In her words was too busy and didn't have the bandwidth to work with me dealing with my family's…read moretrust as she didn't create it (ours retired ) . I was hoping to use her for mine and my other family's as she was referred by someone I really trust in such matters and wrap up my current situation. And do my family and my uncles At the end of the day I wouldn't want to work with someone who doesn't want or need new business. As someone mourning I would have thought that someone whom deals with clients that are mourning wouldn't have been so short and frankly rude .

Carol is patient and explains options clearly. She created my living trust when my children were…read moreyoung and helped me with understanding guardianship for personal vs financial. Moreover, she gave guidance on setting up disbursements tied to age, education, through young adulthood. With life changes, she has updated accordingly. In addition, her firm handled the paperwork with the county to transfer real estate to my living trust. She also had my trust set-up with my sister as executor, however, upon my eldest child reaching age 30, (my two are two years apart) my two children become co-executors and my sister is removed from the obligation.

Leslie did a great job helping us with my parents' estate. My mom left her affairs in a horrible…read moremess, but Leslie really helped sort things out, and she was very patient. We also could see that she takes confidentiality very seriously. Highly recommend!

Leslie is handling my boyfriends trust and she wrote a letter to him saying that my mom and I want…read morehis money and are taking advantage of him and she doesn't even know us. He's trying to get her off his trust she's horrible. She's treated him like garbage also. She is very unprofessional and rude. I would never recommend her as a lawyer.

Naomi Parker is an imbecile. She was referred to in court as "a trust mill"…read more She amended my parent's trust that was clearly, by the four corners of the document, not to be amended after the passing of the first trustee. She did this not once, but twice. Her incompetent actions have resulted in an ongoing (to date) nine year court case that has included the court of appeals. For those who are looking for a competent probate attorney, look elsewhere. If you have had Naomi Parker create a trust, take it to a competent attorney. I would not trust Naomi Parker to clean my toilet.

We called to ask if Naomi would take an appointment. While Naomi refused to take on a new client, I…read moreasked her receptionist to ask a simple clarifying question and secretary refused to even pass on a general question to Naomi. I was not unwilling to pay for the time but I was surprised at the way this was handled. Also, if she is not taking new clients, this should be advertised on their site so as to not waste people's time.

I created my trust in 2021, and 5 years later I had many questions and uncertainties about whether…read moreeverything was set up correctly. I was able to schedule an appointment with Justin, and I'm so glad I did. Justin took the time to walk us through all of our concerns in detail. He was patient, knowledgeable, and very thorough in explaining what we had already done and what steps we needed to take moving forward. He didn't rush the process and made sure we fully understood everything, which gave us a lot of peace of mind. What really stood out was how prepared and thoughtful he was. He even provided a new Certificate of Trust in advance to address an issue with my middle name--something I hadn't asked for. That level of attention to detail really shows how much he goes above and beyond for his clients. He also gave us a clear checklist of exactly what we needed to do, so when we left the office, I didn't even need to take notes. I also really appreciate that whenever I have questions or concerns, I can reach out and someone from his office will get back to me promptly and make me feel at ease, without any additional charge. That level of support and accessibility means a lot. Justin is someone we truly trust, and it shows in the fact that many of our family members also have their trusts with Litherland, Kennedy & Associates and work with him as their main attorney. He is kind, professional, and genuinely cares about his clients and their families. We left the meeting feeling confident, reassured, and knowing that our family is in good hands. I highly recommend Justin and his team to anyone looking for a knowledgeable and trustworthy estate planning attorney.

Dedra Jize is incredible. She helped direct me when I was navigating a very complex situation…read more Dedra is a wealth of information and I was able to make some important decisions with confidence after seeking her advice.

Nine years ago we had our trust created by Linda and we liked working with her. This year we needed…read moreto make some amendments to this trust and we learned that it takes more than 12 weeks for the update. They are knowledgeable and provide valuable advice, but they are very busy especially during the tax season and it means that it is going to take a long time. Because of the delay I am giving three stars.

After a consultation in person, we were impressed with Linda. She had some excellent ideas about…read morehow to over come serveral of our concerns. Communication with her front desk person, Sharon, was not smooth. She mailed responses to the wrong email addresses, getting requested information only aftering have to call and ask for it to be sent. Now we have send all of the requested documents to the office and have not heard back in in several weeks. It feels like too many delays to continue to have Linda begin our Trust. Reading some of the more recent reviews on Yelp, I see that others have had the same problem. Something is amiss with this business.

