Husmann Law

Practice Areas

Cheryl Husmann limits here legal practice to the following areas of Estate Planning, Probate and Business Law Matters.

Estate Planning Services

Probate Services

Business Law Services

  • General Counsel and Legal Advice
  • Business Entity Formation: C Corporations, Limited Liability Companies (LLC), Partnerships, S Corporations, and Sole Proprietorships
  • Business Entity Conversions
  • Contracts
  • Series LLCs
  • Trademarks
  • Copyrights

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Estate Planning Services

Adult Guardianship

Guardianship over an adult is the court-ordered authority and responsibility to manage the affairs of your loved one when she or he can no longer make decisions about finances or health care.  Guardianship may be necessary for an adult with cognitive impairment or for an adult child with special needs.

Advanced Healthcare Directive

Advanced Healthcare Directives, also known as Living Wills, in Oklahoma are governed by the Oklahoma Advanced Directive Act.  The Oklahoma legislators recognize the right of individuals to control some aspects of their own medical care and treatment, including but not limited to the right to decline medical treatment or to direct that it be withdrawn, even if death ensues.

Asset Protection

If you are concerned about liabilities from creditors or lawsuits, advanced estate planning can help protect certain assets. High net worth individuals or professionals in industries that are more likely to be sued often need to protect their assets. But timing is key; in most cases asset protection techniques need to be established before liabilities arise.

Business Entity Formation

Businesses can be formed as corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, limited partnerships, professional corporations or professional limited liability companies.  It is important that you choose wisely when forming your corporation.

Business Succession Planning

A Business Succession Plan should be in place at the earliest stages of a business.  All businesses, whether owned by one person or several, need a plan in place in case the owner retires, goes bankrupt, becomes disabled, gets divorced, or dies. At least one of these events is certain to occur and without a proper plan, can wreak havoc on the business and the owners or their heirs.

Estate and Trust Administration

A Trust is managed and administered by the person designated in the Trust document to be the Trustee. Administration includes many details, including taking advantage of tax benefits, maintaining information to present to beneficiaries, and managing and distributing trust assets to beneficiaries.

Estate Tax Planning

The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. Oklahoma does not have a state estate tax. The Federal Estate Tax is calculated after an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death and then reduced by the amount of the unified credit available in the year of death. Most individuals do not have estates large enough to be assessed the Federal Estate Tax.

Gift and Charitable Planning

Estate and tax planning techniques may be used to provide for charity and other heirs in ways that maximize the gift and minimize its impact on the donor’s estate. Gift and charitable planning may also be used to provide gifts that return income or other financial benefits to the donor in return for the contribution.

Healthcare Power of Attorney

A Healthcare Power of Attorney allows you to name a Healthcare Proxy or Patient Advocate to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to communicate on your own. You can give your agent the authority to oversee the wishes you’ve set out in your Advanced Healthcare Directive (aka Living Will), as well as the power to make other necessary decisions about health care matters.

IRA Trust

If you have significant assets in an IRA, then you should consider setting up a special type of revocable living trust that is specifically designed to be the beneficiary of your IRAs after you die. An IRA Trust is a special type of revocable living trust that is designed to hold your IRA accounts for the benefit of your loved ones after your death.

Living Will

Living Wills, also known as Advanced Healthcare Directives, in Oklahoma are governed by the Oklahoma Advanced Directive Act.  The Oklahoma legislators recognize the right of individuals to control some aspects of their own medical care and treatment, including but not limited to the right to decline medical treatment or to direct that it be withdrawn, even if death ensues.

Power of Attorney

A power of attorney grants someone else authority to act on your behalf.  A power of attorney may be general, special, durable, effective immediately or effective only upon some later event.  Having a power of attorney in place is an essential piece of an effective estate plan.

Revocable Living Trust

With no estate planning or only a Will, a deceased person’s family will have to go through probate court. Probate can be expensive, time consuming, and is often more of a burden than a help. Property left through a living trust can pass to beneficiaries without probate, can protect assets held in trust for your heirs, and leaves a legacy for your loved ones.

Special Needs Trust

If you leave money directly to a person with special needs, that inheritance will likely keep that person from qualifying for government benefits. Setting up and leaving money to a special needs trust allows you to improve the quality of life for your loved one with special needs, without jeopardizing their eligibility for benefits.

Testamentary Trust

A Testamentary Trust is a type of trust created within a Will and it becomes effective only upon the death of the person who made the Will.  The Testamentary Trust does not own assets at the time of death and the Will must go through probate court in order for assets to be transferred into the Testamentary Trust.

