It starts with you — one person, facing a decision. And it's rarely about just you: it reaches the people you care for, the estate you'll leave, how things get paid for, and whatever legal or financial weight you're already carrying. Amber Day understands that none of it stands alone — it's all interwoven. Whether you're on your own, planning for the family you love, or working through your own legal or financial issues, this is what she does. See what probate could cost below.
Feel free to move the slider and see where things stand — for you and your loved ones.
A person — or a family — is never just one thing. It's a constellation: the people you love, the friends who feel like family, the ones who depend on you, and the ones you want to leave something to, even if there's only one. When a crisis arrives, or someone is nearing the end, the threads tangle at once: the legal, the financial, the emotional, the urgent. Amber Day is who you call when that happens. As an attorney and counselor, she sits in the middle of it — helping you see what to do, where to go, and how to look after the people who matter to you, and bringing in whoever else is needed. You make one call. She makes the rest.
Here's what nobody warns you about: money and real life get tangled, and it can get ugly. Your son just got arrested — and you don't want to leave him a dime until he's out and clean. Maybe you're the one staring down a legal problem with no idea what to do. Maybe you can't see how any of it fits with the estate you're trying to protect. This is where the rubber meets the road — and it's exactly where most people freeze. You can't untangle this alone. Amber Day is a California attorney who can. One call, and she starts pulling the threads apart: what to do, who to bring in, and how to streamline the whole thing so it actually holds.
"You shouldn't have to face the hard moments alone. My job is to stand beside you — and make sure you always know what your options are."
An attorney and counselor at law. A United States Marine and combatant diver. A chief of police. Behind this practice is a family that has spent decades running toward the people who need them — in courtrooms, in communities, and in uniform. When you call on Amber, that is who stands in your corner.
When someone passes without a plan, their estate is settled in probate court — public, slow, and costly. Everything this practice does is built to keep you and the people you care about out of that courtroom, and in control of your own decisions.
Amber is licensed by the State Bar of California to practice law in this state. As an estate-planning attorney she drafts the trusts, wills, and directives that hold up where it counts — documents the courts recognize and you can lean on.
Amber's husband, Casey, is the Chief of Police in Pacific Grove. A police chief is sworn to protect a whole community — the same instinct for looking after people that runs through the family's work.
Before California, there was the country. Service to the United States is the thread that ties this family together — the belief that you show up for the people counting on you, in uniform and out of it.
Casey enlisted in the Marine Corps straight out of high school and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant after serving overseas. Semper Fidelis — always faithful — is the standard he carried into more than 25 years in law enforcement.
Casey didn't just serve as a Marine — he earned his place among the Corps' combatant divers, one of the military's most demanding qualifications. Marine divers work underwater in cold, zero-visibility conditions on infiltration, salvage, and rescue, where composure and total trust in your team are everything. Two badges, one Marine.
Amber Day is a California estate-planning attorney and the founder of Day Family Trust & Estate Management, LLC, serving clients across California's Central Coast — Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, and beyond. In her words, "estate planning is one of the most caring things you'll ever do for the people you love."
Between Amber's work protecting individuals and families and everything they've built, and Casey's career protecting the country, its citizens, and now the community they live in, the Days share a simple ethos: take care of the people around you. That's the spirit they bring to every client who walks through the door.
Real California numbers, straight from the statutory probate fee schedule (Probate Code §10810) — the fees charged to the attorney and (unless waived) the executor, plus the probate referee and court costs.
With long-term care in the picture, a revocable trust protects against probate but not against the cost of care. An irrevocable trust — set up at least five years ahead of need — can shield the home and other assets from Medi-Cal estate recovery. This is exactly the kind of planning to start early.
It isn't about taxes — a revocable trust doesn't lower your income or estate tax. Its value is more practical, and it matters most on your hardest day.
No public court process, no statutory fees skimmed off the top, no year-long wait. Assets pass to the people you choose, privately and quickly.
If you're incapacitated, your named successor manages things — no court hearing to appoint a stranger to control your affairs.
