Yee Law Group Inc.

What the firm focuses on

Estate planning and probate make up the core of the firm's work in Sacramento, California. Michael Yee founded Yee Law Group Inc. after practicing at a real estate law firm in the same city. The client work starts with drafting: wills and revocable living trusts that set out how a person wants assets handled.

The firm also prepares financial powers of attorney and advance health care directives. Once a plan takes effect, it handles trust administration and estate administration. When parties disagree over a trust or an estate, the firm takes on the resulting litigation.

Its practice pages list several related areas. These include wealth transfer taxation, business succession planning, conservatorships, real property matters, and elder law. In my opinion, pairing estate planning with elder law lets older clients keep one firm across needs that tend to arrive together.

The attorneys named on the site

Michael Yee leads the firm as its founder. His earlier work in real estate law gives the firm a grounding in the property questions that often surface in estate matters.

Melissa Yee Littau has worked in elder law since she graduated from McGeorge School of Law. She was admitted to the California State Bar in 2006. Catherine L. Hughes has built her career around representing low-income and underserved communities.

Alongside the attorneys, the site names paralegals, notaries, and administrative staff. The firm states that its attorneys hold over 40 years of combined experience.

Support roles

Paralegals and notaries carry real weight in estate work. Paralegals prepare drafts, track filing deadlines, and organize the documents a matter needs. A notary confirms the identity of people signing wills, powers of attorney, and deeds, which keeps those documents valid later. Having this support in house lets the attorneys focus on the legal calls.

Documents and planning tools

A revocable living trust is central to much estate planning work. The person who creates it keeps control of the assets during life, and a named successor trustee takes over at death or incapacity. This structure can let a family keep the trust assets out of probate.

A will covers property left outside a trust, and it can name guardians for minor children. Financial powers of attorney let a chosen agent handle money matters if the signer cannot. Advance health care directives record medical wishes for a time when the person cannot state them.

These tools do quiet but steady work. A durable financial power of attorney stays valid if the signer later loses capacity, which is the reason for naming an agent in advance. An advance health care directive can name a health care agent and record treatment wishes, so doctors and family have written guidance while the client is healthy.

Elder law and capacity

Elder law reaches past documents into the daily needs of aging clients. It can cover planning for long-term care costs, questions about mental capacity, and protection from financial abuse. Melissa Yee Littau works in this area, and the firm's conservatorship and probate services support it when a family needs a court to act.

A capacity question can change which tools fit. If a client can still understand and direct their choices, a power of attorney or an updated trust may be enough. If capacity has already slipped, the family may need the court route through conservatorship. Timing the plan while a client is well keeps more of these options open.

Disputes and passing on a business

Trust and estate litigation covers the conflicts that surface when a plan meets real life. A beneficiary may argue that a will was signed under pressure, or that a trustee mishandled the accounts. These cases turn on records: the drafting file, medical notes from around the signing, and the trustee's own accountings. The firm handles this litigation for clients on either side of such a claim.

Wealth transfer taxation shapes how much of an estate reaches the next generation. Federal estate and gift tax rules set thresholds that shift over time, and careful drafting can keep more property within a family. The firm lists this planning among its services for clients with larger estates.

Business succession planning answers a different question: who runs and owns a company after the founder steps back. The work can involve buy-sell agreements, transfers of shares to family members, and coordination with the owner's wider estate plan. Michael Yee's earlier real estate work connects to the property side of these deals.

How estate disputes resolve

Most estate disputes settle before a full trial. The parties exchange documents, sit for depositions, and often meet with a mediator to test a compromise. When a case does reach a judge, the court weighs the drafting record and the testimony of those who knew the person's intent. Either path can run for a year or more.

How probate and trust matters usually work

Probate in California runs through the Superior Court in the county where the person lived. The court confirms the will, appoints a personal representative, and oversees payment of debts before assets reach the heirs. The steps can run for months and generate documents such as inventories and accountings.

Estate administration outside of a trust follows its own timeline. The personal representative files a petition, gives notice to creditors, and files a final accounting before the court closes the estate. A firm that both drafts plans and administers them can smooth that handoff, since the same team already knows the documents.

Trust administration usually stays outside court. A successor trustee gathers assets, notifies beneficiaries, and distributes property under the terms of the trust. When beneficiaries challenge those steps, the dispute can move into the trust and estate litigation the firm handles.

Conservatorships

A conservatorship brings a judge into the picture. The court names a person to manage the affairs of an adult who cannot manage alone, and it sets the scope of that authority. Because the firm lists conservatorships among its services, clients facing that step can work through the filings and hearings with counsel.

Offices and the areas served

The firm keeps its main office in Sacramento and runs two more in Folsom and Roseville. Three locations give clients a choice of where to meet, and each office works within the same estate and probate services.

Sacramento sits at the meeting point of several suburbs, and estate work follows the families who move between them. Offices in Folsom and Roseville place counsel closer to clients in Placer and El Dorado counties. A client can pick the location that fits the drive.

As a reviewer, I note that the stated service area stretches well past the office cities. It covers Sacramento, Roseville, Davis, and Rocklin, the counties of Placer, Yolo, and El Dorado, and clients across California.