Reviews

For years we wanted to establish a trust but put it off, thinking it was going to be a long, tedious process. James' knowledge, experience and organized approach to the process made it straightforward and easy to accomplish. Very informative and even provided answers to the questions we we didn't even know to ask.

Our experiences to work with Mr. James Stein to establish our family Trust has been a pleasant and comfortable. James is not only execute it professional, but also very thoughtful and personal. At any point of situation to make a decision call, James not only provide us his professional, knowledgeable advice, he also gave us what other family could be doing/have done based on his experiences. That is very helpful, and particular we feel a very personal touch to make it easy for us to make the call. I highly rate his work, and recommend any family to work with him when the time to do so.

We could not have been happier with the service that James provided for us as we planned out our Estate Plan. After speaking with some friends and family about the process we knew that it was important to find a knowledgeable and trustworthy lawyer to help guide us as we set up this important set of documents. After doing our due diligence and meeting with some other lawyers in the area we found James to be thorough, professional, and someone who we could see ourselves working with in the future. The overall process took about 3 months, however much of the time needed was on me and my wife's side. As a young family we had a lot of decisions to make, everything from managing our assets, to how we designated caregivers for our children, and advance directives in the event of a medical issue. James walked us through multiple scenarios and was very patient & attentive with us as we asked many questions along the way. There were some tough conversations that we had to have as a family, but I believe James did a great job preparing us for these conversations and did not rush the process. In addition to his stellar service we believe he was fair in his pricing and turnaround time. Considering the massive size of the Estate Plan that James put together for us (including trust documents, wills, advance healthcare directives, etc.), I'm amazed at how fast he was able to not just put this all together but also empower us to learn about each of these components. We highly recommend James for his Estate Plan services and look forward to working with him in the future.

We were in need of a trustworthy local attorney to help us with our estate planning, and James Stein completely came through for us. He is prompt, punctual, meticulous and understanding. He is very methodical in his approach. He listens intently, and crafts a legal package to suit your particular situation. My wife and I are very happy to have chosen James for our estate planning and highly recommend him.

We had procrastinated too long in getting our estate incorporated into a trust (it is important to do this and avoid the delays and cost of probate proceedings). This Law Office was very helpful and efficient. The cost was reasonable. Everything went quite smoothly. James Stein was most pleasant to work with as well. And he followed up afterward with advice and reminders to take care of some important things afterward.

James is very professional and personable. He completed our living trust documents in two in-person interviews and the results were complete and thoroughly to our satisfaction. My wife and I are very happy that we decided to go with James for our estate planning needs.

My respect for James Stein is of the highest. Not only did he manage the administration of my dad's Trust, but because of how well he handled that, I asked him to restate my Trust. Initially, I and my brothers hired him to "clean up" our dad's Trust. There was room for differences of opinion in understanding the terms of dad's Trust, so it needed the efforts of an estate lawyer to make things as clear as possible. When dad passed, we had James handle the administration of his Trust. James' efforts were impressive. He coordinated his efforts with dad's financial adviser and his accountant. He worked with them to minimize our tax consequences. He advocates very hard for his clients. He represented the three offspring when we first signed on for his services to clean up dad's Trust. He was careful to always represent the three of us equally (...there was some disagreement among the offspring about the distribution of the Trust). He was careful not to favor any one of us, which is to follow the law exactly. When it came to administering my dad's Trust, I don't think it could have been done as efficiently, as financially smart, or as professionally by anyone else. I, and my brothers, are very grateful for all he did for us. As for my Trust Restatement, I had already had a Restatement done (!!!) by another estate attorney, one I had hired for a number of years. Let's call the former estate attorney, Attorney Z. When Attorney Z wrote a Restatement, I was disappointed (understatement). What I received from Attorney Z was vague, messy, and just unacceptable. (I got Attorney Z by referral, by the way...) I was also dissatisfied with Attorney Z's response to my complaints. Attorney Z told me to rewrite/fix what I didn't like, and he asked me to write my corrections into MS Word, so he could cut and paste my changes into an update. I couldn't feel good about that whole experience. I couldn't accept that the final product was right because I am not a lawyer, and I didn't know if what I tried to reword was, in fact, saying what I wanted it to say. Attorney Z told me he reviewed my updates before creating a new version, but that's not good enough. He didn't change much, and, like I said, I am NOT a lawyer. Attorney Z said he spent a few hours working on the changes, so he charged me more. This went against our verbal agreement. It was insane. I was not confident with Attorney Z's work at all. I was even worried that I might get sick and need my Trust/Will to kick in. I didn't want Attorney Z's version of my Restatement to go into effect. It had too many loopholes (when none is best), and I had no confidence that my wishes would be enforced just as I wanted them to be. I decided to have my Restatement redone, this time by James Stein. I was confident in his abilities because he had done such a bang-up job for my dad's estate. I wasn't disappointed. Just as one would expect an estate lawyer to do, James interviewed me to get a firm understanding of how I wanted my Trust enforced. His work on a second Restatement was detail-oriented, complete, well-written, and well-organized. Plus, he was absolutely caring and professional to work with. I describe him to friends as a truly great estate attorney, someone who goes above and beyond, and someone who does work that is not just great but truly exceptional. My Restatement is now well done. It is up to standards, and tough ones I might add. It is also delivered in a very professional package. Aside from delivering the estate documents in a highly-organized and high quality binder, he includes a digital version of all the Trust documents on a thumb drive. He thinks of everything! I have recommended him to family and friends. They are presently still dragging their feet on the subject, but I tell them that if they want their Trust done with the highest quality and care, then James Stein is the one to go to. Thanks, James! You have been a blessing, and you are the best!

We being first generation of indian-americans had a very different need for our will. Mr. Stein took time to understand our needs for preparing our living trust and a will document that addressed all of our requirements.

We worked with James to update our trust. He took the time to educate us on changes from the time we did our original trust, always explaining the 'legal' detail in a manner we could understand. He is very outgoing, easy to work with, thorough in the execution of what he committed to do for us. We enjoyed working with him and would highly recommend his services!

Estate planning was something we procrastinated on as we always thought it to be a stressful task. However, our first meeting with James went very smoothly. He answered all of our questions without rushing us. He asked us many questions that we never even realized was important in drafting our documents. When we received our draft and reviewed it, James was very patient in answering our questions. He NEVER failed to reply to our emails in details where we could understand complicated issues easily. When we had a problem and felt stuck, James would always come up with a solution. After we signed the final documents, we received a very professional binder that included our documents in paper form and a soft copy on a USB. James was so organized and keen to details with instructions on what to do next. If we need to update our documents in the future, we will not think twice to call on James!

We had a wonderful experience working with James Stein on setting up a Trust and Will for our family. We had a scheduled trip overseas coming up and were very delayed in setting anything up. We have children and property, but had nothing documented or set up for an event that one of us or both of us suddenly pass away. James has been very supportive and was able to complete the most crucial documents before our departure. He was respectful of our schedules and commutes and was flexible enough to meet us at our house. He walked us through the process clearly and made the entire experience funner than we anticipated. We are extremely grateful to him for giving us a peace of mind before the trip. We can now sleep better at night, knowing that we took steps to ensure our family will be better taken care of.

My husband and I kept putting off writing our will and creating our trust, even though we knew it was the responsible thing to do. When we finally decided to do it, James was our first and only call. He made the entire process easy to navigate with his knowledge, organization, and humor. His attention to detail gave us peace of mind. We can't recommend James enough!