Planning for your Loved Ones

I work in estate planning because I enjoy what I do.

Helping people to plan ahead, both for themselves and their loved ones, is positive and proactive work. People feel genuine peace of mind when their plan is in place, and it heads off so much heartache and expense down the road.

I graduated magna cum laude from the University of San Francisco School of Law after working in newspaper journalism for fifteen years, including nearly a decade at the San Francisco Chronicle. I'm a member of the State Bar of California's Trusts and Estates Section and serve on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Solo & Small Firm Section.

When I’m not drafting revocable trusts or analyzing tax issues, I enjoy sports, reading, and playing board games with my wife and kids (especially Clue!). We live in San Francisco.

Chris O’Connell is an excellent lawyer and one we would highly recommend.  He’s brilliant, hard working, dedicated, diligent, thoughtful and inquisitive.  He has a great sense of integrity and cares very much about his clients.  Working with us on our will and estate planning, Chris wanted to not just get the work done, but wanted to ensure we thought about all of our potential options and opportunities.  He really helped us to be very thorough in both our initial planning as well as setting us up for our move to another state with different requirements. As important, Chris is also a great person.  We have known Chris personally for many years and can say without hesitation that he is a caring, honest individual who is also fair and focused on always doing the right thing. We would recommend Chris O’Connell without hesitation.  As a client, you will be in great hands.

- D & J

The quality of an estate plan depends on the quality of information that goes into it. That means it depends on the level of trust and communication between us.

Our mutual task is to articulate what’s important to you, develop a plan that reflects your wishes, and then put your plan into place. This usually requires multiple meetings and/or phone calls. Sometimes it may even involve a house call (which I'm happy to do).

The better I understand what’s important to you, the better your estate plan will be.