j@ofseyer.com
760-346-3355
74-000 Country Club Dr, Suite H-2, Palm Desert, CA 92260
Mr. Ofseyer is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he earned his J.D. magna cum laude (top 10% of class) in 1990, and is 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, Estates, and Conservatorships. He represents professional and corporate fiduciaries, others serving in fiduciary roles, and beneficiaries of trusts and estates. Drawing on advanced training and teaching in ethics and philosophy, he emphasizes careful analysis of estate plan design, fiduciary duties, and the values and practical consequences informing trust and estate decisions.
Since 2012, he has held AV® Preeminent™, Martindale‑Hubbell’s highest peer‑review rating for legal ability and ethical standards, and 10.0 “Superb,” the highest available Avvo rating. Palm Springs Life magazine has selected him as one of its “Top Lawyers” every year since it first selected lawyers in 2011.
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
USC Trust and Estate Planning Committee
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- )
Super Lawyer Top Attorney
Super Lawyers (2024- )
10.0 Superb
Avvo™ Rating (2012- )
“Top Lawyers”
Palm Springs Life (2011- )
Recent Public Speaking & Teaching
Bridging the Gap: How Family Lawyers Can Lay Groundwork For Smooth Probate (co-presenter): Desert Bar Association (Palm Springs, CA 2025)
Trusts & Trust Management, Undue Influence & Deathbed Transfers, and Estate Administration Myths: NBI Seminar – “It’s Not a Movie” – Dispelling Pop Culture Myths About Estate Planning (Webinar 2025)
Distribution and Closing of the Estate & Ethics and Estate Administration: NBI Seminar – CA Estate Administration From Start to Finish (Webinar 2024)
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)
Earlier university teaching included courses in Symbolic Logic and Bioethics at NYU; Ethics, Bioethics, Social & Political Philosophy, Hume’s Ethics, and Philosophy of Law at UNC and UCLA; and as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University for Michael Sandel’s Justice and T.M. Scanlon’s Reason & Evaluation.
Recent Publications
The Frontier, Revisited: California’s Generative AI Rules and Trusts & Estates Counsel, One Year Later, with Sean Tannebaum, VIII Probate Department Newsletter No. 1 (2026)
Navigating the New Frontier: State Bar Guidance on Generative AI for Trusts and Estates Counsel, VIII Probate Department Newsletter No. 1 (2025)
The Estate Tax Exemption Sunset and Anti-Clawback Regulations, VII Probate Department Newsletter No. 3 (2024)
Settlor Incapacity and Filling a Trust’s “Empty Chairs”, 29 California Trusts & Estates Quarterly No. 4 (2023)
Settlor Incapacity and Filling the “Empty Chair”, V Probate Department Newsletter No. 2 (2022)
The Frontier, Revisited: California’s Generative AI Rules and Trusts & Estates Counsel, One Year Later, with Sean Tannebaum, VIII Probate Department Newsletter No. 1 (2026)Navigating the New Frontier: State Bar Guidance on Generative AI for Trusts and Estates Counsel, VIII Probate Department Newsletter No. 1 (2025)
The Estate Tax Exemption Sunset and Anti-Clawback Regulations, VII Probate Department Newsletter No. 3 (2024)
Settlor Incapacity and Filling a Trust’s “Empty Chairs”, 29 California Trusts & Estates Quarterly No. 4 (2023)
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)
The Client With Diminished Capacity (Ch. 7), contributing editor, in Guide to the California Rules of Professional Conduct for Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Counsel (3rd ed., TEXCOM, State Bar of California, 2013).