I recently setup a Living Trust through Sowards Law Firm. The process was made extremely straight forward with the help of their electronic documents / questionnaires. Few other firms expected to exchange relevant documents via regular email :( After answering their online questionnaire, a call with a paralegal helped clarify my answers and confusions. Then a meeting with Mr. Sowards going through minutiae and finer points to consider. Followed by an in person meeting (very important and very helpful!) to review draft copy,. I had my living trust documents done. The draft discussion showed their extensive experience in setting up such trust, covering almost all (as far as I can tell) angles and contingencies. Satisfied with their support. read more

Professional, very organized, informative and making the process very smooth and easy.

Very smooth and well structured process from beginning to end for our estate planning we completed recently with Sowards. The staff was always prompt and helpful! read more

I engaged Sowards to set up a will and revocable trust on the recommendation of a work colleague, and it was a very smooth, painless experience. All of the staff members and attorneys I spoke with were patient, professional, and answered all of my questions. This is my first time working with a law firm in any capacity, and it was a great experience. read more

I was highly satisfied with the customer service and staff. There are many questions and consideration when getting a trust in place. I was able to get all of my questions clarified and answered. I would definitely recommend working with Soward's Law Firm. read more

Excellent support and clear communication in helping my family with writing up our will and trust. Made everything feel easy and they have given us the confidence and peace of mind we are looking for. read more

Used Sowards to update an existing trust as well as leverage my work legal benefits. Ben and team were very clear up front on what they provided and were very timely in terms of setting up meetings, responding to emails, and finalizing the documents as well as helping with transferring over a property to the trust. read more

Sowards Law helped me create a living trust recently. The process was very smooth, I chose a package where they would help with creation of all the legal documents and transfer of my house deed to the trust. This included multiple virtual meetings to review all the accounts, properties, etc that I wanted included as well as one in person meeting to sign the final paperwork with a notary. The entire process was very smooth and easy to follow including complete instructions for any future changes, additions, etc. I had a great experience with Mr Soward and the rest of his firm. read more

Sowards did a great job setting up a family trust for us. They were responsive and patient in explaining all the different options.

I put myself in the hands of Sowards Law Firm to update my dad's trust. This was a mistake. They told me that the Lifetime Protection Trust was a good way to protect my dad's estate when his children inherit it. It certainly does protect the assets, in a way that insurance does not. So I selected the Lifetime Protection Trust option. As it turns out, though, buying a trust is similar to buying a house or a car, in that there are pros and cons. I did not realize this. With the Lifetime Protection Trust, the assets that the beneficiaries inherit are put into sub-trusts, one for each beneficiary. These sub-trusts (as opposed to the original trust) are taxed at much higher rates than the personal income tax rates. (Taxes on the interest earned in such a sub-trust can be eliminated by distributing that interest to the beneficiary. Depending on how the sub-trust is administered, it might be subject to the HEMS standard, which might make it difficult to distribute all of the interest. You are stuck with the capital gains tax.) Also, when a beneficiary dies, there is no step-up in basis for the assets in their sub-trust. I had no idea about these two possible bad tax consequences of these sub-trusts. Sowards should have pointed this out. For some people the extra asset protection may be worth these two possible bad tax consequences, but not for me. The bottom line is that when dealing with Sowards, you must do your own homework, otherwise you may end up feeling duped. I went to another law firm and got my dad's trust changed. That is my biggest complaint - not being able to trust what Sowards recommends. But I have other complaints. First, you can't really carefully read the trust they produce for you until after you sign it. Maybe for people who don't already have a trust this works well, because that ensures that they have a signed trust, which they can later amend to improve it. For my dad, who already had a trust, this was not the right approach. Second, on reading the trust from Sowards, I had several questions. I was told that the trust implemented my dad's desires as expressed in the answers to Sowards' questionnaires, and as expressed in our conversations and emails, and that I should not worry about the legalese, that the legalese is Sowards' department, and not mine. I should have been given an option to pay to speak to one of their attorneys about my questions. Instead, later, I was the one who had to suggest that option. read more

They moved fast and provided the best solution that we needed, yet they were kind. Pricing was reasonable.

