Michelle L. Upp-Cruz

Biography

Michelle L. Upp-Cruz is a certified Trust and Estate paralegal who brings extensive experience to Lamb & Kawakami LLPʼs Trust and Estate Practice Group. Michelle provides high-level support to the L&K’s Trust and Estate attorneys, trustees, guardians, conservators, and executors/administrators.  Prior to joining Lamb & Kawakami, LLP, she worked at Rodi, Pollock, Pettker, Christian & Pramov, in Los Angeles, California, as a trust and estate paralegal to the Senior Partner, John D. Pettker, for 14 years, and prior to that, Michelle worked at Helms, Hanrahan & Myers, boutique law firm in Arcadia, California, where she also worked for the Senior Partner, James R. Hems, Jr., for 13 years. She works closely with L&K’s clients from the onset of the matter to the closure. She assists with trust and estate administration, trust funding, preparation of federal estate tax returns; preparation of court documents and filings for Probate, Conservatorship, Guardianship, and Court supervised Trust proceedings; and prepares inventories and accountings.