Do I need a will if I have a trust?

Yes. Even with a living trust, you need a pour-over will to capture any assets that weren't transferred into your trust during your lifetime. Without one, those assets pass through Oregon's intestacy laws rather than according to your wishes.

What is the difference between a will and a living trust?

A will takes effect at death and must go through probate before assets are distributed. A living trust takes effect immediately, avoids probate, and allows for faster, private transfer of assets to your beneficiaries. Trusts also provide better protection for blended families and beneficiaries who are minors or have special needs.

How much does estate planning cost in Oregon?

Track Town Law offers flat-fee estate planning services in Oregon and Idaho. Fees vary based on the complexity of your plan — whether you need a simple will package, a full revocable living trust plan, or a more complex plan involving Medicaid planning or special needs considerations. Consultations are free.

Do I need an LLC for my small business in Oregon?

Most small business owners in Oregon benefit from forming an LLC. It separates your personal assets from business liabilities, can provide tax flexibility, and signals credibility to clients and vendors. The key is not just forming the LLC but setting it up correctly with an operating agreement, a dedicated bank account, and an EIN.

What does Medicaid planning involve?

Medicaid planning involves structuring your assets and income to qualify for Oregon Medicaid long-term care benefits while protecting as much of your estate as possible. This may involve Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts, spousal protection strategies, and coordinating with VA benefits if applicable. Planning works best when started at least five years before care is needed.

Can I work with Track Town Law if I don't live in Eugene?

Yes. Track Town Law is a fully virtual firm serving clients throughout Oregon and Idaho. All meetings are conducted by video or phone, and documents are signed electronically. You never need to come to an office.

What is Oregon's estate tax threshold?

Oregon imposes its own estate tax with a threshold of $1 million — significantly lower than the federal exemption of $15 million. This means many Oregon families who wouldn't owe federal estate tax may still owe Oregon estate tax. Proper planning with trusts and other strategies can reduce or eliminate this exposure.

How do I get started with Track Town Law?

Start with a free consultation. You can book online at tracktownlaw.com/book-now. Consultations are conducted by video or phone and typically last 30 to 45 minutes. There is no obligation and no charge for the initial meeting.

What to Expect from a Free Business Law Consultation in Oregon

Sep 16

Written By Jared Hight

Twenty-five minutes on Zoom, no charge, and a written summary afterward. Here is what the call is for, what it is not, and what happens if we decide to work together.

Most business owners who book a consultation with me have never hired a lawyer for their company before. They are not sure whether their question is a real legal problem or a five-minute conversation, whether they will be charged for asking, or whether they are supposed to have paperwork ready. This post answers those questions ahead of time so the call itself can go straight to what you need.

The call is a fit assessment

The free consultation is 25 minutes on Zoom. If you would rather talk by phone, note that when you book and I will call the number you provide. There is no charge and no obligation.

The purpose of the call is to figure out two things. First, whether what you are dealing with is something I handle. Second, whether I am the right lawyer to handle it. That means I will ask about your business, your ownership structure, and the situation that prompted you to reach out, and I will tell you plainly whether it fits my practice.

What the call is not is a substitute for the work. I will not review your contract, analyze your operating agreement, or give you a specific legal opinion on the call. Anyone who tells you they can responsibly do that in 25 minutes, without reading the documents and without knowing the facts, is guessing. What you will get is a clear picture of what the issue is, how I would approach it, and what it would cost to have me do it.

What I handle, and what I do not

My business practice covers formation and structure (LLCs, corporations, S corporation elections, conversions), the agreements that govern co-ownership (operating agreements and buy-sell agreements), contracts with customers and contractors, hiring and employment questions, commercial leases, and selling or buying a business. I am licensed in Oregon and Idaho, and the firm is fully virtual, so where you are in either state makes no difference to how we work.

I do not litigate. If your situation has already turned into a lawsuit, a demand for arbitration, or a dispute that is clearly headed to court, I will tell you that on the call and point you to the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Referral Service so you do not lose time. I also do not handle probate, family law matters, or anything outside Oregon and Idaho. Screening these out early is part of what the free call is for. It costs you nothing to find out I am the wrong fit, and it saves you the wasted time of waiting on someone who was never going to take the case.

One more boundary worth knowing before you book: I do not review or revise documents I did not prepare. Bringing another lawyer's template or an AI-generated draft up to a standard I will stand behind is the same work as drafting it from scratch, so there is no discounted "just look this over" service. If you already have a document and it needs to be right, the answer is usually an amended and restated version drafted to Oregon or Idaho law.

What to have ready

You do not need to send anything ahead of the call, and I will not ask you to. What helps is being able to describe your situation in plain terms: who owns the business and in what percentages, what entity type it is (or whether it is one yet), what happened or what you are trying to accomplish, and any deadline you are working against. If there is a document at the center of the question, knowing what it is and roughly what it says is enough. I do not need to read it to tell you whether it is something I can help with.

How business work is priced

Business law at my firm is billed hourly and scoped with you before any work begins. On the call, once I understand what you need, I will tell you what the work involves and give you an estimate for it. Where a matter naturally breaks into phases, such as forming an entity now and drafting a customer contract later, each phase gets its own estimate, and you decide on each one separately. You are never committed to the next step by starting the first.

Some formation packages are offered at a flat fee, and the pricing page is the source of truth for those. Everything else is hourly, and the estimate you get on the call is the number I expect to work within.

The reason I scope before starting rather than after is that the value of hiring a lawyer for this kind of work is in the questions, not the paperwork. A template operating agreement is free on the internet. What it cannot do is ask what happens when one of you wants out, whether your spouse gets a vote, or how a buyout gets valued when the two of you disagree. The fee buys those questions and the answers drafted to your actual business.

What happens after the call

Every consultation ends with a written summary email from me. It restates what we discussed, lays out the recommended next steps, and includes the links you need to move forward if you decide to. You do not have to decide on the call, and I do not follow up with sales pressure. The summary is there so you can think it over with the details in front of you.

If you want to proceed, the sequence is short. You complete a brief intake form with your basic contact and business information. I then send an engagement letter for electronic signature together with a link to pay the advance fee deposit for the scoped work. Once the letter is signed and the deposit is paid, the firm is engaged and the work begins. The deposit is held in my trust account and billed against as the work is done, and any unused portion comes back to you at the end.

Nothing starts before that point. I do not begin work, request documents, or open a file because someone said yes on a call, and I will not ask you to send documents "so I can get going" before the engagement is in place. That protects both of us: you are never billed for work you did not authorize in writing, and I am never working on a matter without a clear scope.

Why the firm is virtual

Everything above happens by Zoom, email, and electronic signature. I built the practice this way so that a business owner in Coos Bay, Klamath Falls, or Boise gets the same access to counsel as one in Portland, and so that a business owner in Portland or Eugene does not have to lose a morning to a downtown office visit for a 25-minute conversation. The quality of the work does not depend on where the meeting happens. It depends on whether the lawyer understood your business, and that is what the call is for.

If you are still deciding whether your situation calls for a lawyer at all, the post on when to form an LLC is a reasonable place to start. If you already know you have a question, the fastest path is to book the call and ask it.

Bottom Line

The free consultation is a 25-minute conversation to find out whether your issue is one I handle, how I would approach it, and what it would cost. It is not document review or legal advice on the spot. If we move forward, you get a written summary, a scoped estimate, and an engagement letter, and nothing is billed until that letter is signed and the deposit is paid.

Book a free consultation here.

This post is for general information about how Track Town Law handles business consultations and does not constitute legal advice for any particular situation.

Jared Hight https://www.tracktownlaw.com