Old Courthouse, St. Louis · Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Wills, trusts, and powers of attorney — built around your family, not a template.
Probate and trust administration, handled start to finish by one attorney.
Formation through succession — the same attorney who handles your estate.
A living trust holds your property while you're alive and passes it directly to your family — without probate, and without a judge getting involved if you become unable to manage things yourself.
Deborah Smiley is a Missouri living trust attorney and a CFP® — a Certified Financial Planner — so yours gets checked against your real accounts, not filled in from a template.
Practicing law
In wealth management, alongside her law practice
Certified Financial Planner
Accredited Estate Planner
A living trust is a legal document that holds your property while you're alive, and passes it directly to the people you choose when you pass — without a probate court in the middle. Here's what that means in practice.
Passes what's titled in the trust directly to your family — but only what's actually retitled into it.
Most people serve as their own trustee, with full access to everything, while they're able to.
If you can't serve as trustee, your successor steps in immediately — no court-appointed conservatorship needed.
Trust terms aren't filed with the court. A probated will becomes public record — a trust doesn't.
Anytime, as long as you have legal capacity — that's what "revocable" means.
Pay out over years or at set ages, instead of handing everything over at once.
Said plainly, so you know what else to plan for.
A revocable trust is still legally yours. An asset protection trust is what shields against lawsuits and creditors.
Learn about Asset Protection Trusts →A revocable living trust offers no tax shelter on its own. Reducing estate tax exposure takes an irrevocable structure.
A pourover will still catches anything left outside the trust, and names guardians for minor children.
Learn about Wills →Not sure how this applies to your situation?
Call 636-214-0546Most living trusts fail for reasons that have nothing to do with how they were written. Here's what we check for, every time, before we call a file finished.
The single most common failure. We don't close a file until every account is retitled and every deed is recorded — not just signed and left in a drawer.
A new house, a new account, a new business. We review your trust every year specifically to catch what's been left out since.
If a trust isn't funded, a court still has to appoint someone to manage your affairs. We confirm your plan actually avoids that before we call it done.
A living trust is rarely priced on its own. Most plans are a flat fee, set before you commit to anything, that covers it alongside whatever else you need. What changes the number is complexity — whether you're planning alone, as a couple, or across multiple assets and entities.
One person — property, retirement accounts, or minor children to plan for.
Two people — one coordinated plan instead of two that may conflict.
Multiple assets, entities, or a business — coordinated with your CPA and other advisors.
Get an exact number for your situation — the first call is free.
Call 636-214-0546Property, accounts, and how each is currently titled — in one real meeting.
Property, accounts, and how each is currently titled — in one real meeting.
Coordinated with a pourover will and your powers of attorney, not standing alone.
Every account retitled, every deed recorded, in the trust's name.
Reviewed every year, so new accounts and property get added as your life changes.
Deborah has practiced law in Missouri for 30 years. For 11 of those years, she also worked in wealth management — so she doesn't just draft your trust, she checks it against your actual accounts, your actual mortgage, your actual life.
She's a CFP® (Certified Financial Planner) and an AEP® (Accredited Estate Planner) — credentials very few estate attorneys hold together.
Ready to talk through your plan?
Call 636-214-0546Client Reviews
Deb has been a great partner over the years and takes great care of my referrals/clients for their planning needs.
I met Deb and I thought I had all my estate and business planning affairs in order; then she asked me questions that made me realize I had a lot more planning to do.
Deb and I have been collaborative partners for almost 20 years. She has taken great care of my clients.
I have known Deb for years and she has given me peace of mind with my estate planning needs.
Deb has been instrumental in helping my family with their estate planning needs. We are grateful for her.
Deb has been very helpful with my and my family's estate and business planning.
When we first moved here, I didn't realize how many legal revisions and details were needed. I heard Deb speak at a luncheon and was so impressed with her legal knowledge. Deb has been very helpful with my family's estate planning. She gave us peace of mind.
Deb, thank you so much, we really appreciate all of your work and concern.
Deb was very responsive and helpful.
Deb was so helpful and even came to our house.
Deb was very responsive, helpful and intelligent.
Deb has been a great partner over the years and takes great care of my referrals/clients for their planning needs.
I met Deb and I thought I had all my estate and business planning affairs in order; then she asked me questions that made me realize I had a lot more planning to do.
Deb and I have been collaborative partners for almost 20 years. She has taken great care of my clients.
I have known Deb for years and she has given me peace of mind with my estate planning needs.
Deb has been instrumental in helping my family with their estate planning needs. We are grateful for her.
Deb has been very helpful with my and my family's estate and business planning.
When we first moved here, I didn't realize how many legal revisions and details were needed. I heard Deb speak at a luncheon and was so impressed with her legal knowledge. Deb has been very helpful with my family's estate planning. She gave us peace of mind.
Deb, thank you so much, we really appreciate all of your work and concern.
Deb was very responsive and helpful.
Deb was so helpful and even came to our house.
Deb was very responsive, helpful and intelligent.
A revocable legal arrangement that holds your property while you're alive and passes it directly to your beneficiaries when you pass — without probate, if it's properly funded.
Moving legal ownership of your accounts and property into the trust's name. Skip this step, and the trust is just paperwork — everything stays titled to you personally, and probate runs anyway.
Yes. A "pourover" will catches anything left outside the trust and names guardians for minor children — something a trust alone can't do.
Yes. Most people serve as their own trustee and name a successor to take over if they can't, or after death.
No, not on its own. Reducing estate tax exposure takes a different, irrevocable structure.
Yes, anytime you have legal capacity — that's what makes it "revocable."
Your successor trustee distributes the assets according to your instructions, without probate court involvement.
It's rarely priced on its own — most plans bundle it with a will and other documents into one flat fee. Call for a free 30-minute consultation and you'll know your exact fee before you commit to anything.
Call to schedule your free 30-minute consultation with Deborah — no obligation.
Call 636-214-0546