I worked with Sowards Law Firm to do my Living Trust. They were very professional, easy to work with. They were quick to respond and provided clear direction on what they needed from me. The process was so smooth and efficient. Would definitely recommend them. read more

My husband and I had a great experience with Sowards Law Firm, they handled our estate planning. Everything went smoothly and they responded quickly to my emails and all my questions. read more

I was highly recommended to see/speak with Mr. Sowards as my spouse has late stage Alzheimer's with complications. I called/emailed several times and not responded to for weeks. I rec'd a message from support staff that somehow my messages landed in her "spam" folder. Odd, as most professionals do check their spam folders. Office staff continued to require more and more questions. All questions I answered and still no appt. Was told by office staff they had 35 people ahead of me and were busy. Did I still want an appointment? My answer was YES, when was the next appt.? No response. Will waiting for their reply - my son went into ICU & I had to go out of town. Was gone 3 weeks. Returned to find an reply - the cost of an appt. was $600 for 30 min. What happened to the FREE consultation? Guess they don't need my business. Sounds like they have plenty of customers and plenty of money. Website states Free consultation. Will not attempt to keep trying to set up an appt. Need to have big money to hire the big boys - even without speaking with any of them. I'm sure they will have lots of responses when my concerns is read. Per their website - responses responded to is 20 minutes. My responses from them was weeks. read more

Update based on the response from the company below: The owner's response doesn't make sense to me. I literally was told in writing by the secretary to find another lawyer since we don't want additional powers of attorney. She said you and your firm will not move forward without it, which contradicts what you say in your response (you prefer it but it's not required). Original review: I was referred to Sowards by my company's legal plan for estate and will creation. Unfortunately, I was given a frustrating runaround for a couple of months months by the secretary (a front-office secretary, not a legal secretary) and was not able to meet or engage with anyone else. I contrast that with the experience I've had with other firms through the creation of trusts, estate plans, etc. for my parents. With those other firms, it was a different and positive experience. With Sowards, we were sent a form by email (not secure), which we filled out and sent back as requested (again not a secure way to share personal information). Unfortunately, they refused to move forward and schedule a meeting because we did not have more people to list as power of attorney. My wife and I want to list each other and not want anyone else. We requested to speak to the attorney but they simply have the secretary run interference for them. I wrote directly to Ben Sowards by email with my concerns but have not heard back. I recommend you find another firm that is more motivated to work with you and help you. Maybe the fees paid by legal plans are low and they need to manage it this way to control costs, but compared to my experience with other firms, this is sub-standard. read more

We made an appointment a month in advance for a 30 minute call to discuss estate planning. We were told to fill out an estate planning worksheet we didn't understand, and when we didn't submit it the day before, the lawyer stood us up and did not call us. We were told to reschedule, where again the next availability is in a month. Clearly they have plenty of clients and don't need new ones. read more

Update on my review: there was a misunderstanding on the original appointment and the team at Soward reach out to apologize. They fast tracked a meeting with Ben and he has been great. Upgrading my review to 4 stars and I will do business with them. ------- This firm clearly has too much business and doesn't need new customers. I really cannot speak to how good the attorney is, as I never got that far. Getting an appointment setup was like pulling teeth. What's worse is after some back and forth, I received an email with a date and time. Three weeks out but I will take it. My wife and I planned around this meeting only to find out, after the alleged meeting started, that we had never "confirmed" the appointment. I don't know what getting confirmation means. We exchanged emails. We agreed on a date and time. Apparently their process has an additional step that they haven't been willing to share with me. After forwarding them the email they sent me, that included the date and time and my response to them and they stopped responding. No apologies, no explanation. Just dead silence. Professional courtesy doesn't appear to be a requirement to work there. If you are planning on using them, make sure you get your appointment confirmed... in triplicate -- especially if you are dealing with Krystal. If you are the owner of this facility, take a look at your support staff. They are hurting your business, as I am taking mine somewhere else. read more

Our experience with Ben, Melissa and Krystal at Sowards was really good. We are completely new to the concept of a Living Trust and Ben was very thorough in explaining what happens in the absence of the Trust, what options for a Living Trust there are and how they apply based on your situation. It was easy for us to make a decision on what option to pursue. Melissa and Krystal followed up on the option we discussed with Ben very quickly to confirm the creation of the Trust was accurate as per agreed. Setting up the remaining paperwork and appointment for signing the Trust was a breeze thanks to them. Being used to work with other law firms, when we first contacted Ben and the team, we thought our request would not be treated with priority, in a personalized fashion and care. But having worked with them, it was totally the opposite. We feel like they treated us as a unique family with unique needs and situations and delivered a solution that allows us to feel at ease going forward. Thank you Ben, Melissa and Krystal! read more

I was recommended to Ben Sowards by a friend, who is a corporate attorney. I was very happy with the recommendation. Ben is friendly and able to explain concepts in a clear manner. My will and trust were pretty easy and straightforward. (Not a lot of stuff left after the divorce - no house, etc.) The office staff is also very good. Very responsive to email and always cheerful. The notary (sorry, I forgot her name), was friendly, but efficient and knew exactly what she was doing. It made the signing process very smooth. I also like the fact that they provide a copy of the trust on a USB flash drive. I was planning on scanning it to send to my adult children, who are scattered across the country, but since they did it for me, that's one less thing I have to worry about. Highly recommended. read more

