201 N. Second Street
Clearfield, PA 16830
814-765-1711 Fax (814) 765-9596
Toll Free 800-464-1268

Experienced and Dedicated Legal Service in Clearfield

Guiding your family or business through complicated legal issues can be a challenging task to face alone. When dealing with legal matters affecting the well-being of your family or business, it is important to have a lawyer on your side who understands the issues and can provide the guidance and support you need to obtain effective resolutions.

Since 1975, Timothy E. Durant, Attorney & Counselor, has worked with individuals, families and businesses throughout the Clearfield, Pennsylvania area to address their legal needs. Attorney Durant provides caring and respectful representation, giving you the peace of mind in knowing that your family or business concerns will be handled with expertise and attention to detail.

Attorney Durant's years as a solo practitioner have provided the experience and knowledge necessary address a variety of legal issues. Below is an overview of the main Areas of Practice for which Attorney Durant's services are utilized.

Guiding You Through Your Legal Issues - Overview

  • Elder Law: From asset preservation to drafting advanced health care directives and planning for the future, Attorney Durant offers comprehensive elder law guidance designed to help you protect your loved ones from emotional or physical harm. (More...)
  • Estate Planning: Attorney Durant provides support by discussing, reviewing, analyzing, crafting and preparing needed Wills, Powers Of Attorney, Trusts, Deed transfers, and Advance Directives (Living Wills) as well as dealing with problems or questions related to the use of these documents. (More...)
  • Probate Administration: When death triggers the need to deal with Estate issues, he carefully guides and represents Executors and Administrators in every stage of handling the estate and meeting their related probate and non-probate obligations. (More...)
  • Guardianship: He will counsel you and prepare any needed Petitions for Guardianship as well as provide assistance in understanding the duties and expectations of guardianship. (More...)
  • Gas, Oil and Minerals: In an effort to help protect investments and land purchases, Attorney Durant offers title search services and analysis of title issues as well as review of mineral, gas and oil leases for landowners. (More...)
  • Personal Injury and Property Damages: Attorney Durant represents individuals injured in automobile accidents in an effort to help you secure the compensation you deserve for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering. (More...)
  • Business Law: From business formation and incorporation to drafting business agreements and contracts, Attorney Durant's business law services are designed to help address the various issues relating to protection of your assets and well-being of your business. (More...)
  • Real Estate: From family transfers, residential real estate purchases or sales to title insurance and closings proceedings, Attorney Durant offers step-by-step guidance throughout varying real estate law issues. (More...)
  • Adoption: Attorney Durant offers dedicated guidance throughout the familial or stepparent adoption process. (More...)
  • Miscellaneous Matters and FAQ's: (More...)
Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law

Contact Attorney Durant online or call 814-765-1711 (toll-free: 800-464-1268) to discuss your specific legal concerns. The Law Office of Timothy E. Durant is conveniently located two blocks from the courthouse and diagonally across the street from the Post Office in downtown Clearfield, Pennsylvania, three miles below exit 120 of PA I-80.

The office is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Evening and weekend appointments are available upon request. Home, hospital and visits to business sites by arrangement when circumstances necessitate.

Frequently Asked Questions With Q&A's For Common Legal Dilemmas

The following information for each practice area expands on issues to be considered when contemplating seeking legal assistance. A Q&A section follows each area of practice, providing situations (with identifying details removed) which have been submitted to Attorney Durant by email along with his responses. These personal communications will give insight into the thought, respect and care that Attorney Durant brings to the legal concerns of his clients.

Elder Law

Providing clear and concise direction for the family when you or another member is elderly can be challenging. Let us help you and your loved ones communicate your desires in clear and legally sufficient ways. Taking care of business can take that burden off of your shoulders and give you a rewarding sense of relief. Whether you wish to make your medical care wishes known, or need to draft powers of attorney so as to allow a loved one to make decisions for you, or you want to finally get that will you have been putting off, the assistance of an experienced lawyer is a vital tool in ensuring the care you and your loved ones desire.

Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law

Whatever your specific concerns, Attorney Durant works diligently to help you create clear and concise direction on your wishes or the wishes of your elderly loved ones. Attorney Durant has developed strategies for addressing various Elder Law issues, including:

  • Asset Preservation
  • Medicare and Medicaid Planning
  • Nursing Home Planning
  • Familial caregiver arrangements and agreements
  • Advanced Directives
  • Living Wills
  • Powers of Attorney
  • Guardianships
  • Estate Planning
  • Wills

Estate Planning

Questions that will need to be addressed for any estate plan are:

  • What assets do you have?
  • What are they worth now?
  • In whose name are these assets currently titled?
  • Who are the people or organizations that should receive your assets following your death?
  • Is there anyone who requires special protection to assure the assets they receive from you are not pre-spent or soon wasted?
  • Who should be the Executor(s) in charge of distributing your assets?
  • Is the goal to help make it a little easier for your family, minimize state and federal death taxes, protect assets, protect beneficiaries from bad decisions made after your death, provide funding for a community or charitable organization, or create a community or charitable organization as a memorial, etc?
  • Do you have a Durable Power of Attorney? Is it adequate? Is your choice of agent up to date?
  • Have you completed an advanced directive (also called a living will)?

Attorney Durant often encounters people who have been sold expensive "Living Trusts" designed for estates that are much larger than the ones they have or are likely to have at the end of their lives. Scare tactics regarding "Probate" and attempting to avoid it, have caused them to seek complex documents that are more expensive and unnecessarily complicate executing their wishes. Over the years, a number of clients have retained Attorney Durant to help them terminate Trusts that were far too complex and ornate for their actual needs.

Attorney Durant can help you evaluate your need for estate plans that are appropriate for your situation. He is experienced in creating Trusts if they are needed but finds that a correctly drafted Last Will and Testament and good estate planning will often serve the client's purposes less expensively and more properly.

Reasons to use or avoid joint ownership and the benefits and detriments of lifetime gifting should also be discussed.

Probate Administration

Questions of concern in the administration of a decedent's estate are:

  • What assets are there?
  • Where are the assets located - in state or out of state?
  • Are the assets in need of protection from the elements or vandals or less than honest family members?
  • Do the assets require specialized protection or valuation?
  • Is it known where various investment and bank accounts are stored and accounted for?
  • Where is the will?
  • Funeral preplanned and paid for?
  • Any special arrangements needed for funeral or memorial or transportation or disposition of the body?
  • What debts does the decedent have?
  • Who owes the decedent?
  • Are there any people who will contest the will?
  • Any who will claim to be related who are not dealt with in the will?
  • Was the decedent married?
  • Does the decedent have children?
  • If the decedent has deceased children - do they have children?
  • Was there a divorce after the making of the will?
  • Is there a divorce filed or expected?
Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law

Guardianship

People often assume guardianships are primarily for elderly persons suffering from dementia or physical infirmity.  In fact, special needs children approaching age 18 who are not able to and will not be able to independently care for themselves are also candidates for appointment of parental or other adult guardians.  This can only be done by the local Orphans Court and it is strongly recommended that the legal documents be filed and hearing(s) be completed before the child reaches the age of majority - 18 years of age.  Failure to act before the age of 18 will create a bizarre, frighting situation where the presumptively incapacitated child is now an adult and is deemed by law to be competent.  This creates a true legal emergency due to the HIPPA laws and rights to privacy since you will not be permitted access to his/her medical records nor permitted to be involved in his/her medical or mental treatments and therapies.  

Questions to consider include:

  • How old is the Ward (the person needing the protection of a guardian)?
  • Who is the proposed Guardian and what is their familial and legal relationship with the Ward?
  • Does the ward have assets?
  • What kind of income or assets?
  • Reports will have to be submitted annually to the Court
  • Where should the petition be filed?

Gas, Oil and Mineral Law

With the Marcellus Shale boom of recent years, there is renewed interest in this area of law. Pennsylvania is one of the only states where Gas and Oil rights are not conveyed along with Mineral rights when land is deeded over to a new owner. This has created a unique challenge in sorting out the issues of gas, oil and mineral ownership. Attorney Durant restricts his involvement in these issues with landowners as opposed to the large gas and oil companies. Items to be considered include:

Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law
  • Who wants to know?
  • Who are the owners and what do they own?
  • Are there any unresolved ownership interests?
  • Who wants to lease what?
  • What kind of issues need to be considered?
  • What use is being made of the property now and what changes are contemplated?
  • Consider the neighbors and the neighborhood.
  • Sell or lease?

Personal Injury and Property Damages

Our initial consultation will be without charge and if representation is agreed upon it usually will be on a contingent fee basis (my fees will be taken out of the funds which I obtain for you).  In Pennsylvania you have two years in which to file suit for personal or property damages.

