Estate Planning Attorneys in

El Dorado Hills, CA

Clark Allison LLP’s main office is in El Dorado Hills, right off Highway 50 at 4944 Windplay Drive, Suite 117. We serve families throughout El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Shingle Springs, El Dorado County, Sacramento, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, and all of California.

Many of our clients drive from Sacramento, Elk Grove, and Rancho Murieta to meet with us here, and our Sacramento-area clients tell us the drive is worth it.

Estate planning is all we do. We don’t do divorces, business litigation, or criminal defense. Every attorney at Clark Allison focuses exclusively on living trusts, wills, and trust administration. That focus is why Clark has been named a Sacramento Magazine top estate planning attorney and the best of El Dorado Hills estate planning attorneys. We’re good at this because it’s the only thing we do.

Our El Dorado Hills attorneys, Jennifer Ferraiuolo, Nora Hall, Tristan L’Engle, and Clark Allison work directly with you from your first meeting to your last. When you meet with us, you meet with an attorney.

Why El Dorado Hills, Folsom, and Sacramento Homeowners Need a Living Trust

El Dorado Hills, Folsom, and the broader Sacramento region have seen significant appreciation in home values over the past decade. For most families, their home is their most valuable asset, and without a properly funded living trust, that asset will go through California probate when they die.

California probate is the court-supervised process for distributing your estate. It applies to any asset held in your individual name without a beneficiary designation. For a homeowner in El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Sacramento, or Elk Grove, that almost certainly means your home. The process takes 12 to 18 months. The statutory fees are calculated on the gross value of your estate, not the equity, not what you owe on your mortgage, but the full market value.

On a home worth $800,000, the combined statutory attorney and executor fees exceed $38,000. On a home worth $1,000,000, increasingly common in El Dorado Hills and Folsom, they exceed $46,000. Before court costs, appraisal fees, or any contested issues.

A properly funded revocable living trust avoids all of it. Your assets pass directly to your family without any court involvement, in a matter of weeks rather than months, at a fraction of the cost. And unlike probate, the process is entirely private.

If you own a home in El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Sacramento, or anywhere in the greater Sacramento region, you almost certainly need a living trust. A will alone does not protect your family from probate. It triggers it.

El Dorado Hills Is Our Home — We Know This Community

Clark has lived and practiced in El Dorado Hills since 2003. Jennifer Ferraiuolo, Nora Hall, and Tristan L'Engle have served Sacramento-region families for years and are deeply embedded in this community. This is not a satellite office or a firm that recently decided to list El Dorado Hills as a service area. El Dorado Hills is our mother-ship office.

Our Sacramento and Elk Grove clients find us because we’re the best at what we do, not just the closest. 

We have more than 340 five-star Trustpilot reviews. Many of them are from El Dorado Hills, Folsom, and Sacramento-area families who have worked with us for years, come back to update their plans, and referred their friends and neighbors. 

Our Estate Planning Process

We designed our process to be as simple and efficient as possible. Most clients complete their estate plan in two attorney meetings over about two weeks.

Meeting 1: Design

In your first meeting, in person at our Windplay Drive office or by Zoom, your choice, you’ll sit down with one of our attorneys to discuss your family, your assets, and what you want your plan to accomplish. We’ll design your plan and answer every question you have. No forms to fill out in advance. No intake coordinator. Just a conversation with an attorney.

Meeting 2: Review and Sign

Your second meeting is a review. You’ll go through your completed documents with your attorney, ask any remaining questions, and approve the final plan. Then you’ll sign with our notary, in person or through our online notary service, and you’re done.

Flat fees. No hourly billing. No surprise invoices. Once you’re a client, it’s always free to contact us with questions.

Estate Planning Services at Our El Dorado Hills Office

• Revocable Living Trusts: the foundation of most California estate plans, designed to avoid probate and protect your family
  
  
• Wills: including pour-over wills that work alongside your living trust, and guardian nominations for minor children
  
  
• Durable Power of Attorney: authorizes a trusted person to manage your finances if you become incapacitated
  
  
• Advance Health Care Directive: documents your medical wishes and designates a health care agent
  
  
• Trust Administration: guidance for successor trustees navigating the process after a loved one passes
  
  
• Trust Updates and Reviews: keeping your existing estate plan current as your life changes and as California law evolves

Areas We Serve from El Dorado Hills

Our El Dorado Hills office serves families throughout El Dorado County and Sacramento County, including El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Shingle Springs, El Dorado, Placerville, Cameron Park, Rescue, Sacramento, Elk Grove, Rancho Murieta, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, and Fair Oaks.

Sacramento and Elk Grove clients regularly make the drive to our El Dorado Hills office. It’s about 25 to 30 minutes from midtown Sacramento. They tell us the drive is worth it. We also offer complete virtual estate planning via Zoom for clients anywhere in California who prefer to meet from home.

Why El Dorado Hills and Sacramento Families Choose Clark Allison

• We only do estate planning: Not divorce law, not litigation, not business transactions. Estate planning and trust administration, every day, for nearly 30 years. That focus is why we’re consistently recognized as the top estate planning firm in El Dorado Hills.
  
  
• You work with an attorney: Not a paralegal, not a staff member who passes you along. Your attorney is with you from first meeting to final signing.
  
  
• Four experienced attorneys: Jennifer Ferraiuolo, Nora Hall, Tristan L’Engle, and Clark Allison, each bring years of focused estate planning experience and hundreds of client reviews. You’ll work with the same attorney throughout your entire process.
  
  
• Flat fees, published upfront: You know the cost before you commit. No hourly billing means you can ask questions without watching a clock.
  
  
• Fast: Most estate plans are completed in a few weeks. Urgent situations can move faster.
  
  
• Decades of service in El Dorado Hills: Clark Allison has been the trusted name in local estate planning since 2003. Sacramento Magazine’s top estate planning attorney. Best of El Dorado Hills. We’ve earned it.
  
  
• 340+ five-star Trustpilot reviews: Read what your neighbors and fellow Sacramento-area families have said about working us.

Common Estate Planning Mistakes We See Every Week

Having a will but no living trust

A will does not avoid California probate. For a homeowner in El Dorado Hills, Folsom, or Sacramento, that means 12 to 18 months of court process and tens of thousands of dollars in statutory fees. A properly funded living trust avoids all of it.

Creating a trust and never funding it

A living trust only protects the assets actually transferred into it. If your home is still titled in your individual name, it goes through probate regardless of what your trust document says. We will make sure the title of your home and other real property is transferred to your living trust.

An outdated plan that no longer reflects your family

This is the most common problem we see. A trust written in 2008 may name trustees who have since died, reference a family situation that no longer exists, or fail to account for California’s Proposition 19 changes. An outdated estate plan can create as many problems as no plan at all. We recommend reviewing yours every five years.

Outdated beneficiary designations

Retirement accounts, life insurance, and investment accounts pass by beneficiary designation, which are completely outside your will and trust. We’ve seen estates where an ex-spouse still listed on a life insurance policy received a substantial inheritance because no one updated the form. Review yours after every significant life event.

Frequently Asked Questions — El Dorado Hills Estate Planning

Ready to get your estate plan done? Call us at (916) 983-9410 or click below to schedule a free intro call with one of our attorneys. We’ll tell you exactly what you need and what it will cost — no pressure, no obligation, no hourly clock.

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