San Jose sits at the center of one of the wealthiest and most complex asset environments in the country. Residents here often hold a combination of real estate, stock options, RSUs, retirement accounts, and business interests that require an estate plan built with precision, not a template. At Von Rock Law, we help San Jose clients create comprehensive estate plans that reflect the full picture of their lives, their assets, and their goals for the people they love.
Whether you need to protect your family in the event of disability or death, designate someone you trust to make financial or medical decisions on your behalf, or ensure your Silicon Valley assets transfer to your heirs without unnecessary tax exposure or court involvement, an estate planning attorney in San Jose, CA can help.
We take a personalized approach with every client. One of our experienced attorneys will review your complete asset profile, your family structure, and your long-term intentions to build a plan that works for your specific situation. For clients with equity compensation, we also coordinate with your financial advisor to ensure stock options, RSUs, and deferred compensation are properly addressed within the plan.
Once your plan is drafted, your attorney will walk you through every document in plain language so you fully understand what you are signing and why. We then ensure your plan is properly funded and ready to work from day one.
Whether you are creating an estate plan for the first time or updating one that no longer reflects your current assets or wishes, do not wait. Contact us today and we will make the process straightforward from start to finish.
In Santa Clara County, where home values commonly exceed $1.5 million and many residents hold significant investment and retirement accounts, an unplanned estate can easily trigger probate proceedings that cost tens of thousands of dollars and take well over a year to resolve. Every Von Rock Law estate plan for San Jose clients is designed to keep your estate out of Santa Clara County probate court and in the hands of the people you have chosen.
Our estate planning options include the following legal documents:
Your trust becomes the legal owner of your assets during your lifetime, including your home, investment accounts, and other titled property. This allows everything to pass directly to your beneficiaries at your death without going through Santa Clara County probate court. For San Jose tech professionals, we also address how unvested equity and retirement accounts interact with trust funding requirements.
Your pour-over will works alongside your trust to capture any assets not transferred into the trust during your lifetime and direct them into the trust at death. It also names guardians for your minor children, ensuring a San Jose court has clear instruction on who you want to care for them.
With this document, you grant a trusted person or organization the authority to handle your financial and legal affairs on your behalf if you become unable to do so. For San Jose professionals with active investment accounts, real estate, or business interests, this document prevents financial paralysis during a health crisis.
This document designates who makes medical decisions on your behalf and communicates your treatment preferences to hospitals and healthcare providers in the San Jose area. It removes uncertainty at the moment when your family is already under the most stress and ensures your medical team is following your wishes, not making assumptions.
Whether you are a young professional just starting to accumulate assets, a mid-career executive with a growing family and significant equity compensation, or a business owner planning for succession, Von Rock Law has a plan structure suited to your situation. Here is what we offer San Jose clients:
The most common choice for San Jose homeowners, parents, and professionals. This comprehensive trust-based plan ensures your real estate, financial accounts, and personal property pass directly to your beneficiaries and bypass Santa Clara County probate entirely. Includes successor trustee appointment, asset distribution instructions, and a full document set.
Designed for San Jose clients whose estates exceed the federal estate tax threshold or whose circumstances require more sophisticated structures, including large stock portfolios with embedded gains, international assets, multi-property real estate holdings, or complex blended family arrangements. This plan incorporates advanced tax planning alongside comprehensive trust documentation.
When your child turns 18, you legally lose the ability to access their medical records, speak to their university, or make financial decisions on their behalf even in an emergency. This plan gives San Jose parents the legal authorization to act when it matters most and gives your student foundational documents they did not know they needed.
Von Rock Law has earned consecutive Super Lawyer designations and recognition as SFGate’s Best Attorney in the Bay Area. San Jose clients receive the same award-winning standard of care that has built our 5-star reputation across the Bay Area. Book your free, no-obligation consultation today. We serve San Jose clients via Zoom, phone, or in person.
Yes, and this is one of the most commonly overlooked gaps for San Jose tech professionals. Vested RSUs and stock options become part of your taxable estate at death. Without a plan in place, your family may be forced to liquidate shares at an inopportune time to cover estate expenses or tax obligations. Von Rock Law helps you structure your estate to properly designate beneficiaries and minimize the tax burden your heirs face.
