If you have children, own property, or have any assets you’d want passed on, you’re the exact person estate planning was built for. Without a plan, California law decides who raises your kids and who manages your money. Most of our clients are working parents in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Waiting until you’re “older” is the most common mistake we see, and the most expensive one to fix later.

Estate planning isn’t only about wealth transfer. It covers who raises your children if you can’t, who makes medical decisions for you if you’re incapacitated, and how your family avoids probate court (which in California can take 18 months and consume 5% to 8% of your estate in fees). A plan matters whether your net worth is $50,000 or $5 million.

You can, and many people do. The trouble is that template documents don’t catch California-specific rules around community property, blended families, trust funding, or guardianship nomination, and they don’t update when your life changes. A template can technically be a will. It can’t replace a plan built around your actual family, your actual assets, and your actual wishes. We’ve cleaned up a lot of LegalZoom plans for grieving families.

We use transparent flat-fee pricing, which means no hourly billing and no surprises. The free 15-minute consultation gives you a clear sense of what your plan would include and what it would cost before you commit to anything. Full plans are priced based on family complexity, and we walk you through the options on the call.

The free 15-minute consultation requires no credit card at all. The credit card is only for the deeper, paid Planning Session, which reserves Dawn’s time on the calendar. You’re not charged when you book. The card is only run if you cancel under 24 hours or don’t show. The session fee is included in your engagement if you decide to move forward.

Yes. Allenby Law serves clients throughout California, and we run the full planning process virtually whenever you prefer. Many of our clients in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Sacramento, and beyond never visit our San Diego office. Documents are signed remotely with notary support, and your binder is shipped to you.

We ask a few questions about your family and your goals, share what would happen under California’s default rules if you did nothing, and explain what an Allenby plan would look like for your situation. No pressure to book anything else. If we’re a fit, we’ll show you the next step. If we’re not, we’ll point you to someone who is.

Most clients are signed and protected within four to six weeks of their first Planning Session. The first working meeting takes about two hours. Drafting, review, and signing follow at a pace that fits your schedule. Funding your trust (the step most other firms skip) takes another few weeks and is included.

A rough sense of what you own and who you’d want to make decisions for you. That’s it. You don’t need to have your finances perfectly organized. Part of what we do in the first session is help you build that picture together.

Lives change, laws change, families change. Your plan needs to keep up. Every Allenby client is enrolled in our lifetime check-in model, which means we proactively review your plan as your situation changes. You’re not handed a binder and forgotten.