GETTING A TRUST: Trust McKenna Koepke of Blackstock & Barsell as she is as sharp as a tack! What a pleasant positive experience it was using McKenna to make my Trust. Hearing all the buzz on making sure you have a Trust in place; but also hearing of the nightmares with the court system when you DON'T have a Trust in place, I KNEW I needed one. So I searched and called McKenna Koepke of Blackstock & Barsell in Walnut Creek. This office has plenty of parking which was a plus for me. It is located very close to Whole Foods in Walnut Creek. I was greeted at the office door with a welcoming smile and immediately proceeded to meet McKenna in her office. She went through the Trust procedure precisely and in a way that I understood it; not confusing me with all the legal words/terms. She answered all my questions and gave me plenty of time to ask them all; and there were a lot. Indeed it was a very easy meeting full of education and knowledge. I knew right away that I wanted McKenna of Blackstock & Barsell to do my Trust. McKenna also promptly answered all my after-meeting telephone questions that had popped into my head later when I got home and the week after. I said yes to her doing my Trust and the ease it took to come to the final paperwork was astonishing. McKenna is friendly, extremely knowledgeable, tentative, expeditious and organized. AFTER TRUST FINALIZED AND FUTURE: McKenna is a hands-on person! Every time I call her with questions, she gets back to me promptly which is a rarity these days. For instance, I had a question about something I heard on the street about Power of Attorney and she quickly called me back and updated me. When I bought some property it was a quick call to her and it was taken care of. Hands-on McKenna has sent me educational emails of law changes which may affect my generation in case we need to change anything in our Trust. I can't begin to write how happy and secure I feel with McKenna Koepke of Blackstock & Barsell working on my behalf. read more

We worked with McKenna to help us with our estate planning, she was knowledgeable and pleasant to work with. She also made the process super simple and straightforward. The turnaround time from our first meeting to when she was able to complete the documents was not long at all. We would definitely recommend her to others for the same services! read more

Had a great update of our will and trust with Liz. She was very helpful and addressed all my wife's and my questions. I will rest easy knowing this important part of showing you love family members is taken care of. If you need will or trust advice I would gladly recommend Liz. read more

I have had a great experience hiring Liz Barsell to create a living trust and getting all of our assets properly titled and recorded. She was very efficient, and made complicated tasks seem easy with her input and guidance. She took a leadership role and eliminated the hassle of us trying to get several complicated things done on our own. Her fees were very fair, and she got plenty done in a short amount of time. I recommend her very highly, 5 stars for sure! read more

I highly recommend Liz Barsell for your estate and trust planning. She walked me through all the legal jargon and made it easy for me to understand. Her staff was highly efficient and quick to resolve any questions I had. read more

Liz Barsell is a wonderful attorney. She did my estate plan very affordably, quickly, and professionally. Better yet, she gave me great advice about executors, beneficiaries, etc. I highly recommend Liz to you--lawyers don't get any better than this! (and I have worked with a lot of them). read more

I am an atty. I chose Liz Barsell to draft my estate plan because she is smart, experienced , patient and has an excellent reputation in the legal community. Her office is efficient and detail oriented. I highly recommend Liz Barsell. read more

As with other recent reviews, I also worked with Cindy Sayegh in the Spring of 2015. Cindy was great to work with. She provided excellent advise during an extremely complex conservatorship probate sale we were involved in during the purchase of our first home. Cindy's professionalism, and ability to network with the other party's attorney made the process go much more smoothly after being badly handled by our real estate agent, resulting in our successful purchase. We also worked with Cindy on the completion of a living trust, a will, and advanced medical directive package for both myself and my spouse. She took us through the entire process start to finish. I cannot recommend this firm highly enough, and am very thankful and appreciative for their service and expertise! read more

Cindy was the best! She was gracious, patient and helpful. She gave us all the information we needed to make informed decisions for our estate planning. For anyone needing to prepare their will or family trust, Cindy will take good care of you! read more

My mother in law went to Liz 19 days before she died with her oxygen tank to make sure that she had updated her trust so when she passed it was taken care of. To make a long story short the Will and power of attorney was updated but not the trust. Just and FYI a trust super cedes a will. So it does not do you any good updating your will of you don't update the trust along with it. When we notified Liz after going to the banks and being told this. She said she did what my mother in law wanted. My mother in law wanted to change the second in command of the trust which was changed on the will but not the trust. And even though my husband is taking care of it if something happens to him it goes to the second who was to be changed in the trust. I know my mother in law thought she was making changes to both. I would think a lawyer of good intentions would make sure she understood what she was doing . So basically what was updated on the will is null in void once she passed since the trust was not changed as well. Waste of time and money. She would be furious right now if she was here. read more

