusts, and powers of attorney — built as one coherent plan, quoted as one flat fee, and explained until it actually makes sense. Most plans are finished in two to three weeks.
The short answer
A complete Nevada estate plan is usually a revocable living trust (or will), a financial power of attorney, a healthcare directive, and the deed work that funds the trust. For most Reno homeowners, a trust-based plan avoids probate entirely and costs a flat fee — quoted before we begin. If you rent, a simpler will-based plan may genuinely be enough, and we’ll say so.
What a complete plan includes
“Estate plan” sounds like a binder for wealthy people. It’s really just answers, written down and made legally durable: who’s in charge if you can’t be, who gets what, who raises the kids, and who can talk to the doctor. A complete plan usually means six documents working together:
Will (or pour-over will)
Names guardians for minor children and catches anything left outside the trust. If a trust isn’t needed, a well-drafted will leads the plan instead.
Financial power of attorney
Lets someone you trust pay the mortgage, manage accounts, and handle business if you can’t — without a court-appointed guardianship.
Healthcare directive
Your medical wishes and your chosen voice in the room, in one Nevada-compliant document — so your family never has to guess.
HIPAA authorizations
The unglamorous document that lets doctors actually talk to your people. Small paper, big difference in a hard week.
Deeds & trust funding
We prepare and record the deed moving your home into your trust and help align accounts and beneficiaries — the step DIY plans skip, and the reason they fail.
Trust or will? The honest version
Here’s the plain-English decision most families are actually making:
| Your situation | Usually the right fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You own a home in Nevada | Trust-based plan | Keeps the house out of probate; manages it if you’re incapacitated |
| You rent; assets have beneficiaries | Will-based plan | Less paper, lower cost; probate exposure is already small |
| Blended family, second marriage | Trust-based plan | Controls timing and shares precisely; reduces conflict |
| Minor children | Either — with guardianship + trust shares | Money managed for kids, not handed over at 18 |
| One property, very simple wishes | Will + transfer-on-death deed | Sometimes the inexpensive tool is genuinely enough — we’ll say so |
A will alone does not avoid probate in Nevada — that’s the single most common misunderstanding we correct. A will is instructions for the probate court, not a way around it.
The quiet advantages of planning in Nevada
Nevada is one of the friendliest states in the country to plan in, and a good plan leans into that:
- No state estate tax, inheritance tax, or income tax. What you leave goes further here.
- Community property with right of survivorship options for married couples — including a step-up in basis benefits many states can’t match.
- Transfer-on-death deeds for simple situations, letting a home pass outside probate.
- Nevada asset protection trusts — among the strongest self-settled spendthrift trust statutes in the country, for families with meaningful exposure. After the statutory seasoning period, assets are shielded from most future creditors.
- Efficient probate shortcuts for small estates — which good planning usually makes unnecessary anyway.
Twenty minutes with us will tell you exactly what your family needs — and what it doesn’t.
Start the conversationWhat it costs
Estate planning here is flat-fee: one number, quoted before we start, covering drafting, revisions, signing, and recording. Ranges below are typical — your quote is confirmed at the first meeting.
Complete trust-based plan — couple
Trust, pour-over wills, POAs, directives, deed & funding
from$3,200
Complete trust-based plan — individual
Same architecture, single settlor
from$2,400
Will-based plan
Will, POAs, healthcare directive, HIPAA
from$950
Standalone documents & updates
POA, directive, TOD deed, or amendments to an existing plan
from$300
Figures are illustrative for this demonstration site; every real quote is confirmed in writing before work begins.
How it works
A conversation about people, not paperwork
One meeting — in person on Liberty Street or by video. We learn your family, your property, and your wishes, and you leave with a firm flat quote and a recommendation you understand.
We draft; you review at your kitchen table
Within about two weeks you receive complete drafts with a plain-English cover memo. We walk through them together and revise until every page sounds like you.
Sign, notarize, record — done properly
One signing appointment with notary and witnesses handled. We record your deed with Washoe County, deliver a organized binder plus digital copies, and show your family where everything lives.
Who this is for
Everyone, eventually — but these are the moments people actually call us:
- New parents naming guardians and setting up trust shares so kids never inherit a lump sum at eighteen.
- Homeowners who just realized the house alone puts their estate above Nevada’s probate shortcuts.
- Blended families who want fairness spelled out precisely, while everyone’s on good terms.
- Business and ranch owners coordinating succession, water rights, and land with the family plan.
- Adult children helping parents get organized — often after watching a friend’s family go through probate without a plan.
Questions we hear every week
Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?
It depends mostly on whether you own real estate. A will alone doesn’t avoid probate in Nevada — assets titled in your name still go through court. If you own a home, a revocable living trust usually saves your family months and thousands of dollars. If you rent and your accounts have beneficiaries, a will-based plan may be genuinely enough. We’ll tell you which — honestly.
What happens if I die without any plan?
Nevada’s intestacy statutes decide for you: fixed shares to your spouse and children after community property rules are applied, a court-chosen administrator, and — if you have minor children — a judge selecting their guardian. It works, but it’s slower, public, more expensive, and rarely what people would have chosen.
Does a living trust really avoid probate?
Yes — for everything the trust actually owns. That’s why funding matters: we record the deed putting your home into the trust and help align accounts and beneficiary designations. An unfunded trust is just expensive paper, which is the failure mode of most do-it-yourself plans.
How often should we update the plan?
Look at it every three to five years, and right away after marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a move, a home purchase, or a meaningful change in assets. Most updates are short amendments, not rewrites — and plan clients get priority scheduling for them.
Is there an estate tax in Nevada?
No — Nevada has no estate tax, no inheritance tax, and no state income tax. Only estates above the federal exemption face federal estate tax, which doesn’t touch most families. If yours is one that it might, that’s a planning conversation worth having early.
What about a transfer-on-death deed instead?
Nevada’s TOD (beneficiary) deed passes your home outside probate for a few hundred dollars, and in genuinely simple situations we recommend it. It just does much less than a trust: no incapacity management, no structure for minors, no backup layers. Simple tool, simple cases.
When you’re ready
Put it off no longer. It’s easier than you think.
Two meetings, two weeks, one flat fee — and the peace of mind your family will quietly thank you for.