Kathleen D. Crane, A Law Corporation

Living on the east coast, I was nevertheless asked to be the executor of my mother-in-law's estate. She lived in So Cal. Attorney Kate Crane provided exceptional advice and the process went very smoothly from start to finish. She was a pleasure to work with.

Kate Crane wrote the estate documents for my parents in 1999. My parents paid thousands of dollars to set up the Trusts. Then, over DECADES she charged them to add more sub trusts giving them convoluted and complex distribution percentages to go from one trust to the other. My mom passed in 2009. My Dad died in March 2023. Today, 8/18/24 the estate is in litigations, most of the beneficiaries are mad and the documents were so poorly written by Kate, that the family relationships are fractured. My parents spent tens of thousands of dollars to prevent what is happening to our family today. They were sold her services using all of the things people want to hear. "You will avoid probate and save time" "You will save money on taxes" "Your family will have peaceful and loving relationships since everything is in the Trust" Total and complete lies to sell their services. Almost two years have passed since my Dad died. Even simple things like personal possessions of jewelry are still in the possession of professional fiduciaries. Almost two years have passed and my son and two nephews who are three responsible , productive members of society have to hire an attorney to try to receive their distributions because Kate Crane never took the time to update the age of these family members who must wait until they are 35 years old. They are businesses owners and homeowners but Kate wrote that they get nothing until they are 35. Oh, and guess what...those three have to have a trust set up and managed being charged fees to set it up and then $3,000/year to "manage the trusts". Another sister has a valid reason for blaming Kate for poorly writing a section of the Trust that results in her losing more than $200,000. I have written a sworn and notarized affidavit detailing how my dad told me that he wanted to change the wording of this section but Kate insisted that it be left as it was. His last few years of his life were spent regretting that he hired Kate Crane. This is a well polished scam that will take your money and redistribute your wealth to Kate Crane and her associates like CPAs. She works closely with a CPA named Grant Niman. After all of the money my parents spent on these trusts, after her client, my dad, passed away and could not complain, Kate charged an additional $8,650 to the estate for "emails, phone calls, review and drafting a letter" of her own documents!! Do not believe any of her lies that she says to get your money. This has been one of the worst cases of incompetence if not outright fraud and elder abuse.

Trustworthy, experienced, and delightful attorney. Would not hesitate to recommend.

She and her staff are first rate. She has been handling our estate affairs for probably 10 years now. She keeps up on all new laws and has fantastic knowledge and excellent advice. We Definitely recommend Kate Crain for your estate planning and maintenance.