PRICING, POSTED
What estate planning costs here.
Flat fees, agreed before any work begins — and every plan designed and drafted by a Certified Specialist.
Every plan is designed and drafted by a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law — a designation granted by the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization, which requires a separate examination, documented experience in the field, and peer review by judges and other attorneys. Most attorneys who prepare estate plans do not hold it.
PRICING, POSTED
First, what it costs to do nothing.
In California, the statutory attorney's fee on a $1 million estate in probate is about $23,000 — and the executor is entitled to the same amount again. That's roughly $46,000, and 9 to 15 months in court, before anything reaches your family.
A funded trust avoids all of it.
Right for you if you’re a professional, homeowner, or retiree who wants to avoid probate, keep things private, and name the right people to be in charge — with a straightforward, outright distribution to the people you love.
Right for you if you want your children’s inheritance protected — from a future divorce, a lawsuit, creditors, or a beneficiary who isn’t ready to manage money — or you own a business interest that needs to be handled correctly.
If your daughter inherits outright and divorces four years later, that inheritance can end up on the table. A protection subtrust is what keeps it hers.
Right for you if you’re a business owner, real-estate investor, or blended family with a larger estate that needs specialty structures and multiple assets coordinated.
Your exact price is confirmed at your design meeting, before any drafting begins. Estate-tax planning, irrevocable trusts, and multi-entity work are quoted separately.
| What your plan does | Foundational | Protected | Legacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your family skips probate — the roughly $46,000 and 9–15 months on a $1M estate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| No public court file listing what you owned and who inherited it | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Someone you chose takes over if you’re incapacitated — no conservatorship petition | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Guardians named for your children, including a temporary nomination | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| We deed your home into the trust and record it ourselves | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Your family gets a written map of what you own and where to find it | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Children’s inheritance protected from their divorce, creditors, and lawsuits | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| A beneficiary who isn’t ready doesn’t receive a lump sum at 18 | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Business interest assigned into the trust, entity records updated | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-estate, special-needs, or professional-practice structuring | — | — | ✓ |
Your family skips probate — the roughly $46,000 and 9–15 months on a $1M estate
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
No public court file listing what you owned and who inherited it
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
Someone you chose takes over if you’re incapacitated — no conservatorship petition
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
Guardians named for your children, including a temporary nomination
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
We deed your home into the trust and record it ourselves
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
Your family gets a written map of what you own and where to find it
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
Children’s inheritance protected from their divorce, creditors, and lawsuits
Foundational—
Protected✓
Legacy✓
A beneficiary who isn’t ready doesn’t receive a lump sum at 18
Foundational—
Protected✓
Legacy✓
Business interest assigned into the trust, entity records updated
Foundational—
Protected✓
Legacy✓
Real-estate, special-needs, or professional-practice structuring
Foundational—
Protected—
Legacy✓
| Multiple properties and business interests coordinated | — | — | ✓ |
| A complimentary specialist plan checkup every 3 years — a standing courtesy for our clients — plus updates when the law changes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| A complimentary introductory consultation for your successor trustee when the time comes — a courtesy we extend to every client’s family | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Multiple properties and business interests coordinated
Foundational—
Protected—
Legacy✓
A complimentary specialist plan checkup every 3 years — a standing courtesy for our clients — plus updates when the law changes
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
A complimentary introductory consultation for your successor trustee when the time comes — a courtesy we extend to every client’s family
Foundational✓
Protected✓
Legacy✓
Every trust-based plan includes all of this.
- A revocable living trust, written for your family — a joint trust for couples, an individual trust if you're planning alone
- Pour-over will, durable power of attorney for finances, advance health care directive with HIPAA authorization
- Certification of trust, assignment of personal property, and a personal property memorandum
- A schedule of what your trust owns, plus a personalized summary and list of the people you've named
- The deed transferring your home into the trust — prepared, filed with the county, and recorded by us
- A written funding plan for every other kind of asset you own, advice on your beneficiary designations, and call-us-from-the-bank support until it's done
- Your signing appointment, three ways — online by video with evening and weekend times, in our Carlsbad office, or with a notary we send to your home. We arrange the notary and the witnesses either way
- Your documents scanned, retained, and delivered to you as a complete estate planning portfolio
After your plan is finished, a few things we extend to our clients as a courtesy:
- An invitation to a complimentary 30-minute plan checkup about every three years
- Updates when the law changes, and invitations to our client webinars
- One complimentary 30-minute consultation for your successor trustee when the time comes
If you need more than the plan covers.
These are the things clients most often add. The prices are here so you can work out your own number before you call.
| Add-on | Price |
|---|---|
| An additional deed — a vacation home, a rental, or land | $450 each |
| Hands-on funding — we execute the retitling ourselves, covering up to 3 bank accounts, 2 investment accounts, and 2 retirement-account beneficiary updates | $1,250 |
| Assigning a single-member LLC interest into your trust | $750 |
| An additional strategy or design meeting | $450 |
An additional deed — a vacation home, a rental, or land
$450 each
Hands-on funding — we execute the retitling ourselves, covering up to 3 bank accounts, 2 investment accounts, and 2 retirement-account beneficiary updates
$1,250
Assigning a single-member LLC interest into your trust
$750
An additional strategy or design meeting
$450
Will-based planning
Will-based planning is available where it’s genuinely the right fit — we’ll talk about it on your call. It does not avoid probate, which is why it isn’t the default recommendation here.