What Every Senior Should Know About Estate Planning
Learn essential estate planning tips for seniors to protect your legacy and ensure your wishes are honored. Discover practical and modern solutions.
Arkansas Estate Planning Attorney
Ron Baranski is an Arkansas estate planning attorney who approaches planning as a practical service rooted in real life. His work is shaped by lived experience, clear communication, and a belief that legal tools should function when families need them most. He serves families across Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas, leading a veteran-owned firm built on diligence, responsibility, and follow-through.
Meet Ron Baranski
Ron Baranski’s path into law was shaped by real life long before it became a profession. He attended law school in his mid-30s while raising a young family with his wife, to whom he has now been married for more than 34 years. During that time, he also served as a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Together, Ron and his wife raised two daughters, who are now adults, and he is a proud grandfather to four grandsons.
That season of life continues to influence how Ron approaches his work. Estate planning, to him, is not abstract or theoretical. It is about responsibility, clarity, and making sure the people you care about are protected when decisions become difficult or urgent.
Several years ago, Ron made a deliberate decision to step away from work in oil and gas and real estate to focus exclusively on estate planning and elder law. Trust and will planning are now core parts of his practice, along with planning for incapacity, aging, and long-term care.
Planning Shaped by Lived Experience
A cancer diagnosis and a period of treatment and disability became a defining turning point for Ron. It reinforced a simple truth: planning matters most when people cannot advocate for themselves.
That season informs how Ron approaches every planning conversation. The focus is not fear. It is preparedness, making sure the right tools are in place before they are needed.
Meet Karen Fredrickson
Karen Fredrickson serves as the Client Services Director at Baranski Law, bringing compassion and lived experience to every family she works with. She is a mother of five and a grandmother to six, and her approach is rooted in care, patience, and a genuine desire to help others feel supported.
Estate planning became deeply personal for Karen after she was suddenly widowed at the age of 47 without a plan in place. The long and costly probate process that followed shaped her understanding of how important preparation and clear guidance are during difficult seasons.
Today, Karen supports clients throughout the planning process with empathy and steadiness. Faith continues to guide her life, and she is now remarried to a God-loving husband, approaching her work with gratitude and a heart for serving families well.
How Ron Baranski Helps Arkansas Families
Ron works with clients who want clear guidance and dependable follow-through, not generic paperwork. His work commonly includes:
Estate planning and legacy planning
Trust and will planning
Power of attorney and advance healthcare directive planning
Elder law–related planning concerns
This integrated approach allows planning tools to work together instead of in isolation.
How Ron Approaches Estate Planning
Ron’s philosophy is simple: he does not create documents, he creates tools.
Plans are built to work in real life, not just at signing. That includes follow-through. Baranski Law reaches out every three years for a complimentary review because most issues can be fixed if a client is still alive and competent and regular check-ins help keep plans usable.
Clients can expect:
Clear explanations without legal jargon
Careful attention to process and implementation
Planning that reflects the uniqueness of each family
A focus on usability, not just completion
A plan only works if it is actually used correctly.
Ready to Create a Plan That Actually Works?
Estate planning does not have to feel overwhelming or rushed. It starts with a conversation about your family, your concerns, and what you want to protect. If you are ready to replace uncertainty with clear, usable tools, or if you want to know whether your current plan truly works under Arkansas law, the next step is a simple conversation.
What Families Say
Common Questions About Working With Ron
What type of law does Ron Baranski practice?
Ron focuses on estate planning, including trusts, wills, power of attorney planning, advance healthcare directives, probate guidance, and related elder law matters.
Does Ron work with clients statewide in Arkansas?
Ron serves individuals and families throughout Arkansas. His practice is also focused in North Texas, and he has worked with clients across the state of Texas.
Does Ron handle trusts and wills as part of estate planning?
Several years ago, Ron shifted away from work in oil and gas and real estate to focus exclusively on estate planning and elder law. Today, trust and will planning are core parts of his estate planning practice, alongside guidance designed to help families prepare for incapacity, aging, and long-term care needs.
Is estate planning just about documents?
Planning is a key distinction because people can obtain documents anywhere, but proper planning based on experience and knowledge makes the difference between a plan that accomplishes your goals versus firms that just generate cookie-cutter plans cheaply that may meet your needs and may not.
