Pricing
Flat fees, posted.
The sheet Dana taped to the wall in 2012, kept current. Quoted in writing after the free consult. The quote is the invoice.
The fee sheet
What things cost, before you ask.
| Matter | What it includes | Flat fee |
|---|---|---|
| Revocable living trust package | Trust, pour-over will, power of attorney, health care directive, one deed, funding letters, cover memo. Couples sign one joint plan at the same fee. | $4,200 to $6,800 |
| Will plus powers of attorney | Will with guardian nomination, power of attorney, health care directive, cover memo. | $2,400 to $3,200 |
| Trust review | Read your existing plan, check deeds and beneficiary designations, one page memo. | $900 |
| Plan amendment | Changes to a plan we wrote: a new trustee, a changed share, a new child. | $350 to $750 |
| Trust transfer deed | Deed into or out of a trust, with the change of ownership report, recorded. | $450 |
| Trust administration | All twelve steps, quoted after reading the trust and the asset list. The trust pays. | $3,500 to $12,000 |
| Probate | Full administration in Santa Clara County. Set by Probate Code 10810 on the gross estate. | Statutory |
| Business formation | Entity choice with your CPA, state filing, operating agreement or bylaws, EIN, S election, compliance calendar. | $1,800 to $4,500 |
| Contract review | Full read, marked clauses, one page memo, one call, one round of redlines. Two business days. | $900 to $1,600 |
| Contract drafting | Interview, first draft in a week, two rounds of edits, fill-in guide for reusable templates. | $1,800 to $3,200 |
| Purchase agreement review | Contingencies, timelines, disclosures, title vesting. Same day when escrow is open. | $1,500 |
| Easements and recorded agreements | Shared driveway, utility and boundary agreements drafted and recorded. | $1,500 to $3,000 |
| Negotiated property dispute | Letters, negotiation and a settlement agreement, short of filing suit. | Up to $5,000 |
| Registered agent service | Our address on your entity, mail scanned the day it arrives. | $150 a year |
What is hourly
Only where we cannot see the end.
Disputes are hourly, because the other side controls half the clock. Attorney time is $425 an hour and Priya's time is $175. Before any hourly work starts you get a written estimate with a ceiling, and we call before we pass it. Most property and contract disputes we take settle inside $5,000, which is why the table above lists that number.
Probate is neither flat nor hourly. California sets the attorney fee as a percentage of the gross estate and the court approves it at the end. We walk through the arithmetic on the probate page and again at the consult, so the number on the final petition is never a surprise.
Anything not on the sheet gets a flat quote at the consult or, if we genuinely cannot scope it, an honest hourly estimate and the offer to refer you to someone who does it every day.
Payment
Two halves, or four months.
- Half and half
Half of the flat fee when you sign the engagement letter, half at signing or filing. Card, check or bank transfer.
- Payment plans
Three or four monthly payments, no interest, on any flat fee over $3,000. Jonah approves these when he sends the engagement letter. You do not need to make a case.
- Trusts and estates pay their own way
Trust administration and probate fees come out of the trust or the estate at the end, not out of the trustee's or executor's pocket.
- Pass-through costs
County recording fees, Secretary of State fees, the probate referee, publication costs and the $800 franchise tax are billed at exactly what we paid, with the receipt attached.
The no surprise promise
The quote is the invoice.
If a flat fee matter takes more work than we quoted, that is our mistake, and we eat it. If it takes less, we say so and lower the second payment. In fourteen years we have raised a flat fee after the engagement letter zero times.
The one exception is scope you add on purpose: a second property that needs its own deed, a partner who joins after the operating agreement is drafted. Those get their own line on the sheet above, quoted in writing before we do them, and you can say no.