about-02

Elizabeth Krivatsy – Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney

I am committed to helping my clients protect their families, their assets and their values by crafting estate plans that “hope for the best and plan for the worst.”

"You want to give your children enough money to do something, but not enough to do nothing." ~ The Descendants

I help my clients choose the best way to distribute assets to their children and grandchildren and to make gifts to those charitable organizations that have been important to them throughout their lives. I also help parents think through how to select appropriate guardians for their young children.

The most important part of my work is advance health care planning – helping my clients clearly express their wishes for end-of-life care so that their loved ones are fully informed and authorized to act for them under difficult and highly emotional conditions.

I frequently speak to community and professional groups about estate planning topics and more - e.g., how to organize your personal and financial paperwork, how to decide whether to age in place or move into a retirement community, and how to discuss end-of-life values and decisions with your family.

I earned my undergraduate degree at the University of Hawaii. While living in Hawaii, I worked as a schoolteacher, a legislative aide in the Hawaii State Senate, and a land use planner. I moved to San Francisco to marry my husband, and I continued my planning career.

I earned my law degree at UC Hastings College of the Law as a "second-career" student. After graduating, I worked with two prominent San Francisco law firms, Hancock Rothert & Bunshoft LLP and Lillick & Charles LLP, since acquired by larger firms. Both of these firms provided excellent training and set the highest standards for professional practice, something for which I am forever grateful. They also supported my pro bono work with the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, where I worked with wonderful mentors and helped dozens of clients, often at the very end of their lives, create estate plans to protect their partners and families during the AIDS crisis.

Community service continues to be the cornerstone of my professional and personal life. I provide pro bono services to vulnerable seniors in my community, I serve as a deacon at our church, and I'm an active member of the POLST Coalition in Marin.

I live in Sausalito with my husband Adam. We have five curious, resourceful and generous grandchildren, who set a high standard indeed for their parents and grandparents.