Issues and facts to be discussed will include:

Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law
  • When did the injury or damages occur?
  • When did you first know or have reason to know that an injury or damage had occurred?
  • Describe the damages or injuries in your own words.
  • Who do you believe was responsible for the injuries or damages?
  • What did the responsible party do or fail to do that directly led to the injuries or damages?
  • Who are your witnesses?
  • Did anyone admit they were responsible for the damages or injuries?
  • Did you have "full tort" automobile insurance coverage? Even if you did not you may still be able to sue.
  • Bring in your automobile insurance declarations page so we can discuss under-insurance and un-insurance coverage.
  • Bring in all bills and medical records in your possession.
  • Were alcohol or drugs a factor in this accident?
  • Were there multiple vehicles involved?

Business Law

From business formation and incorporation to drafting business agreements and contracts, Attorney Durant offers business law advice, services and counsel all of which are designed to help you address the various actual and potential issues relating to protection of your assets and the stability and well-being of your business. Starting your own business is best done with careful legal assistance and planning. Items to be thought through include:

Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law
  • Do you want to enter into a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, corporation?
  • Do you have a business plan?
  • Will you be borrowing funds?
  • What will be your collateral?
  • Who will be the guarantor(s)?
  • Who will involved in the business with you?
  • What will be their involvement and their payment?
  • What are your expectations and the expectations of the other participants? Are these in writing?
  • What types of liability are being risked?

Real Estate

Residential real estate purchases, sales or transfers.  Title insurance and closing procedures.  Attorney Durant offers step-by-step guidance throughout varying real estate law issues.  In the current economic environment, many people are interested in "Rent to Own" agreements.  These can be potentially hazardous for both the buyer and the seller.  Too often these agreements are "drafted at home" by buyer or the seller providing protection for neither. 

Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law

Over the years, Attorney Durant has come to the aid of clients who have been forced to abandon costly renovations to a home they thought they were buying.  Or they want to "evict" the people who were buying the home as if they were tenants instead of buyers.  Invariably these situations are due to flaws in the homemade agreements which could have been addressed in a manner protective of both the buyer and seller had an attorney been consulted and proper documents prepared.  

Some questions that will be discussed for any real estate transaction are:

  • Do you want to keep property in the family?
  • Will there need to be a subdivision?
  • Has a price been determined?
  • Will you be using a real estate broker?
  • Have you entered into a written agreement?
  • Is there anything about the property which could be dangerous or illegal or subject to state or federal pollution issues?
  • Is there public water/sewage?
  • Is the title clear?
  • How do you know the title is clear?
  • Are there unresolved estate or tax issues or multiple owners?
  • Who are the buyers and how do they wish to hold title?

Adoption

Attorney Durant most often assists with familial or stepparent adoption process.  Adoption issues arise in today's blended or broken families with parents who are not married or are no longer living together.  Those type of adoptions are called "familial adoptions" and they are encountered more frequently than the other classic type of adoptions which are called "stranger adoptions" (that is adoptions of a newborn baby by unrelated parties). The pre-adoption requirements are less rigorous for "familial adoptions" and usually the adoptee is already living with the proposed adoptive parent(s) before any paperwork is filed.  

Here are some of the questions we will address when pursuing adoption for your family:

  • How is the adoptive child related to you or your spouse?
  • Is the adoptee 12 years of age or over? Willing to consent?
  • If you have other children, what are their ages?
  • Are both natural parents living and if so are they willing to consent?
  • Will involuntary termination of parental rights be required?
  • Are there any special needs for this child?
  • Are there any benefits providing medical coverage to be considered?
  • Does the adoptee have assets?
  • Has there ever been an adoption involving this child?
Timothy E. Durant, Attorney at Law

Miscellaneous Matters

The main areas of the Timothy Durant law firm practice have been laid out in summary form on the "Areas of Practice" page and in some detail on this page.  However, as in any general practice, there are a myriad of issues that require legal services that don't fall neatly into any of the main areas of emphasis.  If your issue is not covered on this website, it still may be something for which Attorney Durant can provide assistance.  Please keep in mind that while Attorney Durant does not accept criminal, bankruptcy, divorce, custody cases or highly specialized areas, such as patents, trademarks or SEC matters, he does provide legal services for most other issues that people living in rural or small towns might encounter.