Estate planning / Flat fee $2,400 to $6,800
Wills and trusts, explained once, properly.
One working meeting, one draft you can read, one signing. Then your family has a plan that works without a courtroom.
What is in a plan
Five documents, one binder.
A complete plan covers two situations: what happens when you die, and what happens if you are alive and cannot make decisions. Most people only think about the first one.
- Revocable living trust
Holds your house and accounts so they pass without probate. You stay in control while you are alive and can change it any time.
- Pour-over will
Catches anything left outside the trust and names a guardian for minor children. The only document in the set a court ever sees, and only if something was missed.
- Durable power of attorney
Names who pays your bills, signs your tax return and talks to the bank if you cannot. Without it, your family petitions for a conservatorship.
- Advance health care directive
Who speaks to the doctors, and what you want them to say. California form, your words.
- Deeds and funding letters
We record the deed that moves your house into the trust and write the letters that retitle accounts. An unfunded trust is just a nice binder.
Fees
Three packages, posted.
| Package | Includes | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Revocable living trust package | Trust, pour-over will, power of attorney, health care directive, one deed, funding letters, cover memo. Add $500 to $600 for a minor's sub-trust and $900 to $1,000 for a business interest. | $4,200 to $6,800 |
| Will plus powers of attorney | Will with guardian nomination, power of attorney, health care directive, cover memo. For people under the probate threshold or renting. | $2,400 to $3,200 |
| Trust review | We read your existing plan, check beneficiary designations and deeds, and write a one page memo on what to change, if anything. | $900 |
Married couples sign one joint plan at the same fee. Amendments to a plan we wrote are $350 to $750 depending on scope.
Estate plan readiness check
Start with the five questions.
Answer them and the recommendation updates, with the fee range we would quote and the reason. Bring the result to the consult and we will confirm it or tell you why not.
An estimate from five answers, not legal advice. The consult confirms the fee before you pay anything.
Who this is for
If you own a house here, that is you.
The median Los Gatos home is worth several times California's $184,500 small estate limit. That means a will alone sends the house through probate court, which runs nine to eighteen months in Santa Clara County and costs a statutory fee calculated on the gross value. On a $2 million house, that fee is $33,000 before anyone sees a dollar. A trust costs a fraction of that and your family skips the courtroom.
Parents of minor children need the will for the guardian nomination even when the trust holds the assets. Business owners need a successor named in both the trust and the operating agreement, which is why business formation and estate planning share a desk here. When a plan later goes to work, trust administration is the same team, with the same binder open.
Already have a plan from another firm? The $900 review is the right first step. If it is fine, we say so. Book the consult and bring the binder.