ESTATE Mediation in Los Angeles
Estate, Trust And Probate Mediation In Los Angeles
Resolve your dispute without losing your family.
Private, confidential mediation for trust, probate and inheritance disputes across California, led by an estate planning attorney who has spent more than a decade facilitating difficult family conversations.
Guidance When Families Disagree
Most estate disputes aren’t really about money. They’re about a parent who said one thing and wrote another, a sibling who did all the caregiving, a trustee who stopped answering emails, or a second marriage nobody planned around. By the time a lawsuit is filed, the family has usually stopped talking.
Mediation gives everyone a room, a neutral third party and a deadline. I sit between the parties, not on either side. My job is to help you reach an agreement you can all live with.
I am not a retired judge and I do not run a litigation practice. I am an estate planning attorney. I have drafted the kind of trust you are arguing about, I have funded it, and I have sat with families while they decided who gets what. That is the experience I bring into the room.
How I Can Help
Estate Mediation Services
Beneficiary and trustee conflicts, accounting disputes, trust contests and disagreements over how a trust should be read
See MoreContested wills, executor disputes and estate administration disagreements, including matters already before the Los Angeles Superior Court probate division
See MoreUnequal gifts, the family home, personal belongings and the resentments that gather around them
See MoreWho runs the company, who owns it, and how the siblings who are not in the business are treated fairly
See MoreDecisions about a parent's care, housing, finances and who carries the load, made while the parent can still take part
See MoreA facilitated family meeting before the plan is signed, so the plan holds after you are gone
See MoreWHAT'S INCLUDED
A Complete Mediation Process
Before the session, so every side is understood before anyone is in the same room.
Review of the trust, will, amendments, accountings and correspondence at issue.
Mediations are conducted virtually, from the comfort of your own home.
Parties can sit together, or in separate rooms with me moving between them.
Resolve Disputes Better
Why Choose Mediation
Contested trust and will cases in California commonly run each side $50,000 to $250,000 in legal fees. A mediation session is a small fixed number that the parties usually split.
A contested probate matter in Los Angeles County can take one to two years to reach trial. A mediation can be scheduled within weeks and most conclude in a day.
Under California Evidence Code sections 1115 to 1128, what is said in mediation cannot be used in court. Court filings are public. Mediation is not.
A judge decides for you. In mediation nothing is agreed unless every party agrees to it.
Litigation tends to end relationships. Mediation is built to end the dispute while leaving the door open.
A properly drafted mediated settlement is a binding contract and can be enforced by the court.
Resolve Disputes Better
When Mediation Can Help
Beneficiaries who believe a trustee or executor is not doing the job properly.
Trustees and executors facing accusations they would rather resolve outside a courtroom.
Siblings who cannot agree about a parent's estate, home or care.
Blended families where a surviving spouse and children from a first marriage disagree.
Business-owning families working out succession while the founder is still involved.
Attorneys looking for a neutral with a trusts and estates background for a client's matter.
Families who want to settle before a Probate Code section 16061.8 contest deadline runs out.
Anyone who can see a dispute coming and would rather deal with it before it arrives.
WHY WORK WITH ME
Experience That Matters In Every Mediation
Most mediators in this field come from litigation or the bench. They know how a case is fought. Fewer know how the document in front of you was built.
I spent over a decade in trusts and estates, including at an established California firm, and then went in-house at a registered investment adviser. I have been named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Trusts and Estates. That background means I understand how the trust was drafted, what the trustee is actually obliged to do, and what the tax consequences of each possible settlement look like. Less time is spent explaining the documents and more on solving the problem.
I also built this practice for families whose lives do not fit the standard template. Unmarried partners, chosen family, LGBTQ+ couples, first-generation wealth and multi-household families are the people I work with every week. Those dynamics are often the real cause of the dispute, and they don’t need explaining here.
In mediation I am a neutral. I don’t represent either party and I don’t give legal advice in that role. Each side is free to bring their own attorney.
How It Works
A Clear Path To Resolution
A short call with whichever party reaches out first. I explain the process, check for conflicts and confirm mediation is the right fit.
All parties sign an agreement covering confidentiality, fees and format. I then hold a private intake call with each side.
Half a day or a full day. Opening statements if the parties want them, then joint discussion and private sessions as needed.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common Questions Before Booking
-
Estate mediation is a private meeting where the people in a trust, will or inheritance dispute work toward a settlement with a neutral mediator. Nobody rules on the case. The mediator helps each party understand the other's position, test the strength of their own, and find terms everyone can accept. In court a judge decides, after a public process that commonly takes more than a year in Los Angeles County. In mediation the parties decide, in a day, in private.
-
Mediation in California is voluntary, so every party has to agree to take part. In practice most do once they see what the alternative costs, and Los Angeles probate judges routinely encourage parties to attempt mediation before trial. Any party can propose it, including a trustee, and you do not need the court's permission to start.
-
In Los Angeles, private mediators typically charge between $1,500 and $4,000 for a half day and $3,000 to $8,000 for a full day, split among the parties. Contested trust and will litigation in California commonly costs each side $50,000 to $250,000 in legal fees before trial. My rates are on the Mediation Fees and Terms page.
-
You are welcome to bring one, and I recommend it where the amounts are significant or the legal questions are complex. Many parties attend without counsel and that works well too. What I cannot do is act as anyone's attorney. As the mediator I am neutral, I do not advise either side, and I will suggest that any party who wants advice on the settlement terms gets it from their own attorney before signing.
-
Yes. California Evidence Code section 1119 makes anything said, written or prepared for the purpose of mediation inadmissible in court and not subject to discovery. That protection exists so the parties can speak freely. The main exception is the signed settlement agreement itself, which is drafted so that it can be enforced.
BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION
Start With a Conversation
If you are in an estate, trust or inheritance dispute, or you can see one coming, the first conversation is free. Call 310.853.2667, email info@honeybrookslaw.com, or use the booking form to choose a time. You will get an honest answer about whether mediation is likely to work in your situation.