We had the privilege of working with Liz Barsell as our Estate planning attorney. She is a professional who is extremely knowledgeable and provides excellent service. Liz assisted with our Living Trust modifications. She took the time to review then listen to exactly what we wanted, explained our options, reviewed the prepared document with us and answered all of our questions to ensure the final document reflected our wishes. We also referred Liz to three different family members for estate planning and they have been extremely happy with the service they received. In one situation, we contacted Liz with an urgent request; the situation was handled thoroughly and expeditiously which was extremely comforting during a very stressful situation. Her office staff is top notch and we appreciate the customer service we have received from this office. From now on, we will be using Liz as our family lawyer for future legal matters. We wholeheartedly offer our highest recommendation of Liz Barsell as a trusted source who works hard and provides excellent legal advice for her clients. read more

My wife and I used Liz Barsell to create our Will & Living Trusts, she was very friendly and professional and accepted our legal plan I have from work. She was patient with all of the questions we had, and explained our options. I later referred a co-worked to her for the same type of legal work and they were also impressed and happy with her. read more

I worked with Cynthia C. Sayegh last year August 2014. She is very helpful and knowledgeable to guide us in the entire process. She made us feel very comfortable & we have trusted her a lot in every matter. Excellent service from her even after the work was over. She is good at explaining the legal issues and the right way to do it.She is very patient and a good listener . We are extremely happy with the outstanding service she provided us! read more

Cindy Sayegh helped us with our Living trust work and we could not be happier with her service. She simplified the process for us and explained every detail. She was very accommodating in giving us appointments. What we thought would be an overwhelming process was actually very simple and quick, all thanks to Cindy. We highly recommend her :) read more

I just finalized my living trust with Liz Barsell. I found her to be personable, professional and very patient when I was being indecisive. She explained the legal jargon in a way I could understand. I was dreading this legal project and had put it off for years! Liz made it easy. I was so pleased with my experience that I have referred several others family members and friends to Blackstock and Barsell. read more

My husband and I have been meaning to create a trust so that in the event of anything happening to us, all the details would be clear and concise leaving no questions about our assets unanswered. I found Cynthia Sayegh on this website, Yelp. After a few email exchanges and a phone meeting, I felt very comfortable moving forward with her helping us accomplish our goal. She did not disappoint, in fact she exceeded our expectations as she was knowledgeable, thorough and very easy to talk with. There are questions that need to be answered (especially in a blended family) that are awkward to talk about but Cynthia really put us at ease. We met twice and each time she was well prepared, timely and respectful of our schedule. The process was quick, papers were signed and we were done. We now have peace of mind where our future is concerned. I would recommend Cynthia to anyone who is in need of such services. She truly is amazing at what she does and very easy to work with. read more

I highly recommend Cynthia Sayegh. She helped us seamlessly through the creation of our living trust. She's organized, responsive, professional, consultative and reliable. In addition, she proactively took the time to help me understand and leverage my employers' legal benefit to it's fullest extent, saving me a significant amount of money. read more

For many years, we have dealt exclusively with this firm and have been extremely happy with the quality of their work. Excellent and up-to-date knowledge on Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts! Really good. For those of you who dread a visit to a lawyer's office to discuss "serious" matters, these are the guys for you. They make it easy and can give you the answers, all with a good sense of humor.. Liz was complete, concise, knowledgeable and.........VERY reasonable. She updated our trust in a matter of hours, complete with all new documents. She also cleaned up a messy Real Estate property title problem for us. They are competent folks. Many people in our family use them. I would recommend them to anyone read more

We recently moved to California and needing new will's and trust for our children was a huge step. Cindy Sayegh talked to us about the hard questions that families are reluctant to talk about, giving us the realization that this is the right move for us to step up and talk to one another about our future and needs and wants for our children. We have a child that may need assistance later in life, and she wanted to make sure every option was talked over about his future if something should happen to us. Cindy came recommended by my neighbor in Acalanes Ridge area. She is knowledgeable and when tasked with a question she was not familiar with (Special needs Trust) which are not something you would hear about everyday, she referred to her co workers for guidance. It was super fast, initial meeting, fill out some paper work, and within 4 weeks had our final documents signed, sealed and delivered. I have no problem with referring her out and have given her name to many friends looking for a small office to help procure will's, and living trusts. read more

Liz Barsell was so incredibly helpful to our family. We hired her to create a will and estate plan. She was kind, patient and affordable. We found her to be knowledgeable and we really trusted we were in good hands. I would recommend her to anyone interested in help with estate planning. read more