Cookman Law

Cookman Law Estate Planning, Special Needs Planning and Trust Administration

The first night out of our Austin retreat, we gathered for dinner at Geraldine's - and what an incredible night it was. ...
05/28/2026

The first night out of our Austin retreat, we gathered for dinner at Geraldine's - and what an incredible night it was. ✨

Geraldine's is an artisan Mexican restaurant that turns familiar dishes into something quietly extraordinary: char-kissed heirloom carrots in herbed cream, oysters on ice with three sauces, mole enchiladas that taste like they took someone all day to make (because they did), duck breast plated like a painting. The room is just as beautiful - vaulted ceilings, soft light, the kind of space where conversation slows down and stretches out.

We raised our glasses to a team we love, a year of meaningful work ahead, and the rare gift of being together in one room (and without our kiddos!). The rest of the trip would bring ranches and BBQ and line dancing, but on that first night out, it was wine, candlelight, and gratitude.

Some reviews stay with us for a long time. This was one of them. "We had been dragging our feet on creating a trust for ...
05/28/2026

Some reviews stay with us for a long time. This was one of them.

"We had been dragging our feet on creating a trust for our adult disabled son, but we knew it was necessary. After speaking with a few different firms we are so glad we decided to go with Cookman Law. Hannah took her time and held our hands during this process. Now we have such a sense of peace of mind, I wish we would have done this years ago."

Thank you to this family for trusting us - and a special thank you to our attorney Hannah, who walked them through this work with the care she brings to every family.

If there's one line we'd underline here, it's the last one: I wish we would have done this years ago.

We hear this more than almost anything else. Families put off planning for years (sometimes decades) because it feels overwhelming, or because there's no single deadline forcing the issue. And then once it's done, the feeling that shows up is almost always the same: why did we wait so long?

The gap between "I've been meaning to do this" and "it's done" is exactly where the anxiety lives. Closing that gap is what we're here for.

If your family has been dragging your feet on a plan - whether it's a first estate plan, a Special Needs Trust, or an update to something that's been sitting for years - we'd love to help you finally cross it off the list.

05/27/2026

If you've ever delayed scheduling an estate planning meeting because you weren't sure you were "ready" - this video is for you. 📋

Here's the thing: a great estate planning meeting isn't about showing up with a stack of documents. It's about showing up with clarity - about your goals, your family, and the questions that keep you up at night.

I'll share exactly what to prepare before you meet with an estate planning attorney, what information actually matters, what you can leave at home, and why being honest (even about the messy stuff) is the single most important thing you can do.

Whether you're scheduling your first meeting or helping a parent finally get their plan in place, this is a genuinely useful watch.

(Want to watch the full video? It's live on YouTube now!)

Thursday afternoon in Austin started with shopping on South Congress - and somewhere between the storefronts, we ducked ...
05/26/2026

Thursday afternoon in Austin started with shopping on South Congress - and somewhere between the storefronts, we ducked into La Perla for lunch. 🦐

It turned out to be exactly the kind of place you hope to stumble into on a trip: bright, breezy, and full of fresh seafood. Ahi tuna tostadas with crispy shallots, ceviche we couldn't stop reaching for, hush puppies with herbed dipping sauce, and a gumbo that wandered a little outside the menu's lane and turned out to be wonderful anyway.
And our delightful waiter was VERY knowledgeable in the gluten-free options for me and Jen, the 2 GF foodies on the trip.

A great reminder that some of the best parts of a trip aren't planned - they're the spots you wander into between everything else.

Memorial Day is a moment to pause. To remember the people who served, the people who didn't come home, and the families ...
05/25/2026

Memorial Day is a moment to pause.

To remember the people who served, the people who didn't come home, and the families who carry that absence forward.

Today is about remembrance, and about the quiet gratitude that the freedoms we move through every day were paid for by people we'll never meet.

From all of us at Cookman Law, thank you to the families who have given so much. We're holding you in our thoughts today.

At Cookman Law our team is 100% virtual, with team members from all over the US and the world. So we’ve been gathering ...
05/22/2026

At Cookman Law our team is 100% virtual, with team members from all over the US and the world. So we’ve been gathering in person once a year for a team retreat that helps us get to know each other, build trust with each other, and have a great time. :) This year we decided to meet up in Austin, Texas!

