Planning your estate in Silicon Valley?
Santa Clara County estate planning runs the full spectrum — from a simple will and revocable trust for a young family to multi-million-dollar trusts for tech-stock holders, foreign-asset planning, and Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) coordination. The right San Jose estate planning attorney is one who has actually drafted that level of complexity, not just adapted a software template.
We have shortlisted 10 San Jose estate planning firms based on peer rankings (Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo, Chambers USA), client review patterns, board certifications, and bar association recognition. Most offer a free or low-cost initial consultation.
How we picked these 10: We reviewed published verdicts and settlements, peer rankings (Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell), client review patterns, and bar association recognition. Firms that appeared consistently across independent sources made the list. We do not accept payment for placement, and we do not write sponsored reviews. More on our methodology →
Practice focus: Estates and trusts, tax planning, foreign assets, cross-border planning
Full-service Bay Area firm with a deep estates and trusts practice covering both routine planning and complex international and tax-driven structures. Multiple Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers honorees.
Practice focus: Estate planning, trust administration, wealth transfer, charitable planning
Premier Silicon Valley firm whose Trusts & Estates group handles routine and complex wealth-transfer matters for tech founders, executives, and families. Frequently listed in U.S. News-Best Lawyers Tier 1.
Practice focus: Estate planning, trust and probate administration, special needs trusts
50+ years headquartered in downtown San Jose. Their Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Administration group covers wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, gift planning, and post-death administration.
Practice focus: Trusts and estates, tax planning, business succession, trust litigation
Trusts-and-estates-only boutique with multiple attorneys certified as estate planning specialists by the California Board of Legal Specialization. Managing partner Patrick A. Kohlmann and partner Robert E. Temmerman Jr. are both certified specialists.
Practice focus: Estate planning, advanced trust structures, QSBS planning, gift tax
Estate-planning-exclusive practice serving the San Jose and broader Bay Area market with planning ranging from basic revocable trusts to GRATs, QPRTs, dynasty trusts, and ILITs.
Practice focus: Estate planning, trust administration, probate
Janet Brewer is certified as an estate planning and probate specialist by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization — one of fewer than 100 in Santa Clara County. Former member of the California State Bar Board of Trustees.
Practice focus: Estate planning, trust administration, business succession
San Jose estate planning boutique with attorneys who have served on the Board of Trustees of the California State Bar. Founding member of WealthCounsel, with Super Lawyers and AVVO recognition.
Practice focus: Estate planning, trust administration, probate, conservatorships
AV Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell rating. Members of the California Board of Legal Specialization, with multiple Super Lawyers selections for trusts and estates work.
Practice focus: Estate planning, trust administration, probate
San Jose Super Lawyers honoree with multiple years of recognition for estate planning and probate work. Solo practice focused on individual and family estate plans.
Practice focus: Trusts and estates, estate planning, trust administration
Trusts and estates attorney practicing in San Jose since 1990 with consistent Super Lawyers recognition for the trusts and estates category.
Tell us about your situation and we'll match you with vetted estate planning attorneys in San Jose. Free, confidential, no obligation.
Request Free Consultation →A basic estate plan (revocable trust, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, advance health-care directive, certification of trust) typically runs $2,500-$4,500 flat fee for an individual and $3,500-$6,000 for a couple in San Jose. Advanced planning — irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), QSBS planning for tech founders, foreign-asset coordination — moves to hourly billing at $450-$750/hour or scoped flat fees of $7,500-$25,000+. Probate is set by California statute (Probate Code §§ 10810-10811) as a tiered percentage of the gross estate.
Most estate planning matters are routine when handled well and expensive when handled badly. The patterns to avoid:
Guaranteed outcomes. No ethical attorney can guarantee a result. If a firm promises a specific recovery, dismissal, or approval, walk away.
The disappearing partner. You meet a senior partner at intake, then never speak to them again. The case is handled by an unsupervised junior or a paralegal. Ask in writing who will be your day-to-day attorney.
Pressure to sign immediately. Reputable firms give you the retainer in writing, time to read it, and the option to take it home. High-pressure intake is almost always a sign of a volume mill, not a careful practice.