Trust Administration

A Trust is managed and administered by the person designated in the Trust document to be the Trustee. Administration includes many details, including taking advantage of tax benefits, maintaining information to present to beneficiaries, and managing and distributing trust assets to beneficiaries.

Trust Planning

There are many types of trusts that can be utilized to establish an estate plan tailored specifically to an individual’s needs, including revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, asset protection trusts, charitable trusts, special needs trusts, spendthrift trusts, asset protection trusts, and many others.

Wills

Everyone needs a Will, even if you have established a trust.

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Family Law Services

Adoption

There are many types of adoptions, including foster children, stepchildren, adults, newborn, interstate, and kinship adoptions.  Each type of adoption has unique requirements, but all adoptions require attention to detail and compliance with the procedures in the Oklahoma Adoption Code. Many people assume that an adoption is financially unobtainable because adoption agencies charge exorbitant prices. However, it is not required that an adoption go through an adoption agency. Many adoptions are initiated directly between birth parents and prospective adoption parents, and they choose private legal representation.

Child Custody

In a perfect world, children have the love and support of each parent equally.  For many families, however, that standard is not possible. Custody issues arise from many different circumstances including unwed parents, divorce, extended family interference, child protective services intervention, or even the death of a parent. Custody disputes require an attorney who knows the legal landscape of family law and experience with family courts.

Child Support

Children are entitled to financial support from both parents. Whether you owe child support or child support is owed to you, the rules governing support obligations should be applied consistently and fairly for the benefit of your children. Whether you need assistance in establishing child support, enforcing payment, or modifying your payment obligation, we have the experience to help you.

Child Visitation

Child visitation is a keenly important issue for families, and any visitation schedule needs to be a good fit for the children as well as the parents.  Visitation applies in paternity cases (parents that have not wed), divorce cases, guardianships, and other circumstances. Once custody and visitation is established by a court, the custody and visitation order can only be modified by a new court order.

Divorce

Divorce is no fun for anyone .  From division of assets and debts to child custody and visitation; from who keeps the new car and the big monthly payment on it to who gets the family pets; from who keeps the kids clothes and toys (spoiler alert: it’s the kids, not you or your ex) to who gets the kids on the holidays, big decisions need to be negotiated.  You need the most skilled, compassionate, effective, and tenacious lawyer to help you through these challenging decisions and our attorneys are the best.

Child Guardianship

If parents are unable to care for a child for any reason, a guardianship may be an appropriate solution.  Guardianships are a court order granting legal care and control of a child to someone other than the child’s parent; however, the parent’s fundamental rights remain intact and the guardianship order is always temporary, even it is in effect for many years.  The guardian can be a family member or a friend, but the court must approve of the guardianship and periodically review how the child is doing.

Legal Change of Name

Other than through a legal marriage or a divorce decree, a court order is required to legally change a person’s name. Although the process is relatively simply, it does involve court filings, public notices, and a hearing before a judge.

Paternity

In Oklahoma, if the parents are unwed, the mother of a child born out of wedlock has custody of the child until determined otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction (10. Okla. Stat. §7800). If a parent is not named on a child’s birth certificate or if the parents are not married, a judicial determination of paternity is the first step in establishing custody, visitation and child support. A paternity action may be initiated by the mother, the father, or child support enforcement.

Post Decree Modification

Once a court enters an order for custody, visitation and support, it can only be modified by a new court order. You can ask the court to change an existing order by filing a motion to modify.  The court can change custody, visitation, and child support, but division of property in a divorce decree may not be modified.

Prenuptial Agreement

Before marrying, many couples wish to have a written understanding about the nature of their property acquired during their marriage. Oklahoma is a separate property state and all assets and debts acquired during a marriage are subject to division during a divorce or to distribution under probate if a spouse dies.  A premarital agreement can establish rules the couple agrees to that are different from the default laws.

 

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Probate Services

Avoiding Probate

Probate is the court process of transferring your probate assets to your heirs after your death.  Only assets that are in your probate estate must go through this court process.  Therefore, probate can be avoided by making certain all assets are in non probate form.  This can be accomplished by various methods including beneficiary or payable on death designations, trust planning, joint ownership, and gifts.

Small Estate Administration

If the total value of all probate assets in an estate are less than $50,000, it may be possible to transfer assets using a Small Estate Affidavit without going through probate court. If a person or institution holds property belonging to your deceased loved one (e.g. , a bank, car title, investment account, etc.) is presented an affidavit and a copy of the death certificate, that person or institution should release the asset.

Probate

If your deceased loved one left assets in probate form and the total value of all assets is greater than $50,000, then probate is the only way to transfer those assets to the heirs.  Even if your loved one had a Will, it must be presented to the probate court and the assets distributed according to the probate statutes under the supervision of the court.

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