I am a genuine immigrant, who was born in Subotica, in the former Yugoslavia (which is now in Serbia). Ethnically, I am Hungarian, and I attended Hungarian language elementary school through the fifth grade. My family then moved to Lakeland, Florida where I graduated from Santa Fe Catholic High School.

Thereafter I went on to earn my Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from Auburn University, at Auburn, Alabama. I worked as an engineer for about 13 years in Birmingham, Alabama, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mulberry and Palmetto, Florida, and finally at Simplot Phosphates in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

At the age of 35, I decided to change careers, and went to law school at the University of Akron in Ohio, where I got my Juris Doctor degree. After law school, I returned to Rock Springs, where I have been in private practice since 1998. I am a member of the Wyoming, Florida and Utah State Bars.

Although I love practicing law, I love my family even more. My wife and I have been married since 1984, and we have four children and five grandchildren.

In our free time, we travel, camp, cross country ski, bike, hike, and I fish.

Probate is the court-supervised process of administering your estate upon your death. If you die without a will, your estate must go through probate before all your money can be distributed to your heirs. And if you die WITH a will…your estate still has to go through probate! The only way to avoid probate is with a revocable living trust.

What’s so bad about probate? Even a simple probate can take years to complete and eats up as much as 5-7% of the estate assets in the meantime. It’s also a public proceeding that makes your will available to anybody who wants to look at it.

Although a will is subject to the probate process, a living trust is designed to bypass it completely.

The Harton Law Firm is a boutique estate planning firm based in Rock Springs, Wyoming. We prepare comprehensive estate plans for residents of Wyoming, Florida and Utah.

We have an easy, 3-step process designed to have your trust and other estate planning documents created and signed in 6-8 weeks:

* The first step is to attend your Peace of Mind Planning Session. You’ll fill out a secure online questionnaire (“Family Profile”) before we meet so we can make the best use of our time together. At this Zoom session (or in person in Rock Springs), you’ll learn all about your options and our flat fees. When you are ready to move forward, we’ll email you an engagement letter and invoice, both of which can be executed online.

* Next is your Estate Plan Design Meeting. We’ll roll up our sleeves and design your trust and other estate planning documents, working off the information you provided in your Family Profile. After this session, I’ll draft your documents, and send a copy for your review about two weeks later. We’ll then make any changes or updates you’d like to make. When everything is good to go, we’ll coordinate an in-person Signing Ceremony.

*Your Signing Ceremony is where you’ll sign your documents with the proper legal formalities, in front of two witnesses and a notary. We can have this session at our office in Rock Springs or your home. Following execution of the documents, we are available for free, unlimited lifetime consultations regarding your estate plan.

An attorney who listens without interrupting and makes sure you fully understand your options before making any decisions! I wouldn’t be doing my job as an attorney otherwise. It’s very important to me that you feel heard and have your questions answered. We’ll also review our process, flat fees, and overall client experience so you know exactly what you are getting and what the investment will be.

When you are ready to move forward, whether at your Peace of Mind Planning Session, or later, let me know. We’ll send you an engagement letter via DocuSign and an invoice via our secure online payment provider, LawPay. Once these housekeeping items are taken care of, you’ll schedule your Estate Plan Design Meeting.

Let me start by saying what we do NOT need! We do NOT need account statements, social security numbers, or tax returns. We DO need information on what kind of assets you own (house, retirement account, life insurance, etc.), their relative value, and how they are titled (jointly, individually, etc.) Beyond that, we simply need answers to questions about your personal estate planning preferences, including:

• Who you would want raising your minor children if something happened to you and your spouse or partner
• Who you want to be in charge of your children’s money until they are old enough to mange it themselves
• Who you want making medical and financial decisions for you in the event of your incapacity

Don’t worry if you don’t have the answers to these questions right away! You’ll have plenty of time to think things over throughout the process.

Our process is designed to have your estate planning documents signed within 6-8 weeks of your Peace of Mind Planning Session. It depends in part on your schedule and how long it takes for you to review your draft documents.