A will becomes a public record in probate. A trust stays private, and you decide exactly who gets what, when, and how.
No jargon, no pressure — just the core ideas, so you walk into a consultation already knowing the landscape. None of this is legal advice; it's background.
A living trust holds your assets and passes them on without probate. A pour-over will catches anything you forgot to put in the trust and names guardians for minor children. A durable power of attorney lets someone manage your finances if you can't. An advance health care directive states your medical wishes and names someone to speak for you. Together they cover money, health, and the people you care about.
A will still goes through probate — the public court process that validates it and supervises distribution. In California that can run a year or more and carries statutory fees set by law. A funded living trust skips probate entirely: your successor trustee distributes assets privately, on your timeline, without a courtroom.
When someone dies with only a will (or no plan), the estate usually goes through probate in the Superior Court of the county where they lived. In broad strokes: a petition is filed and a personal representative is appointed; creditors and heirs are notified; assets are inventoried and appraised by a court-appointed referee; debts, taxes, and fees are paid; and finally the court authorizes distribution to heirs.
Two things make it costly. First, time — it commonly takes roughly a year to 18 months, sometimes longer if anything is contested. Second, statutory fees — California Probate Code §10810 sets compensation as a percentage of the gross estate (not the equity), and both the attorney and the personal representative can each claim that amount. The calculator above estimates those figures for your own numbers.
Signing a trust document is only half the job. Funding is the act of actually moving assets into the trust's name — re-titling your home by deed, retitling bank and investment accounts, updating beneficiary designations. An unfunded trust is one of the most common and costly mistakes: if the trust is signed but the house is still in your personal name, that house can still land in probate.
This is why hands-on funding guidance is part of a complete plan — the deed work, the BOE-502A filing with the county, and a checklist for accounts so nothing gets left behind.
A revocable living trust is the workhorse of most plans. You stay in full control — you can change it, move assets in and out, or revoke it entirely while you're competent. It avoids probate and conservatorship, but because you still control the assets, it does not shield them from creditors or long-term-care costs, and it does not reduce your taxes.
An irrevocable trust gives up that control in exchange for protection. Set up well ahead of need, it can shield assets from certain creditors and from Medi-Cal estate recovery after long-term care. It's a more specialized tool — useful in specific situations, not for everyone.
Estate planning isn't only about death. If you're alive but unable to make decisions — after a stroke, an accident, or with advancing dementia — someone has to step in. Without documents in place, that means a court-supervised conservatorship: a judge appoints someone (possibly not who you'd choose) to control your finances and care.
A durable power of attorney, an advance health care directive, and a successor trustee named in your trust let the people you trust act immediately, privately, and without a courtroom.
A plan isn't "set and forget." Revisit it after any major life change: marriage or divorce, a birth or adoption, a death among your named trustees or beneficiaries, a significant change in assets (buying or selling a home, starting a business), or a move to a different state. Even without big changes, a check-in every three to five years keeps names, roles, and wishes current.
Most California families spend far more in probate fees than they ever would on a plan. These are flat fees — you'll know the cost before we begin.
The welcome packet walks you through everything — what estate planning is, what it costs, the vocabulary, and the questionnaires that let Amber build a plan around your life. Do it whichever way is easiest: print it and fill it in by hand, or complete it online from anywhere.
Download the packet, print it, and write your answers in by hand. Bring it to your first meeting or mail it back when you're ready.
Download the packet (PDF)No printer needed. Answer the questions right here on your computer or phone, then download a completed copy to send to Amber.
Fill it out online →Fill in what you can; nothing here is required, and rough answers are fine. When you're done, download your completed copy and email it to Amber — or just bring it to your first meeting. This isn't legal advice or a binding document; it's a head start.
Your answers stay in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere until you choose to email or hand them over. After downloading, attach the PDF to an email to a.day.legalservices@outlook.com.
A first conversation is the whole point — we'll talk through your situation, your assets, and whether a plan even makes sense for you. No pressure, no jargon.