No More Dusty Old Documents - A Different Way to Estate Plan

After law school, I was recruited to work at two of the largest law firms in the world. I represented Fortune 500 companies from Bank of America to 3M and defended them in large class action suits at $600/hour (that's $10 for every minute I spent thinking about a client's case). The work was challenging but soulless and I became disillusioned quickly because I hadn't been using my skills in the way I envisioned as an idealistic law student. Ten years into my litigation career, and after the birth of my second child, I realized I could no longer work 60-80 hours while raising a family. I left "Big Law" to open a boutique mediation practice and discovered a love and talent for working more closely with clients to help them resolve even the most bitter disputes with integrity and respect. 

When my family and I moved to the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley a decade ago, I paused my legal career to farm grapes and make wine. Several years later I navigated a big life transition: my husband and I decided to divorce. Through that process I experienced a transformative full-life reset that had a profound effect on both me and my family. Not only did I emerge a better version of myself, but my Ex and I forged a strong co-parenting relationship that allowed our kids to thrive despite challenging circumstances. When the dust settled, I decided to return to my legal roots. This time I vowed to use my law degree to help others through their own big life transitions. 

A Different Approach to Divorce & Family Conflict

I founded Truce Resolutions to offer clients a different way to approach family conflict: through mediation and strategic conflict consulting, not litigation. My work helped clients settle multi-million dollar family conflicts quickly, confidentially, and without adversarial litigation. And I helped divorcing spouses manage the emotional ups and downs that come with divorce. I even created the world's first on-demand divorce support app, Divorce Wave to offer full support on-demand. 

During my mediations, other issues would arise, like disagreements about guardians for minor children, or questions about updating estate plans post-divorce. Not surprisingly, when I asked my clients questions about their estate plans, they would usually respond that they had no idea what was in them, as they had been drafted years ago and sat on a shelf. Worst of all, they weren’t even sure whether their trust was properly funded and assets and accounts properly titled because the attorneys they paid thousands of dollars to draft their plans, never bothered to check or follow up.  So not only did my mediation clients need their plans updated, most of them paid to have plans done that would fail them when they needed them most.  Their families would still wind up in probate and in conflict, because they didn’t understand how to complete their plans and were offered little guidance.

And then one day as I was wrapping up a mediation, I realized something a bit embarrassing: several years after my own divorce, I had not yet updated my own estate plan: the very plan that named my Ex as my power of attorney and the person to make healthcare choices for me, the plan that named my Ex trustee of my estate, the plan that named his now nearly 80 year old mother our kids' guardian. That was the lightbulb moment for me!

I realized there’s a huge problem with traditional estate planning, and if I wanted to be the go-to attorney for my client’s big life transitions, be it end of marriage or end of life, I needed to offer estate planning services in a different way. 

So I started asking questions. Most of my older friends and family members did not have estate plans because they find them too complicated, too expensive, and do not understand their value. And my younger friends didn’t understand that if they didn’t name guardians for their children or healthcare directives, and something happened, the state would step in and make choices for them. Most people don’t understand that no planning at all means you get the state’s plan for you, and in most instances, that's not a good thing.

My journey took a definitive turn when I became a Personal Family Lawyer. Because now, through my law firm, Truce Resolutions, PC, I’m able to not only help people survive and thrive through their divorces and difficult family disputes, but I can help families avoid future conflict, by ensuring they have robust, up-to-date plans to handle life's unpredictable events.

My journey, shaped by personal loss and professional evolution, has equipped me to offer meaningful, empathetic guidance. My mission is to ensure that families are prepared for the unexpected, providing peace of mind and security for their future, no matter what comes. 

A Better Way to Estate Plan

So, here are some of the things we do differently than traditional estate planning firms.

First of all – nothing we do is billed on an hourly basis. Everything we do is billed flat fee, agreed to in advance, so there are no surprises. As a litigator, I never felt comfortable billing my clients $10 for every minute I spent thinking about their case. Charging by the hour meant that my clients were worried every time they needed to ask me a question or every time they didn’t understand something. I want my clients to have access to me when they need it, without nickel and diming. You’ll know exactly what it will cost to work with me after we’ve gotten clear about what you want, and you’ll even be able to choose your own fee. Then, after the initial planning process, we have options so that you can ensure your plan stays up to date throughout your life, and again you’ll know exactly what that costs and choose your own fee there.  And I have systems in place to make sure my clients can reach me when. A lot of people don’t like working with attorneys because they disappear on them. I keep office hours every week so my clients can always reach me for quick questions. 

Second – I’m part of a network of collaborative Personal Family Lawyers who commit to doing estate planning differently. Together we make sure we’re staying up to date on the law, tax planning, and we collaborate on complicated cases for support. 

Third – we see planning as just the beginning of the relationship whereas in the past the plan was viewed as a one-time transactional event.  And depending on the plan you choose, I’ll either guide you in retitling your assets, or I’ll take that onerous process off your hands altogether, so your plan will work when it needs to. We won’t leave anything out because my process is designed to capture all of the information we need to ensure your plan is complete.

Once you sign your planning documents, that is when the relationship really begins. At no additional charge, we review your plan at least every three years.  And, we have a system in place to update your plan if it needs updating. We have a program that we’ll talk about later.

Finally, we don’t just focus on passing on your financial assets, but your legacy and your whole family wealth, your stories. Before my mother died, she recorded a cassette tape just for me while she was in the hospital. Unfortunately I didn’t get it digitally preserved in time, the tape degraded, and now that recording is lost forever. I want to make sure your voice and your stories are preserved for your family, forever. It’s a continuation of my podcast, SYV Stories, so this project is really close to my heart. With our Legacy Interviews, we guide you to pass on more than your money but also your intellectual, spiritual, and human assets - and your most cherished stories. We include that with every plan and our clients and their families love passing on their stories to their families. It’s my absolute favorite part of working with my clients. You’ll have the option to have that recording professionally produced into a digital audio memoir by my production director so it sounds like an amazing podcast interview. 

These are just a few of the things that make our firm different. We’re the best fit for people who don’t just want to leave their family a set of documents that may or may not work, but instead want to use the estate planning process to pass on a legacy of love and care, and ease. And keep their family out of court and out of conflict.

On a personal note, I’m a mom, – and what my children bring to this experience for me is the awareness that planning is something that you do for the people you love the most.  You won’t be the one to benefit from the plan we will design – the people who will benefit are the people you love the most who will be dealing with things if you become incapacitated, or after you’re gone.  

So whether you're restructuring your family or restructuring your family's wealth and legacy, we have you covered at Truce Resolutions, PC. As my community's go-to "life transition lawyer," I finally feel like I'm putting my law degree, and my life experience, to good use.