Top Estate Planning Attorneys in Simi Valley, CA (2026)

Simi Valley has about 126,000 residents, a median home value near $844,000, and a median household income around $120,000. The city grew up around Rocketdyne and the Santa Susana Field Lab during the aerospace boom of the 1960s and 1970s, and it still has a large population of retired engineers whose estates include pensions, deferred compensation, and stock plans that a generic trust template does not handle well. More recently, PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE: PFSI) relocated its headquarters to Simi Valley, bringing over 1,000 jobs and a wave of younger professionals with equity compensation and RSU vesting schedules that create their own estate planning complications. AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV), the drone and defense technology company, is also headquartered here.

Simi Valley is not all tract homes. The Bridle Path equestrian community in the western part of the city has roughly 630 homes on half-acre or larger lots with horse trails and agricultural zoning. Those properties carry a different set of planning concerns: higher values, potential agricultural exemptions, water rights, and the question of what happens to livestock and easements when the owner dies without a plan that addresses them.

Something worth knowing before you start calling firms: no attorney certified by the State Bar as a Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law currently maintains an office inside Simi Valley. That does not mean the attorneys practicing here are unqualified. Several have decades of experience. It does mean that if a State Bar Certified Specialist matters to you, you will be looking outside city limits, and you should know that going in rather than assume city limits equal coverage.

Below are the estate planning attorneys who serve Simi Valley, with verifiable credentials, followed by the nearest Certified Specialist. This is not a ranking. It is a starting point for doing your own homework.

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How to vet an estate planning attorney

The California State Bar certifies attorneys as Legal Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. Fewer than 1% of California attorneys hold this credential. It requires passing a written exam, demonstrating substantial experience, and submitting to peer review. You can verify any attorney’s status at calbar.ca.gov, and you should, especially in a city like Simi Valley where none of the local firms carry the designation.

Beyond certification, look for:

• A practice focused on estate planning, not a general practice that also handles trusts alongside a dozen other areas.
• Direct access to the attorney, not a paralegal-driven mill that hands you a binder.
• Flat, disclosed fees. If an attorney won’t tell you the cost before you sign, that tells you something. See what flat-fee estate planning actually costs.
• Familiarity with Ventura County probate procedures. Simi Valley matters are not heard at the Simi Valley East County Courthouse on Alamo Street. That courthouse handles traffic citations and small claims. Probate is heard at the Ventura County Superior Court, Juvenile and Probate Division, at 4353 E. Vineyard Avenue in Oxnard, in Courtroom J6, on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. (new petitions are calendared for Thursdays at 10:30 a.m.). That is roughly a 40-minute drive. An attorney who does not know that distinction has not handled many Simi Valley estates.

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Estate planning attorneys serving Simi Valley

Ridley Law

Eric D. Ridley has practiced estate planning in Ventura County since 2010, working with families across Simi Valley, Moorpark, and the surrounding area. The firm handles living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, advance healthcare directives, trust administration, and probate. Flat-fee pricing, disclosed before engagement. Free 30-minute initial consultation by phone or video.

567 W. Channel Islands Boulevard, Suite 210, Port Hueneme, CA 93041. (805) 244-5291.

Law Office of John C. Barlow

John C. Barlow (State Bar #84280) was admitted to practice in 1978 and has 47 years of experience, including service as a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Pro Tem. His practice covers probate, estate planning, and elder law. He is not a Certified Specialist, but few attorneys in the area have handled as many years of California probate matters.

2655 First Street, Suite 250, Simi Valley, CA 93065. (805) 522-2555.

Jennifer Monroe, Attorney at Law

Jennifer Monroe (State Bar #210650) was admitted in 2000 and practices estate planning, elder law, and trust administration. She is a member of WealthCounsel, a national estate planning attorney network. She is not a Certified Specialist.

2655 First Street, Suite 250, Simi Valley, CA 93065. (805) 915-4760.

A.K. Miller Law

Adrienne K. Miller (State Bar #193190) was admitted in 1997 and handles estate planning, trusts, and guardianships. She is not a Certified Specialist.

Simi Valley, CA. (805) 624-4431.

CBM Estate & Trust Law

Carmen B. Marquez (State Bar #216536) was admitted in 2001 and has a practice limited to estate planning and trust matters. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, which matters in a city with a substantial Spanish-speaking population that may want documents and conversations handled in their own language. She is not a Certified Specialist.