What do the German techno-pop band Alphaville and Johnny Rico from Starship Troopers have in…read morecommon? Well, aside from being totally awesome, they both asked the question: do you want to live forever? Even if your answer is yes, it's not a realistic expectation - and that's why you need an excellent estate planning attorney like Marina Vinsky. Planning our estate is something that had been on our to-do list for a long time, but we never took the time to work on this in earnest. Early on, we considered a do-it-yourself approach using books that we purchased in 2004, but they sat on our shelf for most of the last fifteen years, the binding barely cracked. Even though these books promised an easy and inexpensive solution, it was still so confusing to us that we never got started. Flash forward to this past summer, when an unexpected death in the family reminded us again of the ephemeral nature of our own existence and the need to provide for the care and support of our family in the event of an untimely demise. It was time to act. We solicited recommendations from several of our friends, and Marina was one who came highly recommended. We contacted her and received a response almost immediately, and within a week or so we sat down for our first meeting in her office in San Jose. Marina is at once very friendly, caring, and highly knowledgeable. We had innumerable questions about the process, and she patiently answered all of them in terms that we could understand. In fact, she probably answered them several times as it was often difficult for us to fully grasp all the all the nuances of revocable living trusts, wills, probate, and many other things. Over the next few months, she continued to work with us as we tailored the different components of a comprehensive estate plan to our needs. This was no fill-in-the-blank MadLibs kind of thing - it required careful consideration of our situation and the repeated modification of documents to reflect our wishes. Throughout the whole process, Marina was patient and accommodating and exceedingly generous with her time. Finally, after years of procrastination, we have a completed estate plan. We have a revocable living trust, wills, advance health care directives, and powers of attorney. Guardians for our children have been identified and provisions have been made for their care. As I look at the binder that Marina provided to us, I can't imagine trying to do this on our own. We are grateful to Marina for her expertise, and enthusiastically recommend her for anyone's estate planning needs.

I have utilized Marina's services to establish a trust, and she was wonderful to work with. Marina…read morewas sensitive to my needs and addressed all of my concerns in a way that put me at ease. She made the process simple and completed the tasks very quickly. Since my expectations were exceeded, I recently turned to Marina again to assist with family law matters. We are in the midst of working through those issues, but everything is going well. Marina has gone out of her way to accommodate me, and I appreciate the exceptional level of service. I am proud to say that she is my lawyer. More importantly, we are quickly becoming friends, and I embrace the professional acumen coupled with the ability to see the person beyond the scope of the matter/s at hand. I highly recommend Marina for all of your legal needs.

Watch out. Ask questions about their rates/fees. After the attorney said he was lowering his rate…read moreto a mere 1% because my mother had been his client since 1986, I learned that he was effectively charging me the equivalent of probate fees. When I reached out to him to request a reconsideration his response was wildly unprofessional. I've gone to another firm to complete the process - one far more ethical. Their rates are almost 1/10th of what Hales & George were charging. I learned a painful lesson.

Bill George of Hales and George in Saratoga, CA! is the best! He carefilly listens to his clients…read moreand follows through with expertise and expectations! My parents were clients and I later became one. BI'll George is a true professional with a fantastic working staff! I recommend him with no reservations!

They're just a trust mill churning out the same identical forms to every other family, no matter…read morethe circumstances. If you use them, it is good that you will be dead and won't be around to see the mess they helped you leave behind.

This service was recommended to me by family friends who had used it. I had high hopes for it in…read morethe beginning. The beginning of the process is simple enough as others have mentioned you can do it online. I would like to think that I am fairly capable of following instructions. The trust comes back to you placed in order with instructions for each page that requires a signature. They are very good about emphaziing that your date of signature on the forms and the date the forms are notarized do not have to match and they even give you the Civil Code information in case the notary insists that you sign in their presence. Some of the pages have a sample that you can follow when signing and notarizing. If you own property the instructions are less clear. They refer you to videos that do not actually explain specifics. The instructions are not clear. As others have mentioned in their reviews when you ask for clarification they let you know that the fees you paid do not cover detailed questions and they refer you back to the unhelpful videos. To be fair Patti did answer some of my questions with actual answers or (3 questions where I stated my understanding of the instructions and she wrote "correct") but when the videos did not cover the answers and I offered her my understanding and wanted to make sure I was understanding the instructions correctly she let me know that this type of clarification/information was not covered by the service I had purchased. Bottom line if you are super savy and maybe have someone who is a lawyer/paralegal who can help you with minor clarification questions after you receive the trust then this is a good service for you. At this point I feel like I should have paid a little more elsewhere to get service that did not leave me feeling as though I was hanging by a thread.