An estate plan created by Von Rock Law is a solution to protecting and preserving your estate in the case that you die or become incapacitated. It contains the following legal documents:
Living Trust A legal document that places some or all of your assets in the control of a trust during your lifetime.
Will A legal declaration of a person’s wishes regarding the disposal of their property or estate after death.
Durable Power of Attorney A durable power of attorney refers to a power of attorney which typically remains in effect until the death of the principal or until the document is revoked. A durable power of attorney, the durability of which must be explicitly stated, remains valid even in the event the principal is unable to make personal decisions due to incapacity.
Advanced Health Care Directive A legal document that explains how you want medical decisions about you to be made if you cannot make the decisions yourself. An advance directive lets your health care team and loved ones know what kind of health care you want, or who you want to make decisions for you when you cannot.
An estate plan not only ensures your family and assets are protected in the case you die or become incapacitated, but it also helps your estate avoid being subjected to probate, a long and costly process. For San Jose clients, this is especially important given property values and the complexity of equity-based compensation that must be addressed before it is too late.
Our Custom Estate Plan is a comprehensive trust-based estate plan which is appropriate for most estates including those with minor children or other minor beneficiaries, for those requiring protections for beneficiaries and for blended families. This estate plan works toward eliminating probate court proceedings, appointing successors to manage the Trust after your death, and directs the distribution of your assets.
One 30 minute consultation meeting by telephone, video conference or in person
Revocable Living Trust
Certification of Living Trust
Last Will & Testament **
Durable Power of Attorney **
Advanced Health Care Directive **
Authorization of Release of Medical Records (“HIPAA”) **
Assignment of Personal Property **
Personal Property Memorandum **
Trust Transfer Deed (one property)
Recording Deed with county recorder
One opportunity to request edits to above documents with respect to client-provided information
Recording fees included
Preliminary Change of Ownership Report
Final signing meeting
Complete instructions regarding plan
Notary fees included
Personalized estate planning binder with all original documents
Digital PDF copies of your entire plan
Additional Deeds with ancillary documents and recording fees begin at $1000 for California properties and for out of state US properties, subject to confirmation of non-California recording fees.
Up to five hours with our staff for emails, phone calls, zooms or in person meetings to address your questions regarding the maintenance of your estate plan, funding, coordination with agents, potential amendments, family meetings or other ongoing trust maintenance concerns.
A 5% discount on billable matters for which you may further retain us, such as drafting additional plan documents and amendments, or for another practice area.
Deluxe custom estate plans are appropriate for individuals with substantial assets and sophisticated planning needs, and who require estate tax planning features for estates exceeding the estate tax threshold of $12,060,000 for individuals or $24,120,000 in community property for married couples. These plans include all of the offerings of the Custom Estate plan, but will also address such circumstances such as complicated blended families, citizenship issues, multiple real estate holdings, multiple beneficiary designations, integrated special needs trusts, or otherwise more sophisticated distribution plans.
We are offer a college care plan that will allow parents to still be able to act for their 18+ children for medical, financial and legal purposes, and to distribute the child’s assets should the child pre-decease the parent. This plan includes a Durable Power of Attorney, Advance Health Care Directive, HIPAA and Simple Will which identifies not more than two beneficiaries with outright inheritance. Further, this plan includes a generic FERPA Consent Form that will authorize parents to communicate with a college regarding the student’s classes, transcripts, grades and more. Many educational institutions will have their own forms for this Consent which may be required, but if not, our standard form should be accepted.
This plan includes a 30 minute consultation and the cost of online notary fees arranged by this office. Digital and paper copies of the plan documents will be provided.
Estate Plan revisions are provided on an hourly basis and estimates of the projected cost are provided to the client before work commences. Simple revisions to Estate Plans are often in the 2 – 3 hour range, with more complex revisions taking longer, bearing in mind that each circumstance is unique.
PLEASE NOTE – We will not amend plans that we did not draft. We will prepare re-statements of Trusts and new documents for planning documents we did not generate.