Client Reviews
4.8*on 1,686 reviews and ratings
Reviews from California families
We’re not a business that hounds people for reviews. We’ve completed more than 12,000 estate plans in the last 15 years, and we’d rather you knew that.
Where the reviews come from
Google 372 + Yelp 324 + Arrivala 413 + ARAG 577 = 1,686. ARAG rates out of 10 rather than out of 5, so its 9.2 becomes 4.6 stars first. Weighted by how many each source holds, that averages 4.8.
The public ones link straight to the source.
Why I’m the #1 rated ARAG attorney (according to clients)*
Honestly, I think it’s mostly time. Most attorneys quit legal insurance after a few years because they can’t turn a profit on what it pays. We didn’t quit. We spent that time making our systems efficient and responsive, and cutting down how long it takes someone to feel confident they have the plan they actually want.
You also don’t get paid on legal insurance until the client comes in and signs. So we organized everything around getting to a signed estate plan. That’s what our clients want too.
And I like this work. Professional families are nice, polite people, it’s the kind of law I enjoy doing, and I feel good about the work I hand to my attorneys.
Here’s how we do it.
Sarah Summerall · FounderHow we got to 12,000 signed estate plans
We have a lot of good reviews, but obviously we’ve received some harsh feedback too, the way any business does over 15 years. Our clients have had a lot of good ideas, and we’ve incorporated them where we could.
A choices summary
A summary of everything you picked, in one place, so it's easy to see what you're signing.
Convenient signing locations
They're not fancy towers with beautiful views. They're close to you, with parking wherever we could get it, and no downtown traffic to sit in.
Drafts right after the call
We get drafts out soon after the calls, so people can still remember what they discussed and the choices they made.
We keep up with technology
AI watches our email so nothing sits unanswered. Online forms get the hard name spellings right the first time. All of it on secure, confidential platforms.
An engineer-style trust
All the important provisions are in the beginning of the trust and plainly stated, so there isn't some surprise buried for you in the back.
Plain language
We rewrote the standard legal wording. Read your trust on your own and you'll know what it says.
They have an online portal to guide you through your choices, review them, and review your documents before the final signing… We were able to complete everything in 1 short phone call, a few emails, and 1 short signing session.
We’ve done insurance-covered estate plans since 2010
We’ve been doing estate plans covered by legal insurance since 2010, and we’re committed to keeping at it.
Taking insurance plans forces you to be concise and organized. That has carried into our other plans too, which is why we can keep our fee where it is.
The process was smooth from start to finish. They thoroughly explained each step involved… The fees were also quite reasonable, as we went through ARAG Legal.
The process is refined, not improvised
Most clients finish in two to three weeks and two to three hours. The fee is quoted before we start.
No one wants to talk about death, family, marriage, and money for hours. Most people just want to be confident that they know what they are signing and that it reflects their wishes. We respect that.
They handled our trust/will set up very quickly and answered any questions we had.
Plain language is what makes it efficient
When the trust is written plainly, you understand it the first time. That’s what takes out the rounds of email, and it’s most of why this stays efficient. More on how we draft.
The verbiage used by this firm in the legal docs were easy to understand, everything went efficiently. I will definitely use this firm for amendments and administration in the future.
We actually honor the insurance
A lot of attorneys take the plan and then add thousands of dollars in extra fees. Ours are very limited and reasonable, and that’s part of the promise to keep this accessible to families. See which plans we accept.
Start to finish in about 2 weeks. If you have a company sponsored legal plan is just the cost of the deed change and notary.
Families spread across countries
A lot of international families couldn’t find legal insurance providers who would even speak to them about their estate plans. We’ve spent years drafting for that, so it’s accessible and affordable. More on international families.
They helped us navigate complex family estate planning, including planning for our future needs and handling inheritance considerations involving family overseas. We always felt listened to, supported, and in very capable hands.
A fixed fee most firms cannot work at
$1,500 per person, and most plans cover our fee. Attorney-prepared trusts commonly run $3,000 to $10,000. Most attorneys fundamentally can’t work at our rate, which is why so few have lasted in these networks.
I was slow to create my will and trust because I was worried it would be hard and complicated — and I am an attorney. Summerall Law made it completely painless. One easy questionnaire, one meeting, and a straightforward price and I was done.
What clients say
More on what we do and the attorneys you’ll work with.
We had a really smooth experience working with Summerall Law for our trust. Very professional, easy process, we had all our questions answered, and all at a very reasonable price.
Really streamlined process. Accepted ARAG legal insurance and completed the estate plan within a couple of meetings.
The fees were exactly what they said, all options were explained, questions answered and they stepped us through the process very clearly.
I cannot emphasize how easy and streamlined the process for putting together my Trust was with the Summerall team.
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* ARAG doesn’t publish rankings, so I can’t take official credit. Clients just tell me what they saw when they logged in: “I selected you because you’re the #1 rated ARAG attorney.” My honest theory is that nobody’s first hundred estate plans are their most organized, and reviews take years to pile up either way. I’ve been in the ARAG network since 2010.
Sarah Summerall · California Bar No. 260309 · admitted 2008.
The figure of more than 12,000 estate plans comes from our own case records.
* ARAG ratings are visible to plan members; Google, Yelp and Arrivala are public and linked above. Counts last verified .