j@ofseyer.com
760-346-3355
74000 Country Club Drive, Suite H-1
Palm Desert, California 92260
Mr. Ofseyer is a graduate of the Harvard Law School (magna cum laude 1990) and certified as a specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. His practice focuses on Estate Planning, Trust Administration, and Probate Court proceedings involving Trusts and Estates.
Since 2012, he has had the highest available peer-review rating, AV® Preeminent™, from Martindale-Hubbell and the highest available Avvo™ rating, 10.0 Superb. Palm Springs Life magazine has selected him as one of its “Top Lawyers” every year since it started rating lawyers in 2011.
He began his legal career in New York, as a Judicial Clerk at the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, and has years of experience at some of New York’s elite firms, including four years as a Senior Litigation Associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, an eminent international firm based in Manhattan. He went on to start his own firm in Palm Desert, California in 2005, focusing on estate planning, trust, and probate matters, and was a partner of Nethery & Ofseyer LLP from 2008 through 2013.
Mr. Ofseyer also has an M.A. in Philosophy, with a concentration in Ethics, from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, with a concentration in Ethics, from the University of North Carolina. He has taught Ethics at Harvard, N.Y.U., U.N.C., and U.C.L.A., taught Wills & Trusts and Estate Planning as an adjunct professor at the University of La Verne College of Law, and regularly presents continuing legal education classes on Trusts & Estates topics for other lawyers.
He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Arthritis Foundation of the Desert, and the Board of Directors of the Jewish Family Service of the Desert. He lives in Indian Wells with his wife Alexandra, son Daniel, and rescue cats Tiger and Gizmo.
Education
J.D., Harvard Law School, 1990
magna cum laude
Ph.D., University of North Carolina, 1999
M.A., New York University, 1993
B.A., University of North Carolina, 1986
Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice
California, 2005
New York, 1992
Professional & Bar Association Memberships
State Bar of California
Trusts & Estates Section
Desert Bar Association
Honors & Professional Recognition
Certified Specialist – Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law
State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization (2012- )
AV® Preeminent™
Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating (2012- )
10.0 Superb
Avvo™ Rating (2012- )
“Top Lawyers”
Palm Springs Life (2011- )
“Top 1%” of “America’s Most Honored Lawyers”
American Registry (2020- )
“Top 1%” of “America’s Most Honored Professionals”
American Registry (2016- )
Yelp
“People Love Us On Yelp” (2016- )
Recent Public Speaking & Teaching
Handling Claims Against Fiduciaries & Applying Legal Ethics Rules: NBI Seminar – CA Probate & Trust Litigation (Webinar 2022)
California Estate Administration Process & Alternatives: NBI Seminar (Webinar 2020)
Notarization in the Age of COVID: California CEB (Webinar 2020)
California’s New Trust Decanting Techniques: Law Talk MCLE – Estate Planning/Probate Update (Indio, CA 2019)
Ethics; and Probate Litigation: NBI Probate Boot Camp (Palm Desert, CA 2018)
Ethics in Estate Admin.; and Estate & Trust Contests: NBI Estate Admin. Boot Camp (Pasadena, CA 2017)
Six Degrees of “C.Y.A.” for Trustees: Professional Fiduciary Association of California (Indian Wells, CA 2016)
Intestate Succession; and Ethics: NBI Seminar – The Probate Process from Start to Finish (Palm Desert, CA 2015)
Wills & Trusts and Estate Planning, University of La Verne College of Law, Adjunct Professor (Ontario, CA 2009-2015)
Recent Publications
Settlor Incapacity and Filling the “Empty Chair”, V Probate Department Newsletter No. 2 (2022)
Bequeathing Bitcoin: Crypto for the Cryptee, IV Probate Department Newsletter No. I (2021)
Remote Online Notarization and California Estate Planning Instruments, III Probate Department Newsletter No. I (2020)
Tips of the Trade: Pitfalls of Split-Interest Trusts for Blended Families, 25 California Trusts & Estates Quarterly No. 4 (2019)
Handling Debts of a Deceased Trustor, with Lisa K. Berkeley, II Probate Department Newsletter No. II (2019)