You don’t need to be scared into an estate plan. You need one that works.
Probate on a $1,000,000 estate runs about $46,000. The plan that prevents it is a flat $4,100.
Those probate fees are set by California law, and a house plus some savings gets to a million fast. The flat fee — $4,100 for a married couple, $3,700 for one person — includes the deed that moves your home into the trust. Start with a free thirty-minute call. I’ll tell you whether you even need one. No pressure, and no pitch. Every fee, in writing →
“I couldn’t fix it for my dad. I can fix it for you.”
My father died thinking he had it handled. He had a will. He had a trust. He had the basic documents — and thirty years of work behind them.
It didn’t protect anyone. His wife remarried before the headstone was set. About a year later, she died too. Thirty years of my father’s work walked out the door with a stranger.
I was twenty-six when I learned that “I have a will” and “my family is protected” are not the same sentence. My father’s documents were technically fine, and useless for the one thing that mattered.
That is why I practice the way I do. I am not here to sell you a binder that looks like a plan. I build the thing that holds when your family needs it — and I will tell you the truth about the difference, even when it isn’t what you were hoping to hear.
A will does not
keep your family out of court.
Most people find that out too late. In California, when there is no working plan, families do not sort it out at the kitchen table — they go to probate. It is public, slow, and the fees are set by statute. An ordinary home and modest savings can cost a family tens of thousands of dollars and a year or more before they can touch any of it.
This is not a problem for the wealthy. The bigger the estate, the more lawyers it already has. Ordinary families are the ones who get hurt — because they assumed something in a drawer was enough.
And this is only the half that comes after you die. The other half comes while you are still here: a stroke, a fall, a long illness — and someone has to step in to manage your money and your care. Without a plan that names who, a court does it for you, and you lose control of your own life while you are still living it.
If you’ve been meaning to handle this for years, and you’re not sure the documents in the drawer would even work, you’re exactly who I built this practice for.
The only part you control is whether the plan exists before you need it.
Keep your family out of probate court.
A plan that works moves assets the moment they need to move — without permission from a judge, without a public docket, without statutory fees.
Name who steps in if you cannot.
Incapacity is the half of the conversation no one wants. Your plan should name, in advance, who handles your medical, financial, and family decisions.
Keep a hand on the wheel after you’re gone.
A plan decides not just who inherits, but how and when. A share can be held for the child who isn’t ready, or shielded from a divorce or a creditor, so the money lands where you meant it to.
Hold up when it is tested.
Because it was built to be tested. A plan that survives contact with grief, family conflict, and the courthouse — not just the day you sign it.
That is the whole job. I will tell you what you need, what you do not, and why — then build it so it actually works. — Eric Ridley, on his practice
An honest
number.
$4,100 for a married couple. $3,700 for one person. That covers the trust, the will, the incapacity documents, the deed that moves your California home into the trust, and the funding work tracked to completion — the part most attorneys hand back to you.
That number fits a family with one California home. A second property, a business, a child with special needs, or children from a prior marriage takes more drafting. If that’s you, nothing changes about the process: you’ll have the full number in writing before any work starts.
For comparison, probate — the court process a funded trust prevents — runs about $46,000 in statutory fees on a $1,000,000 estate, calculated on the gross value. A mortgage does not reduce it.
I’m not the cheapest way to get a trust. An online form is cheaper, right up until nobody moves the house into it.
Every fee, in writing →Probate calculator →
A focused practice.
Four things, done well.
The questions
families ask first.
Five meetings, then
a plan that keeps working.
The Conversation
An unhurried first meeting — in person or by video — to understand your family, your assets, and the moments you are actually planning for. No documents are drafted in this room.
Asset Review
A full inventory of what is actually there to plan around — accounts, real property, beneficiaries, insurance, business interests. The plan only works if it is built on what you actually own.
The Design
A written plan, in plain language, before any legal documents are drawn. You see exactly how the plan moves when it has to move — and where the old plan would have failed.
Final Review
The drafted documents read together, line by line, with you in the room. We coordinate which assets move into the trust — and exactly how — so nothing is left to discover later.
The Signing
The documents executed, the people named, the language witnessed. The meeting most attorneys treat as the finish line — and where, for most of them, the work ends.
Proper Funding
We move the assets into the trust — deeds re-titled, accounts re-registered, beneficiaries aligned. A plan that is not funded is a binder. This is the work that most attorneys hand back to the client and most clients never finish.
The Standing Review
Every 3 years, while we work together, we sit again — to update for new assets, new beneficiaries, new law, and the moments life has actually delivered. A plan is finished when it would still work today.
What done
feels like.
Every account has a destination. The deed is recorded, the house is in the trust, and the person you chose — not a judge — takes the wheel if you can’t drive. If the day comes, your children’s entire job is one phone call, to a lawyer who already knows them.
If you have ever had to settle an estate yourself, you know exactly what that is worth. If you haven’t, take my word for it: it is everything.
Get it off your list. Talk to Eric →
In their
own words.
We had previously completed a trust through LegalZoom, but it didn’t feel like enough to truly protect our family in a worst-case scenario. Eric and Spencer were fantastic to work with and provided incredible value.
“Eric and Spencer took my hand and walked me through the process of building my trust, and to the finish line. They were always available to answer all my questions. I’m happy I picked the Ridley Law, and you will too.”
“Unlike other attorneys I’ve encountered, Eric genuinely puts people before paperwork. His personalized approach made us feel confident and at ease throughout the entire process.”
“Eric and Spencer bring a remarkable sense of calm and genuine care to their work. I needed to address some sensitive changes regarding beneficiaries — and they made what could have been a difficult conversation feel manageable.”
“After meeting with several firms, I felt that Eric was the most forthright and upfront about the whole process. He and his team are patient, informative, and helpful. A great experience all around.”
“I’ve been trying to help navigate a friend who recently passed without a will or trust. Eric has been great guiding me through the maze. He gave me peace of mind, knowing I could count on him.”
“I highly recommend the Ridley Law to any family looking to create a trust. He is thorough, patiently explains the entire process, and guided us in making the right decisions.”
Begin the
conversation.
The first call is unhurried, and there is no fee for it. I’ll tell you whether you need me, what a working plan looks like for your family, and what it would cost — before you decide anything.
I’d rather be useful to someone who doesn’t hire me than sell a plan to someone who wasn’t sure they needed it.
Not ready to talk? Check whether the plan you already have would actually work →