No verifiable track record. The firm should be able to point to verdicts, settlements, peer rankings, or bar association recognition. "We've helped thousands of clients" is marketing copy. Specific numbers, named cases, and third-party rankings are evidence.
Vague fee terms. "Don't worry about cost" is a red flag. Every legitimate San Jose lawyer will give you a written engagement letter with the fee structure, what's covered, what triggers extra charges, and what happens if you fire them.
Most San Jose estate planning firms offer a free or low-cost initial consultation. Bring your relevant documents, write down your questions, and compare at least two firms before you sign.
Trust funding matters more than the documents. California is a community-property state with high property values; an unfunded trust is the most common Silicon Valley estate mistake. A San Jose attorney who finishes the deed transfers, retitles brokerage accounts, and updates beneficiary designations is doing the work that actually keeps your family out of probate.
Probate in Santa Clara County is expensive and slow. Probate fees in California are statutory: 4% on the first $100,000, 3% on the next $100,000, 2% on the next $800,000, and 1% on the next $9 million of gross estate value. On a $1.5 million house — which is below the Santa Clara County median for a single-family home — that is roughly $30,000 in statutory fees, before extraordinary fees. A revocable trust avoids all of it.
Stock-based compensation needs special care. Restricted stock units (RSUs), incentive stock options (ISOs), and non-qualified stock options each have different tax and transfer characteristics. A San Jose attorney who has handled tech estates understands when to use a QSBS-stacking trust and when to move equity into an irrevocable trust before a liquidity event.
Foreign-asset and multi-jurisdiction planning is common. Silicon Valley estate plans frequently involve foreign citizenship, foreign-held real estate, or beneficiaries living abroad. A local attorney who handles cross-border issues will coordinate with foreign counsel on inheritance treaties, qualified domestic trusts (QDOTs), and Form 3520 reporting.
Tell us about your situation and we'll connect you with vetted estate planning firms in San Jose. No fee. No pressure.
If your house alone is worth more than about $184,500 in California (the small-estate probate threshold in 2026), the answer is almost always yes. Without a trust, your house has to pass through probate in Santa Clara County, which means statutory probate fees of roughly $30,000 on a $1.5M property and 9-18 months of court process.
Typical turnaround is 4-8 weeks from your first meeting to signed and funded documents. Most firms do a 60-90 minute intake meeting, send a draft within 2-3 weeks, run a review meeting, finalize, and then schedule a signing appointment. Trust funding (deed transfers, account retitling) follows over the next 30 days.
A will is read after you die and goes through probate court. A revocable living trust holds your assets while you are alive (you stay in full control) and passes them to your beneficiaries on death without probate. In California, the cost-and-time difference is so large that most estate planners recommend a trust as the primary vehicle and use the will only as a backup ('pour-over will').
For a young, single renter with no kids and a small estate, an online template may be sufficient. For anyone owning a Santa Clara County home, a business interest, RSUs/ISOs, or with minor children, the savings from a $300 template versus a $3,500 attorney are routinely wiped out by one missed deed transfer or beneficiary-designation conflict.
A revocable trust does not. It is for probate avoidance and post-death control, not asset protection. If you need asset protection, that is a separate planning track using irrevocable trusts, LLCs, premarital agreements, and homestead — and it must be set up before the claim or marriage exists, not after.
Digital assets need their own access plan — typically a memorandum referenced in the trust that gives your trustee the information they need to access wallets, exchanges, and seed phrases without exposing them in the will. Your San Jose attorney should ask about this; if they do not, they are not current on the issue.
If you have a beneficiary who receives or may receive needs-based government benefits (SSI, Medi-Cal), a properly drafted special needs trust lets you provide for them without disqualifying them. This is technical work that benefits from an attorney who handles SNTs regularly.
Your California revocable trust remains valid in most other states, but powers of attorney, advance directives, and probate-avoidance strategies are state-specific. Plan a review with a local attorney within 6-12 months of moving.
One last thing. Picking the right estate planning attorney in San Jose is mostly about asking direct questions and getting direct answers. Two consultations, a written fee agreement, and a clear plan are usually enough to find the right fit. — The LawFirmSquare team