Cali Law

Back in the early '70s, my folks bought two on a lot with my aunt and uncle. More than four decades later, my parents (now IN their early 70s) have raised their kids, semi-retired, and are still living in the same house we all grew up in.

Recently, my parents asked me to help them find a reputable place to help them create a living trust. As with most things... I checked Yelp and found Cali Law. I'm sure glad I did.

After setting up an appointment for my folks, they met with Marc by phone/video (COVID rules, of course). He spent a good couple of hours slowly explaining the process to my parents, answering their questions, and assuring them of the value of establishing a trust vs. other settlement options for their estate when they pass on.

I was impressed at Marc's patience and thoroughness; moreover, Marc made it clear that this was not a "set it and forget it" RonCo sort of deal-- no, he reassured my parents this was more of a Casablanca deal-- "the start of a beautiful friendship."

No one who loves his parents likes to sit around and casually chat about divvying up their assets after they die; still, Marc and everyone with whom we are working at Cali Law has treated this pragmatic topic with respect, dignity, patience, and compassion.

I highly recommend this business. They did bit charge my parents a dime for the consultation, and my folks were pleased with the overall fees for their services.

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They never responded or answered our calls. Too bad because we read great reviews. Maybe they're out of business or too busy to reply, at least with a voicemail that tells us we aren't accepting new clients.

Other estate attorneys wanted fees to do an initial consultation, but not Marc. Anthea was very helpful and attentive with getting my mom comfortable for the initial consultation. After meeting Marc, my mother said to me, "He really cares about his clients."

We needed documents quickly. Marc gave sound advice and all of our documents were completed expertly and quickly.

I offer an unqualified recommendation for Marc and his team.

My wife and I recently worked with Liz Seitz, Kathy Foote and the Garlett office team to help plan a trust and will. I simply cannot recommend them highly enough. The entire process was handled with care and compassion. Liz was superb at guiding us through the process, was patient with our questions every step of the way, and made the entire experience feel like working with a trusted friend. Kathy kept in frequent communication with us through each stage and was always prompt in responding to any inquiries we had, or in helping us navigate a particular step along the way.

As a same-sex couple, we felt entirely welcome and that Liz and her team were equipped to handle questions specific to our situation.

We are on the west side of Los Angeles, so the commute to the office was a consideration. However, after our first contact we knew that we had made the right choice in working with this team for such an important process. Besides, we treated ourselves after each visit (3 total) to a nice lunch.

At no time did we feel pressure to take actions or make decisions on aspects of the process that we did not understand, nor did we have to worry about incurring a cost for each question, call, or email. We have compared notes with friends who either opted for a large law firm, or "do it yourself" chains. We are convinced we made the absolute best choice.

My wife and I had plan to make a Living Trust for more than 20 years, the main reason why we did not take time to do it was because we could not find the attorney that we had faith in to help us. Several months ago I attended Marc's Estate Planning seminar in Arcadia and my mental paradigm changed, Marc provided the essence of Estate Planning in details, I grasped the large picture of what need to be done to achieve our goal, it was doable, I had my faith.

We stepped forward with Marc's professional services, he provided road map and to-dos to get us through the Estate Planning process, Anthea provided all required documents, and answered questions if we got stuck, excellent client services, we got our tasks accomplished without a hitch, we are so grateful for their helps, I felt at ease since in the future if we encounter estate related issues, Marc is only a phone call away; I would like to recommend Marc G. Garlett to anyone who likes me looking for an attorney's help in making Estate Planning without reservation, Marc and his team are the right place to go.

I cannot say enough good things about Marc and his team. After 2+ years of working with him, I can proudly say that Marc is not only my attorney, but my friend. He's a family man and the hard work he and his staff provide reflect their values in life. They are honest and sincere in their efforts to help you in any, and every, facet of family law that they can. Thank you, Marc...for everything!

When my Mom and Dad passed away, I became successor co-trustee, as well as being one of the beneficiaries of my parent's Family Trust. While carrying out my fiduciary duties as successor trustee, I soon realized that my parent's estate plan had inadequacies, and was a generic boilerplate document prepared by an attorney that wasn't thorough, and didn't put much effort into it. This lead to tremendous turmoil, grief, and guilt between me and my four other siblings during a very crucial time.

