Results
Spoken of quietly, as it should be.
Law is a poor field for scoreboard talk. Every matter turns on its own facts, and the rules of our profession rightly require us to say so. What we can share is how clients describe the experience, and the shape of work we have carried before.
In their words
Reflections from the file
“We had put this off for eleven years because we expected it to be morbid and complicated. It was two calm conversations and a signing. Driving home, my husband said the strangest thing: that he felt lighter.”
“Margaret told us in the first meeting what the estate would cost and how long it would take. She was right about both, and she said no to work we didn't need. I don't know how to praise a law firm more highly than that.”
“Marcus never once raised the temperature. My ex-husband's lawyer did, repeatedly, and it kept not working. We have a parenting schedule our daughter actually likes, which I did not believe was on the menu.”
“Our operating agreement was nine pages my brother found online in 2014. After Dad's diagnosis, Hartwell & Amory rebuilt everything, the company documents and all three estate plans, so they finally agreed with each other. The buyout last spring took four weeks and zero arguments.”
The record
Representative matters
Details altered to protect confidences; each is typical of work the firm handles rather than a promise about yours.
Estate planning
Designed and funded a two-trust plan for a physician couple with property in Missouri and Kansas, eliminating the prospect of probate in either state and coordinating practice buy-in documents with the plan.
Probate
Closed an independent administration involving a house sale and a disputed creditor claim in eleven months, with the claim resolved by negotiation at a fraction of its filed amount.
Probate litigation
Defended a trustee against breach-of-duty allegations brought by a beneficiary; the matter resolved before hearing after our accounting reconstruction, with the trustee's administration ratified.
Family law
Negotiated a collaborative dissolution for owners of a jointly held business, preserving the company as a going concern and both parties' roles in it, with no contested filings.
Business succession
Structured a seven-year transition of a third-generation agricultural business to the two children active in the operation, with equalizing provisions for two who were not, coordinated across four estate plans.
Every matter is different. Past outcomes do not guarantee, and should not be read to suggest, a similar result in your matter. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.