Ben and his team helped me and my wife with estate planning, we could not be more pleased with the results. Highly recommend. Great advice and expertise, everyone in the office is incredibly professional. Considering others who offer similar services (having spoke with several estate planners prior to selecting Ben), Ben is very straightforward. His pricing? Reasonable - as another Yelper pointed out, Ben isn't the cheapest or most expensive. Overall, we not only received what we paid for, but found his services and follow up invaluable. read more

Charged me $1500 to hack out a boilerplate revocable trust and then wouldn't finish it, and wouldn't tell me how to. Never returned repeated calls. What a waste of time and money. He DID give me a fancy Naugahyde binder to keep my unfinished paperwork in however (I'll give him one star for that) read more

My husband & I just updated our living trust with The Sowards firm. It's is always a pleasure to work with nice & professional people. From the front desk to our attorney, everyone is very nice and friendly, which makes the whole process almost stress free! It is in fact a complicated step with many things to discuss and think about but Benjamin & his team are very good and patient at explaining the legality of every step and decision we make. We knew we were in good hands! Never something we like to think or talk about but now, we can sleep better, knowing that our wishes, concerning our health or our assets, will be followed. It is a family business and we greatly recommend their expertise. read more

Had our Living Trust set up for the first time at Sowards Law Firm and it was great working with them. Ben was so informative and answered all our questions that we felt confident we were well covered once we left. I am glad we picked them, very good knowledge on everything. read more

Extremely disappointed by the high handed attitude of this firm, even before a first meeting with them. I'm subscribed to the Hyatt Legal Plan thru my employer and they sent me this firm's ref, for some estate planning docs I needed to execute. When I called this firm's number provided by Hyatt, the lady/assistant who responded informed she would help schedule our first meeting with the senior Attorney at the firm, for us to assess whether to use their services and also discuss the type and scope of documents we might choose to execute with the help of this firm. Also, the assistant indicated a 6-8 week lead time to schedule this first meeting. Further, as a prerequisite to scheduling the first meeting, the assistant emailed me a detailed form with numerous (70+) questions on all kinds of personal details - including full names, Address, SSN, DOB, phone #, emails, salaries, asset holdings etc. - about myself and my family, as well as names/details of several people who we would need to designate as part of documents we might have executed with this firm. I responded via email to the said assistant on April 23, with answers to a good portion of questions in the form she had shared - about myself and my family. I couldn't specify names of others we would decide designate as part of documents we are yet to execute - firstly because We hadn't yet decided to use services of this firm and also since I have no idea as to the scope of responsibility/expectations required of these people - something I was hoping to get clarity on during the said first meeting, in order to identify the right people from our family/social network. However, the said assistant insisted I provide responses to all questions in the said form, including names/details of potential designees - in order to schedule the first meeting. When I tried to reason with the assistant as above, she responded curtly, stating a completed form was required and if I didn't provide one, she wouldn't schedule the first meeting! I then shared this experience with Hyatt legal plans and apparently, when they contacted this firm about this incidence, Hyatt was told that I had not provided the firm basic details like our addresses, DOB's etc. - which is just not true. At this point, I decided not to waste any more time on this firm, given their inability to appreciate the perspective of a potential client. Also, I was shocked by their high-handed attitude, which appeared to be an attempt at pressuring us into getting all our work done from them. Also, it's ironic that the same law firm, which values its own time to the scale of several 100 dollars an hour, has shown little or no value for the time and effort invested by a prospective client like us - while providing a lot of personal info per their demand, to try and schedule the first appointment. This experience also speaks to the reality of services like the Hyatt Legal Plan, in terms of how a participating firm like this, appears to unduly pressure prospective clients like us, by demanding unreasonable and arbitrary info/details, even before we've met them once in order to make up our mind! If this firm chooses to conduct themselves in this manner, they will unfortunately reinforce the stereotypical image of lawyers/firms as being unduly aggressive - something I know to be untrue, being a law graduate myself and the son of a great lawyer who left a legacy of fairness and love! Disappointing! read more

The entire staff at Sowards Law Firm was fantastic to work with. I needed to create a trust in a short amount of time and they quickly got me on to the calendar. Even working on a short time frame, I never felt rushed and was able to create the trust I wanted. Highly recommend! read more

Ben and his staff are wonderful. He spent extra time and effort to give me the best service available. I would recommend very him highly . The only regret I have is that I did not know him a lot earlier. He would have saved me a lot of money and heartache. Thank you Ben for your expertise and legal advice read more

Ben and his staff took all the time we needed to understand our estate planning options. The group as a whole was very efficient and they kept the process streamlined. Ben himself is very approachable and friendly and drew examples for us on his yellow legal pad to explain various concepts. We were very pleased with the results and consider the SOWARDS Law Firm our trusted attorneys. read more