On Thursday of our team retreat in Austin, we enjoyed a relaxing morning before an afternoon walking South Congress Avenue. We had a blast exploring the shops and did our small part to "keep Austin weird." 🤠

We wandered from upscale boutiques to funky retro shops to candle bars to perfume shops to a hat store where, naturally, we had to try a few on. (Of course we did.) Between the shops there was street art everywhere: Mister Rogers asking if we'd be his neighbor, giant winged hearts, painted alleyways, sunflower signs telling us "she's beautiful - she's from Texas." We grabbed coffees from a sunny little spot whose cups said "just be nice" and figured, fair enough, that's good advice.

It's the kind of stretch where you slow down, look up, and remember that part of why we travel together is to share moments like these - the unhurried, slightly weird, deeply joyful ones.

Something a lot of California families don't know: Regional Center services have no asset limit. Eligibility is based on...
05/21/2026

Something a lot of California families don't know: Regional Center services have no asset limit.

Eligibility is based on your child's disability diagnosis and functional limitations, not how much money they have (or their family has). That means your child can receive an inheritance, have money in a Special Needs Trust, or have savings, and still keep their Regional Center services and supports.

This is one of the things that makes coordinated planning so important. Different programs have different rules. Understanding which benefits have asset limits (SSI: $2,000 / Medi-Cal: $130,000) and which don't (Regional Center, SSDI) is what makes it possible to build a plan that actually protects everything your child is entitled to.

05/20/2026

Here's something every Special Needs Trust trustee needs to know: how you pay for housing expenses matters - a lot. 🏠

The SSA updated its rules in 2024 and removed food from the list of things that can reduce an SSI check. That's genuinely great news. But shelter expenses still count, and a distribution from a Special Needs Trust that's handled the wrong way can quietly reduce your loved one's SSI benefits every single month.

The good news? There's a smart workaround - and it involves an ABLE account.

In this video, I walk through how these rules work, what changed, and exactly how families and trustees can protect SSI benefits when it comes to housing expenses.

Of all the decisions involved in special needs planning, the choice of trustee may be the most consequential…and the one...
05/19/2026

Of all the decisions involved in special needs planning, the choice of trustee may be the most consequential…and the one families most consistently underestimate.

The trustee of your child's Special Needs Trust holds real authority over their quality of life. Not just their finances, but their daily circumstances: what they can access, the experiences they can have, the support they receive above and beyond what government programs provide.

This isn't a role to fill by default, or to hand to whoever seems responsible in the family. It deserves real thought about capacity, willingness, and whether the person you name will still be the right fit ten or twenty years from now.

It's also a role worth talking to a professional about before you decide. We’re happy to walk through it with you.

If you have a child with a disability who is turning 18 this year, there are a few things worth knowing. At 18, your chi...
05/18/2026

If you have a child with a disability who is turning 18 this year, there are a few things worth knowing.

At 18, your child is legally an adult in California, which means you no longer automatically have the right to speak with their doctors, access their medical information, or manage their finances on their behalf.

Two documents change that: a Durable Power of Attorney (for financial decisions) and an Advance Health Care Directive (for medical decisions and information). These matter a great deal.

If your child also receives or will receive government benefits, now is also a good time to think about how those benefits are structured and what a Special Needs Trust might look like as part of their longer-term plan.

The gap between "I've been meaning to do this" and "it's done" is exactly where the anxiety lives. If this is on your list, we're here.

Special needs planning doesn't have to mean doing everything at once - or spending a lot all at once. There's a lot a fa...
05/15/2026

Special needs planning doesn't have to mean doing everything at once - or spending a lot all at once.

There's a lot a family can learn before they ever hire an attorney. Our YouTube channel covers the foundations: what an SNT is, how ABLE accounts work, what to ask a potential trustee, how public benefits interact with inheritances. Community organizations and regional centers offer workshops and support networks. Our team gives presentations to groups across California throughout the year. These are real resources, and they cost nothing.

But when it's time to put a Special Needs Trust in place, that's a different kind of work.

This is where the expertise should be specialized - and where cutting corners costs families the most. The drafting has to be precise. The language has to comply with SSI and Medi-Cal rules that shift over time. The trustee choice has to be thought through carefully. And the trust has to be coordinated with the rest of the family's estate plan so that assets actually flow into it the right way.

When any of those pieces are off, the consequences aren't small. A trust that looks fine on paper can still disqualify a beneficiary from benefits, trigger a Medi-Cal payback, or leave a family with a structure that doesn't do what they thought it would.

Learn what you can. Ask questions. Come to a presentation. And when you're ready to put the legal structure in place, work with a firm that specializes in this - because this is where the stakes are highest.

Address

2100 Geng Road Suite 210
Palo Alto, CA
94303

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Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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+16506902571

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