Life changes the family.
Births, deaths, marriage, divorce, stepchildren, and new people can change who needs protection and whom you trust with responsibility.
Sierra Nevada LawWILLS · TRUSTS · PRIVATE CLIENTA second look at an existing plan
Life Changed.
Your Plans Changed.
Has Your Trust Kept Up?
Your car needs maintenance. Your home needs care. Your health needs attention. Your trust is no different.
You signed those papers for a life that no longer exists. Since then, children were born. People died. Marriages began—or ended. Homes, businesses, and relationships changed. The person you trusted then may not be the person you would choose today.
But your old trust is still sitting in a drawer.
And if something happens to you, those pages may speak for you—even if they no longer say what you mean.
A private inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship. The firm must review the matter before offering an engagement.
A message from Derek
Life Changes. Has Your Trust? | Sierra Nevada Law
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A note from Derek
Why I charge for the first conversation.
We are a small law office. As lawyers, what we have to give is our time, attention, judgment, and experience. When that time is spent giving free information to people who are only shopping around, it is taken away from the clients who hired us for focused help with something that matters to their families.
I prefer to work with people who respect my time and my need to support my family—because I understand that you are here for exactly the same reason: you love your family and want to take care of them. A paid consultation is mutual respect. You receive my undivided attention for a specific purpose, and we both decide whether working together is the right fit.
We do not run a document assembly line. When we accept additional estate-planning work, the goal is a plan tailored to your life, your property, your concerns, and the people who depend on you. That work takes care and capacity, which means we can accept only a limited number of clients at one time.
We value our time. That is why we value yours.
$250 · 30 MINUTES
Consultation and diagnosis only.
The attorney listens to the facts, identifies the legal situation and possible next steps, and discusses what service may be appropriate. The attorney does not review documents or perform any other legal work under the $250 engagement.
Every document review, drafting project, revision, implementation step, or other legal service requires a separate written agreement and a separate fee.Why people come to us
The legal documents begin with the life around them.
Life changes the balance sheet.
Homes and businesses are bought or sold. New accounts, liabilities, insurance, and ownership arrangements may not line up with an older plan.
Life changes your priorities.
The instructions that felt right years ago may no longer reflect your wishes. A second opinion can identify questions before you decide whether revisions are needed.
What may have changed
Start with the facts of your life now.
- Births, deaths, marriage, or divorce
- Stepchildren or other new people
- A house or business bought or sold
- New accounts, investments, or liabilities
- Different trustees, agents, or beneficiaries
- Changed wishes, relationships, and priorities
A paid professional service
A second opinion starts with the documents you actually have.
The $250 engagement is a 30-minute consultation and diagnosis based on the history and concerns you describe. No trust, amendment, schedule, deed, or other document is reviewed before or during that consultation.
If detailed document review may help, it is a separate legal service with its own defined documents, deliverable, secure upload method, written agreement, and separate fee. The firm is not obligated to offer that engagement, and you are not obligated to accept it.
Your next step
One clear step at a time.
Begin with the private conflict check. If the matter can proceed, the secure path continues through the service-specific agreement, $250 payment, and calendar in that order.
- 01
Private fit inquiry
Describe the age and type of plan and what changed. Do not email or upload documents.
Continue securely → - 02
$250 consultation and diagnosis
Discuss the history and concerns for 30 minutes. The attorney does not review the trust or any other document under this engagement.
Available after the prior step is completed - 03
Separate document-review proposal
If review may help, the firm identifies the exact documents, deliverable, secure upload method, and separate fee in a new written agreement.
Available after the prior step is completed - 04
Review only after separate engagement
No document is accepted for review and no other legal work begins until the separate agreement and separate fee requirements are satisfied.
Available after the prior step is completed
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