How do I evaluate an estate planning attorney in California?

Check the objective record first — an active license and clean discipline history in the State Bar of California's public records. Then compare on substance: what the flat-fee package includes, whether trust funding and deed work are part of it, how updates are handled, and the written fee agreement Business and Professions Code section 6148 requires.

Two screens do most of the work. First, the objective one: confirm in the State Bar of California's public records that the attorney's license is active with no discipline, since only active licensees may practice law under Business and Professions Code section 6125. Second, the substance of the engagement. Estate planning is commonly sold as a flat-fee package, so ask exactly what it includes — revocable trust, pour-over will, financial power of attorney, advance health care directive, and, critically, the deed work and account retitling that actually fund the trust, since an unfunded trust fails at its one job. Ask how the office handles updates after marriages, births, moves, and law changes, and whether periodic reviews are included or billed separately. For probate or trust administration, ask about experience in the county's probate department and how fees compare to the statutory schedule of Probate Code section 10810. Get the fee terms in writing per Business and Professions Code section 6148.

Authority: Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 6125, 6148