Reviews

We have just had our annual review with Ted Brown. As always, it was a pleasant experience. My parents have been with the firm for 20 years, and we always have a positive experience with the firm. They guided us patiently with our legal matters when my father died, and they have been gracious, efficient, and thorough in their dealings with my mother. They are prompt to return calls, always prepared for our meetings, and make us feel that they are genuinely concerned about us. As my mother's trustee, I appreciate their advice and direction. On a personal note, my mother has been hospitalized and has had several medical issues this past year. They have been the first to send a get well card several different times. A small thing, but we felt it was a very important gesture. We appreciate the great legal advice and wonderful treatment.

Cooper, Adel, Vu & Associates, LPA are due a high recommendation from me for their handling of our wills, living wills, and our trust. All were handled quickly, quietly and efficiently at a very reasonable cost. Small adjustments occasionally have been handled painlessly. Thank you!

My experience was positive. The staff was professional and timely. My trust and will documents were thorough and organized. I particularly like that I am able to make changes in the future as needed. My only negative comment is that my financial analysis wasn't scheduled initially. I did get a date and time in my final trust signing but nothing has been confirmed via email or text.

I would not have even given them 1 star but, I had no other choice. My parents were very impressed with this group. Sadly to say, after my parents had passed they were not at all what my parents had spoke about. My mom passed in 2020 and were are just now getting the trust finalized. The Attorney did NOTHING to help the executor file paper work. It took over ONE year to get a life insurance policy cashed out. We did reach out to the partners (twice) and no response was given . We were just ignored even more by the attorney that was handling the trust. He had no problems charging us a gross amount of money for what seemed very little work. We are in the process of contacting the Bar Association regarding this situation. M. Knapp

Good experience working with Ted. He was very knowledgeable and so helpful to us working on my mother's estate. Ted is very easy to talk to, explains everything and went out of his way for us. I would highly recommend this law firm and Ted Brown.

What We Didn't Know Life's Work-Estate Planning=Disaster Sixty three months ago my 82 year old mother-in-law ask if I would attend a meeting with an attorney who was going to introduce her and her husband to some kind of elder law estate planning. She has spent the last 45 years working to pay for the renovation of her childhood home. During the one hour ride to Centerburg she wanted me to school her on questions to ask. I gave her just one, "what are the benefits to and estate plan and why should I do it"? Let the attorney fill in the blanks and ask questions as they arise. Sixty-three months later, I can say without question the hour we spent that day was the most important event in this family's history. Wow, you might ask why I would say that, because of WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW. WE DIDN'T KNOW THE FUTURE or what was in it, WE DIDN'T KNOW that doing nothing was putting three generations of work at risk. At the end of that meeting I firmly insisted that they allow the attorney to take charge of mapping out their financial future. The list of land mines that appeared to be in their future was now in the hands of a highly skilled professional, Keith Stevens. Over the nest several weeks we provided him with a portfolio of information on assets, income, and military service. It was a challenge to putt everything he needed together because WE DIDN'T KNOW, you get the picture. We went back a month later to review the plan he mapped out for our family. The largest asset and the greatest risk was the third generation farm that he put into a trust. He also setup a second called the family trust which could be used for day to day activities. WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW until he explained it was the administration of each trust and the risk of violating terms and condition of those requirements. Four years later it was apparent that my father-in-law was in failing health and was going to need assistance. WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW, until Keith explained it, was a benefit called Aid and Attendance was available for my father-in-law because he was a Korean War veteran. We provided Keith with the necessary paperwork and he developed the strategy of how to frame up the Aid and Attendance request. A month later the VA approved the request with back benefits over $10,000. The following month my father-in-law started receiving and additional $1,700 a month until his death three weeks ago. That benefit allowed my wife and I to move him and my mother-in-law into a basement apartment we built 17 years ago hoping it would never be needed. WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW was having the opportunity to take care of him at home in his final year would be priceless. Last week we met with Keith to review the trust and discuss mu mother-in-law's declining health. WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW, until Keith explained, was that she may qualify for spousal Aid and Attendance. Keith is developing the plan and how to approach the VA to give us the best chance for benefit approval. WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW, until Keith explained it, was the greatest asset has to be in the trust for 60 months to be fully protected. In our case, the Aid and attendance money we received that allowed us to care for my father-in-law instead of going in a nursing home avoided that loss. A year in a nursing home would have cost between $75,000 and $100,000 depending on the level of care that would have been required. WHAT WE DID'T KNOW 63 months ago was what the future was going to hold for our family and what doing nothing would cost. Today WE KNOW; the farm that 3 generations worked to preserve would be gone. I can't write the final chapter of our family's story because I have no way of knowing the future. What I fill very confident in predicting is Keith Stevens will continue to put our minds at ease in regards to our financial future. If your reading this what does the future hold for your family? Only God can answer that question and that is why the meeting we had with Keith 63 months ago is the most important financial event in our family's history. Robert R. Mc Daniel

My husband and I first heard a presentation on Estate Planning about 5 years ago. We decided to go with Cooper, Adel & Associates because of their excellent plan. Their service did not end there. We have a review every year and Mr. Julian Guilfoyle has given us excellent financial advise. Since we went with their long term plan, we have not had to pay any further fees for these services. For a competitive fee, we have included their tax service for the last two years. We highly recommend getting your taxes done here. Recently our grandson wanted to shadow a financial advisor. We immediately thought of Mr. Guilfoyle. Our grandson received a great time that was informative, educational and fun. Thank you to all of the staff at Cooper, Adel & Associates that have helped us in the past and that will help us in the future.

Attended a Cooper, Adel & Associates workshop and immediately scheduled a meeting to discuss our financial plan. They are very professional along with exceptional customer service. I highly recommend all of their services.

They never returned my phone call.

Excellent law firm and they were very helpful in addressing my needs. I would highly recommend.

We bought a full package of Trusts, Wills and POAs 6 years ago. Cooper, Adel, Vu and Associates not only delivered those documents timely and fully explained with the modifications specific to our needs, but they continue to support us with periodic changes to some documents as we incur changes to our status. They always quickly and thoroughly answer the occasional questions we have, no matter how detailed. They continue to be both professional and friendly in all their support of us through the years. I'm confident our beneficiaries will have this same level of support when they need it.