I was referred by two dear gal friends of mine and I will say Julie was a God sent to me. I am a widow and my husband took care of a lot of our business so being able to sit down and discuss how to handle my Estate Trust was like sitting down with a family member and just discussing things as a family. I was so relaxed and she made things easy for me to understand. She will be my gal to go to for advice and help when needed. Sowards Law Firm is now my best friend. This was my second time doing my Estate Trust and it turned out to be one of my best decisions ever to come to Sowards Law Firm. read more

Sowards Law Firm was one of several law firms recommended by my financial planner. After reaching out and talking to all of them, we felt that Sowards Law Firm was the best fit for us. They were neither the cheapest, nor the most expensive, but the team is very personable and the prices are very reasonable. This was my second time doing an Estate Plan and Ben made the process significantly easier and quicker than my previous experience. He walked us through the entire process in the first meeting and answered all of our questions. Ben went out of town in the middle of our process and the transition to his staff was seamless with no hiccups. We completed the whole process in a very quick time compared to my previous experience and with a lot less complications despite having some complicated things in our estate. I have recommended Sowards Law Firm to others and will continue to do so in the future. read more

I've worked with the Sowards family for a long time, more than 9 years and they've always been great! When my wife and I considered our Estate planning, we were nervous and had to ask all the tough questions to each other, and the Julie and Ben couldn't have been more helpful during the process! As our family has grown and our needs constantly evolve, they've always been there for us, being proactive and with our busy schedule that always helps! I highly recommend their firm to anyone considering an Estate Portfolio, and if you don;t have one yet, get on it! read more

Ben and his team were very nice, explained things clearly, scheduled meetings efficiently and delivered our documents in time. The whole thing was done smoothly. read more

Ben was fantastic! He listened carefully to what we wanted in our trusts, asked great questions, explained things in a way we could easily understand, gave us lots of options, advised us on whether to go with one joint or two separate trusts, and gave us all of the pros and cons of each. Ben also went above and beyond the call of duty by talking with my daughter to ensure that he made appropriate provisions for my disabled grandson, and actually did some research on my daughter's options that helped her decide what to do with her own trust as well... and never charged extra for that work! When we went to Ben's office to sign our trusts, he went over everything in plain language and made it a very painless process. Besides the original signed documents, he is providing electronic copies on flash drives, so we can upload them and share them with our children. This was the smoothest and easiest legal process I've ever been through, and I credit Ben as the reason. Besides being very experienced and knowledgable about estate law, Ben is a very nice person. I enjoyed working with him. If you go to this firm, you won't regret it! read more

5/24/2016 update. After reading my initial review, Ben very diligently followed up and I agreed to a meeting. We had a nice discussion, talking through things that were important to me and he educated me on various was of structuring a will or trust. My final meeting is next week to review the paper work. Thus far, the interaction is much better than my initial interactions and I am looking forward to reviewing the final results. Disappointed! I saw an online add for this firm and it reminded me I need a will and estate planning. I called and the girl who answered the phone couldn't be bothered to remember or write down my name, even though I clearly said it when she answered the phone. She sounded new so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I was asked to complete a 10+ page estate planning worksheet and would be set up with an appointment after I turned in the worksheet. As I was completing the worksheet my spidey senses were starting to prickle because the worksheet was completely geared towards married people and everything was focused on the husband. Oddly, there are some very successful single females in the world who also need estate planning, I finally completed the worksheet sent it back, and asked for an appointment. The response I received was an invitation to attend a group seminar learn about estate planning and I would be allowed to ask questions, along with everyone else who attends, for 30 minutes. I'd prefer to work with a firm with a bit more of a personal touch. read more

My husband and I created a first-time living trust with Sowards Law Firm, and had a really wonderful experience working with Julie Sowards SriRanga. We were initially intimidated by the process, but Julie was very patient and broke down all the technical terms and all the ins and outs of estate planning in a way that we could understand. She is experienced and knowledgable, and gave us solid insight and expertise into the decisions we were making. Because of her guidance, we felt very comfortable with the decisions we were making, knowing that we could return to Sowards at any time to modify our existing plan as needed. Thanks Julie! We really appreciate the help you gave us! read more

Not having much experience with lawyers, Sowards helped my family set up a living trust, answered all of our questions in a way that we could understand and helped come up with the best option for our family!! read more

I worked with Mr. Sowards as in intern for four months in 2011. I saw directly how personable, knowledgable and responsive he is. He is up to date on the important legal matters concerning you. He volunteers in his community, is a family man, and will work hard for you. read more

Attorney Ben Sowards and his staff have always been prompt and thorough with their assistance. I always walk away feeling confident with their advice. I will continue to rely upon their legal expertise. read more