2655 First Street, Suite 110, Simi Valley, CA 93065. (805) 915-4793.

Law Offices of S. Sharon Yoon

Sharon Yoon (State Bar #225288) is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, the nearest one to Simi Valley. She is bilingual in English and Korean. Her office is in Camarillo, about a 20 to 25 minute drive from most Simi Valley neighborhoods.

5403 Calarosa Ranch Road, Camarillo, CA 93012. (805) 298-0405.

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What Simi Valley families actually deal with

Aerospace pensions, defense-sector equity, and the new tech payroll

Simi Valley’s older population includes retired engineers and technicians who worked at Rocketdyne, the Santa Susana Field Lab, and related defense contractors. Those careers left behind retirement assets that a simple will does not address: pensions with survivor-benefit elections already locked in, deferred compensation plans with their own payout rules, and old stock option grants from employers that no longer exist under that name. A trust can coordinate around these assets, but only if the attorney drafting it asks the right questions about what your retirement actually consists of, not just whether you have a 401(k).

The newer wave is PennyMac and AeroVironment employees with restricted stock units, performance shares, and equity vesting schedules. RSUs that have not yet vested are not yours to give away, but vested-and-unsold shares are part of your estate and need to be titled correctly or they end up in probate. If your compensation includes equity, bring your most recent vesting schedule and brokerage statement to the planning meeting. The attorney needs to see what you actually own versus what you expect to own.

Bridle Path and equestrian properties

The Bridle Path neighborhood and surrounding equestrian-zoned areas in western Simi Valley present planning issues that a standard residential trust does not anticipate. Properties on half-acre or larger lots with horse facilities, agricultural exemptions, shared trail easements, and livestock raise questions a cookie-cutter plan will not answer: Who takes over the animals? Does the agricultural tax exemption survive a transfer into trust? Do trail easements run with the land or terminate on death? If you own equestrian property, your estate plan needs to address those questions explicitly, not assume the trust document covers them by default.

Prop 19 and Simi Valley’s 1960s-70s housing stock

Much of Simi Valley was built during the aerospace boom when the Rocketdyne workforce needed tract housing fast. Families who bought during that era often have property-tax assessments in the range of $120,000 to $180,000. The median home in Simi Valley is now worth about $844,000.

Under Proposition 19, a child who inherits a parent’s home and moves in as a primary residence within one year gets to exclude the first $1,044,586 of the increase in value from reassessment. For most Simi Valley homes, the gap between the old assessed value and today’s market value falls under that cap, which means a child who actually moves in can often keep the parent’s low tax basis intact.

The problem is the condition: moves in. A child who keeps the house as a rental, lets a sibling live there, or simply does not relocate gets no exclusion. The property is fully reassessed. On a home assessed at $130,000 with a current market value of $844,000, that is a jump from roughly $1,560 a year in property tax to roughly $10,100 a year. Whether the plan is for children to keep the house or sell it should be addressed in the trust, not discovered afterward. Our trust-or-will comparison tool can help you see whether a trust makes sense for your situation.

The probate math on a Simi Valley home

Probate fees in California are set by statute (Probate Code §§ 10810 and 10800), calculated on the gross value of the estate, not net equity. On a Simi Valley home at the median value of $844,000, with no other major assets, the statutory fee works out to roughly $19,900 for the attorney and $19,900 for the executor: about $39,800 total, before court costs, filing fees, or appraisal fees.

A funded living trust avoids that process entirely. The cost of setting one up is a fraction of the probate fees your family would otherwise pay.

Where Simi Valley probate is actually heard

This is worth repeating because it trips people up: probate for Simi Valley residents is not filed at the East County Courthouse on Alamo Street, which handles only traffic and small claims matters. It is filed at the Ventura County Superior Court, Juvenile and Probate Division, 4353 E. Vineyard Avenue, Oxnard, CA 93036. The probate calendar is heard in Courtroom J6 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 a.m., with new petitions set for Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. E-filing has been permissive (accepted but not required) for Ventura County probate since December 9, 2024, through One Legal and File & ServeXpress. Families who show up at the wrong courthouse lose a day. Your attorney should know all of this without being asked.

If you want to understand what California’s intestacy rules would do with your estate if you have no plan at all, that is worth checking before you decide whether planning is worth the cost.

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Credentials listed are drawn from the firms’ own public information, the State Bar of California, and public court records. This page is not a ranking and is not an endorsement. Ridley Law is listed first because we publish this page, not because of any ranking; we are included because we serve Simi Valley. We wrote this page, and we think you should know that. Verify any attorney’s license status and specialist certification at calbar.ca.gov.