Trusts Attorney
- Estate Planning
- Trusts
Keep Your Estate in the Family, Not the Courts
Most people don’t give much thought to what happens to their property after they’re gone—until something forces the conversation. A parent passes without a plan. Land that was supposed to stay in the family has to be sold. Siblings who got along fine for decades are suddenly in a dispute over who gets what.
A trust is one of the cleaner ways to prevent that. Lisa Ward helps families and small business owners in Wamego and throughout Pottawatomie County set one up.
How Does A Trust Work?
You put your assets—your home, land, savings—into a legal structure you control while you’re alive. You name someone you trust to handle things after you’re gone. When that time comes, they carry out your wishes directly, without involving a court.
The alternative for most people is probate, a court-supervised process under K.S.A. Chapter 59. It takes time, costs money, and becomes part of the public record. A trust sidesteps it entirely.
Revocable vs. Irrevocable—What's the Difference
These are the two main types of trusts, and they work differently.
A revocable living trust is flexible. You can change it, add to it, or cancel it anytime. It keeps your estate out of probate and puts a plan in place if you ever become unable to manage your own affairs. For most families, this is the right starting point.
An irrevocable trust is more permanent. Once it’s set up, you’ve transferred ownership of those assets—which means they may be protected from creditors or kept out of your taxable estate. These come up most often in long-term care planning or when families want to set aside assets for a child with special needs without affecting their government benefits. Kansas trusts are governed by the Kansas Uniform Trust Code, K.S.A. Chapter 58a.
Which one makes sense depends on your situation. Lisa talks through that with you before any paperwork gets started
Who Typically Works with a Trust Attorney?
There’s no single profile. Lisa works with blended families where both a surviving spouse and children from a prior marriage have interests to protect, as well as parents who want assets managed carefully until their children are old enough to handle them. Families with a special needs member often turn to a trust attorney because an inheritance could otherwise interfere with government benefits.
Small business owners who need a plan for what happens to their business after they’re gone are also good candidates, along with anyone who owns property in more than one state and wants to avoid going through probate in multiple places. And sometimes it’s simpler than that—some people just want their affairs handled privately, without a court involved.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to my kids if something happens to both of us?
Do I need a will if my spouse would get everything anyway?
Not automatically. Under K.S.A. 59-507, if you have children, your spouse receives a fraction, and the children share the rest. That can force a sale of the family home. A will fixes this entirely.
At what age do I need an estate plan?
Does Kansas have an estate tax?
No state estate tax; Kansas eliminated it in 2010. But the federal estate tax still applies if your estate exceeds $13.61 million.
How much does this cost?
About Our Founding Attorney, Lisa Ward
Lisa Ward is a Wamego-based estate planning attorney with over 30 years of Kansas legal experience. She brings a strong Midwest work ethic along with the flexibility, focus, and creative problem-solving that real estate planning needs. She knows this community, and she makes sure every client leaves with a plan that will actually benefit them, their family, and their assets.
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Start Your Trust Today
Most people put this off. But the families most grateful for a trust aren’t the ones who set it up—it’s the ones who inherited from someone who did.
Have an honest conversation with Lisa about what you’ve built and who you want to protect. She’ll take it from there.