It depends! Estate planning is not one size fits all, so it’s hard for us to give you a quote without knowing more about you. Even if you believe your situation is relatively simple, there are likely nuances you are not considering. We discuss our fees and process at length in the Peace of Mind Planning Session, after we have counseled you on all your options. We do not discuss our fees outside the Peace of Mind Planning Session.

We understand that cost is an important factor in choosing an attorney, and that estate planning is a significant investment for many. It is our goal to be as transparent and fair as possible. For that reason, we offer flat fees as opposed to billing by the hour, so you know exactly what your investment will be. We also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not happy with our services, we will make it right, or refund your money.

Finally, we will only recommend planning with us if the amount you would save by doing an estate plan is greater than our fee.

We take on a limited clientele each month so we can offer a high level of service to each family. We work with people who value our advice and are seeking a long-term working relationship. If you are looking for the cheapest attorney you can find, do not want to devote time to learning about and understanding your options, or do not feel comfortable completing the Family Profile before our session, we are not the right law firm for you, and would be happy to refer you to a lawyer who may be a better fit.

Yes! I am happy to have a quick, complimentary call before you schedule your Peace of Mind Planning Session. We do not discuss fees outside the Peace of Mind Planning Session, but I am happy to answer any basic questions you may have.

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Unfortunately, even a simple will is still subject to the expense and delays of probate. It’s not the complexity of the document itself that cause the time and expense, it’s the probate process itself. For this reason, most of my clients choose to create a living trust instead of a will, which is designed for simplicity and to avoid the probate process completely.

However, as part of an overall, comprehensive estate plan, a special “pour-over” will is used to appoint guardians for any minor children alive at your death.

No. This is the biggest myth out there. Estate planning is in no way related to how much money you have, whether you are married, or whether or not you are a parent.

Estate planning in putting legal documents in place that ensure your assets will go to the people you want, the way you want, when you are gone. It’s about making this as easy as possible on your loved ones during an otherwise difficult time. And we all care about that, no matter how much (or little) money we have.

It’s also about appointing people to manage your property and make health care decisions for you if you are incapacitated, something that matters to all of us regardless of wealth status.

Estate planning is simply the process of getting legal documents in place so that your chosen individuals are appointed to take care of you, your children, your assets, and your finances in the event of your death or incapacity. The process also involves naming the people you want to inherit your assets when you are gone. An “estate plan” is simply a bundle of all the documents needed to accomplish these objectives.

If you don’t currently have a will or trust, you may think you don’t have an estate plan….but you do. It’s just that the state of Wyoming (or Florida or Utah) has written it for you! All states have a default plan for your family and assets in the event of your incapacity or death. That’s the plan you have now. Estate planning is “opting out” of the default plan and putting your own wishes in place.

Yes! In some ways, you need estate planning MORE than married folks. Many non-married individuals want to leave their money to charities and friends, not their closest living relative. Unfortunately, if you die without getting this in writing, your estate could end up in the hands of that distant cousin you’ve met twice. And it’s important for everyone to have a Health Care Proxy and Financial Power of Attorney.

You have two options with your estate planning: a will-based plan, or a living trust-based plan. The vast majority of my clients choose a living trust. A living trust is a document where you appoint a chosen individual to manage your assets should you become incapacitated and distribute them to your family at your death. It is almost always preferrable to a will because it is designed to avoid the time, expense, and publicity of probate, which a will cannot avoid.

It comes as a surprise to many of my clients that wills do not avoid probate court…they guarantee it!

I go over the difference between a will and a living trust in depth during the Peace of Mind Planning Session. The most common question I get at the end of this session is, “Why would anybody ever do a will?!” Ultimately, however, the decision is yours.

Great question! I have yet to meet a parent who actually wants their kids to inherit a big lump sum on their 18th birthday (which is the age you are legally entitled to inherit). Yet that is exactly what will happen if you don’t get an estate plan saying otherwise. The good news is that with a trust, you can choose a later age for your kids to inherit – say 25, or 30. You have lots of options. We’ll discuss them at your Peace of Mind Planning Session.

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