Therefore, when it was time for me and my wife to consider our own estate planning, with our two daughters in mind, we knew we had the daunting task of finding the right attorney to draft a quality estate plan for us, while avoiding some of the pitfalls of my parent's estate plan. After our initial family planning session with Marc Garlett, we knew we had found the right attorney and planning team. We found Marc to be friendly, professional, and knowledgeable, with a genuine caring interest in helping his client's families through every step of the way and beyond. Marc is a devoted family man, who loves his family, and this caring dedication and values extends into his practice as motivation to do things right. He is sincere and open, and readily shares personal stories, anecdotes, and the wisdom and lessons learned from his own family life experiences. He took the time and effort to get to know us better in order to help us in the best way possible. Meetings with Marc seems more like having a casual discussion with a trusted friend. My wife and I are truly pleased with how comprehensive, thorough, and concise Marc's office handled the detail intricacies and technicalities involved in preparing an estate plan suited to our needs and wishes. Marc was always patient in listening to our questions, and made conscientious efforts in responding and explaining to insure we understood everything. Whenever I have questions along any stage of the planning process, I was not reluctant to call Marc, for fear of incurring additional costs and getting unexpected billing statement. Marc encourages his clients to call him with any follow-up questions they may have, with no extra fees, unlike the attorneys that I have dealt with for my parents' trust, where we would receive surprise hourly billing invoices for every 2-minute phone call, e-mail sent, or face-to-face encounter with them. Marc's Client Service Director, Kathy is kind, personable, professional, and extraordinarily efficient in keeping us in frequent communication, while guiding us through each planning stage. Kathy was always prompt in responding to our phone call or e-mail inquiries, and kept us updated and on track with all the necessary document submittals and processing. Whenever we need to drop off some documents to Kathy, it feels like we are just stopping by to visit and say hello to friends at their home. Marc's office in Sierra Madre is pleasantly cozy, welcoming, and unintimidating with ample parking and a small town atmosphere, unlike the high rise offices of attorneys I worked with for my parent's trust where I had to deal with parking structures, parking fees, parking validations, lobby security guards, elevators, and impersonal law firm receptionist who don't even know you, while trying to survive the Pasadena, Downtown L.A., or Century City traffic just to see them. It has been a pleasurable and rewarding experience working with Marc and Kathy while planning something as important, personal, and emotional as our estate plan and family trust. We cannot express the feeling of satisfaction and peace of mind that our family legacy is in order, and truly grateful for the expertise, professionalism, and friendship of Marc and his efficient office team to make this happen. It is also reassuring that our daughters and family will have such a dedicated and supportive team as the Garlett Law Office to be there if and when the need arises for their help and support. Thank you Marc, Kathy, Anthea, and Bari for such a gratifying experience.

I had a great experience at Cali Law recently. They are a very professional group who are also extremely knowledgeable in their field. I highly recommend my attornies Anashe and Marc.

Marc Garlett is what all lawyers should be - not only knowledgeable, but caring, compassionate and honest. He does NOT try to nickel and dime you to death with additional charges if you have a question or two... or six. He is more interested in making sure that your trust works perfectly for you.

My mom passed away several years ago and I was a successor co-trustee. It was, hands down, the worst year and a half of my entire life. My mom's (and our) lawyer charged us for every minute I talked with him, sent us incomplete and incorrect paperwork, was late for meetings by a couple hours - it was a nightmare. So when it was all done we immediately started looking for a new lawyer for ourselves. My husband was on Marc's email list for his blog and kept commenting to me about nice they were. Marc talked about fun, scary, and proud moments with his family. It almost made you feel like you were part of his family - and now that we have our Trust with him I think we are part of his family.

I really can't say enough nice things about Marc. If you are even remotely thinking about getting a (new) Trust attorney, don't walk - RUN at breakneck speed to the phone and set up an appointment with him today - you will not regret it. Marc Garlett is one in a BILLION!!

I wanted to set up a trust after receiving an inheritance. I chose Marc and his associates after reading all the great reviews, and he and his staff are everything the reviews state and more. I went into the process having been Trustee on my parents Trusts, but not knowing much about setting up a trust. Marc was very thorough, and helped me set up the trust the way I wanted it, giving me excellent and informative advice that caused me to rethink some of my initial ideas. In addition to helping me set up a trust, Cali Law also helped me obtain a refund from a recalcitrant Board-and-Care after my mother passed away. Not only is Marc an excellent lawyer, he and his staff are exceptionally nice people and easy to work with. I can recommend without reservation Marc and his associates for Estate Planning and issues regarding Elder Care.