Estate Planning · Trust Administration · Probate
A Will is Not Enough.
Securing your legacy with thoughtful estate planning.
Absolute Trust Counsel helps East Bay families create thoughtful estate plans designed around the people they care about, the assets they’ve built, and the wishes they want carried forward.
20+ Years
Estate Planning Focus
Over 1,200
East Bay Families Served
20-Minutes
Free Discovery Call
Professional Affiliations & Legal Memberships
Trust and Estates Section of The State Bar of California, Estate Planning and Probate Section, Elder Law Section, Women’s Section of the Contra Costa County Bar Association
Our Practice Areas
Absolute Trust Counsel helps Walnut Creek and Bay Area families with estate planning, probate, trust administration, Medi-Cal planning, and special needs planning. Explore our core practice areas below to find the service that best fits your current planning or administration needs.
Estate Planning
A complete estate plan — revocable living trust, pour-over will, and the incapacity documents that go with it — built around your family rather than a template.
Learn more: Estate Planning
Trust Administration
Step-by-step guidance for trustees — notices, asset retitling, tax returns, and distributions — so you understand what the role requires before you act.
Explore: Trust Administration
Probate
Full California probate representation — from petition to final distribution — handled with care and clarity.
Learn More: About Probate
Medi-Cal & Nursing-Home Planning
Medi-Cal planning for a parent or spouse — working through the income, asset, and transfer rules to find the strongest position available for the home and the family's savings.
Explore options: Medi‑Cal Planning
Special Needs Trusts
First-party and third-party special needs trusts, structured to help protect SSI and Medi-Cal eligibility while funding the quality-of-life expenses public benefits don't cover.
Understand: Special Needs Trusts
Advance Healthcare Directives & POA
California advance healthcare directives, durable financial powers of attorney, and HIPAA releases — the incapacity side of your plan, covering who decides for you if you can't decide for yourself.
Learn More: Advance Healthcare Directives
Our Approach
Long-term relationships, not transactions
A will alone is not enough. Without a properly funded plan, your family can be forced through California’s public, costly probate process — exactly when they are least equipped to handle it. We build complete plans in plain English designed around the people and the assets you care about most.
We believe estate planning is a relationship, not a single signing appointment. We take the time to understand your family and your goals, collaborate closely with you, stay available as life changes, and reach out to long-term clients when a shift in the law or in their circumstances makes an update worth considering.
- Plain-English documents — no legalese, no surprises
- Free discovery call
- Flat-fee plans for most clients
- Ongoing plan-review relationship
Proudly Serving the East Bay & Greater Bay Area
Contra Costa County HQ
Alameda County & East Bay
San Francisco Bay Area
What Our Clients Say
Professional easy to work with. Very thorough. We had previously had estate planning, with an attorney, but this was far superior.
– Sheila
I highly recommend Absolute Trust. Very professional and very easy to work with. Clear, easy to understand explanations. The team is organized, has a clear process and very responsive. They created an irrevocable trust and in the end, provided the trust in a beautiful binder with extra docs to help keep additional estate related info organized. Kirsten and Emily are efficient and super nice people.
– Lisa
Absolute Trust Counsel did an outstanding job with our estate planning. They completely understood our unique needs and took excellent care of us throughout the process. Estate planning is a challenging endeavor, but having Absolute Trust in our corner made the experience so much easier!
– Kirk
Frequently Asked Questions
- +Why isn't a will enough?
- A will alone sends your estate through California probate — a public, time-consuming, and expensive court process. A properly funded revocable living trust is designed to help avoid probate, keep your affairs private, and move assets to your beneficiaries far more quickly. For California families who own real estate, a trust is usually worth a serious look.
- +How often should I update my estate plan?
- Review your plan every three to five years and after any major life event — marriage, divorce, birth, death, significant change in assets, or move to a new state. California laws also change; we proactively notify long-term clients when an update is worth considering.
- +What does the free discovery call cover?
- It’s a 20-minute conversation about your situation — what you own, who you want to help protect, and what you already have in place. We’ll walk you through what kind of plan tends to fit circumstances like yours, what the process looks like, and what it’s likely to cost. Nothing to prepare, and no pressure to hire us at the end.
- +Can you help us qualify a parent for Medi-Cal?
- Yes. Medi-Cal planning involves specific income, asset, and transfer rules. We review your family’s circumstances, explain the options available, and recommend planning strategies based on your situation. Our goal is to help position the home and family savings as favorably as the applicable Medi-Cal rules allow.
- +Do you handle special needs trusts for children with disabilities?
- Yes — special needs trusts are one of our core practice areas. We draft both first-party and third-party special needs trusts, structured to help protect Medi-Cal and SSI eligibility while providing for the quality-of-life expenses public benefits don’t cover.
- +How much does estate planning cost?
- Fees depend on the complexity of your situation. Most basic estate plans are quoted as a flat fee at your discovery call, so you know the cost up front. Trust administration, probate, and Medi-Cal planning are quoted separately. We will always give you a clear, written fee agreement before any work begins.
Schedule a Free Discovery Call
Talk with our team about your family, your assets, and your wishes. The first call is free, takes about 20 minutes, and there's never any pressure to engage.