A will is instructions for a court: it names your guardianship choices and says who inherits, but it generally must pass through probate to work. A trust is a container that skips the court entirely: assets held in your trust pass directly to your people, privately and without probate. Most California homeowners are better served by a trust — owning a home is usually enough to make probate otherwise unavoidable. Families whose biggest asset is each other often start will-based and grow into a trust. Which is right for you is precisely what your session determines, but in the meantime, check out our Plans page.

Probate is the public, court-supervised process of settling an estate. In California it typically takes a year or more, the files are public records, and the statutory fees are calculated on your assets' gross value — on a $900,000 home, attorney and executor fees can exceed $40,000, even if most of that value is mortgaged. A funded trust makes the entire process unnecessary. The full picture is on the Protect My Home page.

Yes — with an honest asterisk. California courts always apply the best-interest-of-the-child standard, so no document "binds" a judge. But a formal written nomination changes everything: the law directs the court to appoint the person you named, unless doing so would not be in your child’s “best interest”. In practice, courts follow a valid nomination in all but the rarest cases — and without one, every relative starts on equal footing and the contest is wide open. When you have the appropriate legal documents, your voice doesn't just get heard; it leads. Check out the Protect My Family page.

You receive a 90-minute consultation. You'll have completed a short questionnaire beforehand, so the time goes to real decisions: your people, your assets, your worries, and which plan structure fits. Within two business days you will receive a written recommendation with your exact plan and associated flat fee. The $750 session fee is credited in full toward any plan — so if you proceed, the session costs you nothing.

A free consultation is a sales call. A paid session is diagnostic work — and it's treated that way: you get ninety minutes of counseling and a written recommendation you keep whether or not you proceed. The fee also means the session is yours: no pitch clock, no pressure, because the time has already been valued. And since it's fully credited toward your plan, families who proceed pay nothing extra for it.

Plans begin at $4,500 for individuals and $6,500 for couples, with trust-based plans from $6,000/$8,500. Your exact fee — including any additions your family needs, from special needs planning to business succession — is set at your session, in writing, before you commit. What you'll never see: an hourly meter, a surprise invoice, or a fee that changes after you've said yes.

Most plans move from session to signing in four to six weeks — and much of the pace is yours: families who decide quickly and review promptly can move faster. Truly urgent situations — a medical diagnosis, international travel, a home closing — can be expedited for a fee; ask at your session. The slowest step is usually the family's own decisions (guardians, trustees, backups), and the questionnaire and counseling session are designed to make those decisions easier than you expect.

Most sessions take place online. When your documents are ready, signing happens in person — trusts and deeds require notarization and wills require witnesses, done properly — and Nadia guides every step so your plan is executed exactly as California law requires. Alternate arrangements can be made upon request.

Probably a review, possibly more. Plans go stale: children arrive, homes get bought, laws change, named guardians move away, and — the most common failure — trusts never get funded, meaning the house was never actually deeded in. An old plan can be worse than none if your family believes it works and it doesn't. Bring your existing documents to your session and you'll get a straight answer about what holds up and what needs attention.

A trust only controls what it owns. Funding is the step of actually retitling assets — your home's deed, your accounts' ownership or beneficiaries — into the trust's name. It's the step DIY plans and document mills skip, and it's why their trusts fail: a beautiful, empty trust still goes to probate. Here, funding is part of the plan — including your home's deed, drafted and recorded with the county as part of your flat fee.

Your session and everything you share in it are protected by attorney-client privilege. Before your session, one caution: please don't send confidential details through the website's contact form or by email before we've established the relationship — save the substance for your session, where it's protected. One more privacy point families appreciate: unlike a probated will, a trust is private — what you have and who receives it never becomes a public court record.