10 Best Estate Planning Lawyers in Torrance, CA

This guide profiles 10 law firms that handle estate planning for Torrance, California residents, including living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, advance health care directives, and the trust administration and probate work that follows. Firms were evaluated on attorney credentials (including State Bar of California certified specialist status where held), years of hands-on estate planning and trust experience, depth in related work such as trust administration, conservatorship, and Medi-Cal planning, and whether estate planning is a dedicated practice or one of many listed areas.

When comparing firms, three practical questions matter most. Does the attorney regularly handle both the planning side and the administration side, since lawyers who settle trusts after a death tend to draft plans that work in practice? Does the firm have experience with the Los Angeles County Superior Court probate process if a plan is ever contested or a trust needs court help? And does it cover adjacent needs such as special needs planning, conservatorship, or long-term care planning if your family may need them?

1. Meinzer Law Firm, P.C.

• Attorney/Key Figure: Andrew M. Meinzer, Principal Attorney
• Headquarters: 3878 W Carson St, Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90503
• Phone: (310) 375-3350
• Website: meinzerlawoffice.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, wills and trusts, powers of attorney, trust administration, probate, conservatorship, Medi-Cal planning, special needs planning, elder law, estate litigation
• Firm Size: Boutique firm led by its principal attorney, with more than 20 years of South Bay estate and elder law experience

About The Firm: Andrew Meinzer has practiced in California since 1999 and has built the firm around estate planning, trust and will drafting, trust administration, probate, conservatorship, and elder law. He holds memberships in the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Los Angeles County Bar Association Trusts and Estates Section, and the South Bay Bar Association, and he has been Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell in every year from 2007 through 2020.

What sets the firm apart is how many parts of a family’s planning it can cover under one roof. A Torrance client can start with a living trust and later return for Medi-Cal planning, a special needs trust, or a conservatorship without changing lawyers. Avvo lists Meinzer at 5.0 across 18 client reviews, with estate planning and trust matters making up most of them, and the firm takes part in local groups including the South Bay Estate Planning Council and the KEEP-SAFE Coalition.

2. Cox Law Group, Inc.

• Attorney/Key Figure: Cynthia R. Cox, Founding Attorney
• Headquarters: 23326 Hawthorne Blvd, Suite 390, Torrance, CA 90505
• Phone: (833) 616-8406
• Website: coxlawgroupinc.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, wills and living wills, trusts, probate, trust administration, special needs trust law, Medi-Cal planning, conservatorship
• Firm Size: Boutique estate planning and elder law practice with 35 years of licensed experience behind its founding attorney
• Practice Area Page: Torrance Estate Planning Lawyer

About The Firm: Cynthia Cox founded Cox Law Group, Inc., which was previously known as the Law Office of Cynthia R. Pollock, and has been licensed to practice in California for 35 years. The firm concentrates on estate planning, probate, and trust administration, with elder law work such as Medi-Cal planning and special needs trusts sitting alongside the core planning practice.

The firm is a good fit for families who want planning that anticipates later-life needs. Pairing traditional trust and will drafting with special needs trust and Medi-Cal planning capability means a plan can account for a disabled beneficiary or long-term care costs from the start. Cox holds an Avvo rating of 10, and Expertise.com lists the firm among Torrance practices focused on elder law, estate planning, and probate.

3. Beach Cities Estate Law

• Attorney/Key Figure: Angela Bellanca Klenk, Founding Attorney
• Headquarters: 3528 Torrance Blvd, Suite 216, Torrance, CA 90503
• Phone: (424) 336-1579
• Website: beachcitiesestatelaw.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, trust and probate administration, tax planning strategies, incapacity administration, beneficiary representation
• Firm Size: Boutique firm; the founder has more than 20 years of experience, including work on estates exceeding $50 million

About The Firm: Angela Klenk is a State Bar certified specialist who practiced at O’Melveny & Myers and at Hoffman, Sabban & Watenmaker, a trusts and estates boutique that later joined Withers, before founding Beach Cities Estate Law. The firm is built to bring large-firm sophistication to a boutique setting and serves El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, and Torrance.

Its distinguishing feature is tax-focused planning, including family trusts and lifetime access trusts aimed at reducing estate, gift, and property taxes, plus a secure client portal. The trade-off is positioning: the firm’s own materials say it serves families with meaningful assets rather than offering quick, low-cost document packages, so households with simple needs may find a different fit.

4. Patinelli & Chang, LLP

• Attorney/Key Figure: Michael J. Patinelli and John W. Chang, Founding Partners
• Headquarters: 2355 Crenshaw Blvd, Suite 185, Torrance, CA 90501
• Phone: (310) 312-8117
• Website: patinelliandchang.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, living trusts, trust administration, probate, guardianship and conservatorship, health care directives
• Firm Size: Two-attorney boutique with more than two decades of combined experience

About The Firm: John Chang is a State Bar certified specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law, and before co-founding the firm he headed the estate administration and probate department at one of Southern California’s largest estate planning firms for nearly nine years, supervising hundreds of trust administration cases. Michael Patinelli manages the firm’s estate planning department and also holds the certified specialist designation. Avvo shows Chang with roughly 2,000 estate planning matters handled.

The firm’s typical plan includes a revocable living trust, wills, powers of attorney, advance health care directives, HIPAA authorizations, and guardianship nominations for minor children, and it also helps families with trust administration even when it did not draft the original documents. Flexible meeting options include in-home consultations, and the firm offers an initial consultation at no charge. As a two-attorney practice, it offers less bench depth than a large firm, though clients deal directly with the founders.

5. The Probate House

• Attorney/Key Figure: Sibylle Grebe and Lorenzo Carra Stoller
• Headquarters: 3424 W Carson St, Suite 320, Torrance, CA 90503
• Phone: (866) 587-1358
• Website: theprobatehouse.com
• Practice Areas: Probate and estate administration, estate planning, conservatorships and guardianships, contested matters, special needs planning, pet trusts
• Firm Size: Boutique firm (formerly Conover & Grebe, LLP) with more than 30 years of service to Greater Los Angeles clients

About The Firm: Sibylle Grebe has been licensed for 37 years and is rated by Super Lawyers, and the firm’s site notes a Super Lawyers Top 50 Women recognition and a 2024 Best Law Firms ranking. Lorenzo Stoller is recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star. Both attorneys carry 5.0 ratings on Avvo, with more than 40 reviews each.

The firm’s depth is in the court-facing side of estates, meaning probate, conservatorship, and contested matters, and that experience feeds into its estate planning work. Clients who want a plan drafted by lawyers who regularly see where plans fail in Los Angeles probate court will find that perspective here. Estate planning is one of four main practice areas, with the heaviest emphasis on administration and conservatorship matters.

6. Law Offices of Mark E. Swatik, APC

• Attorney/Key Figure: Mark E. Swatik, Attorney
• Headquarters: 21250 Hawthorne Blvd, Suite 500, Torrance, CA 90503
• Phone: (310) 540-6000
• Website: sbtrustlaw.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, trusts, probate, trust administration, trust litigation, special needs planning, conservatorships, guardianships, elder law
• Firm Size: Attorney-led practice with 16 years of licensed experience

About The Firm: Mark Swatik is a State Bar of California Board Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, a distinction his Avvo profile describes as held by fewer than 1 percent of California attorneys. He holds a 10 Avvo rating and the most client reviews of any estate planning lawyer in Torrance on that directory, at 74.

His practice spans the full lifecycle of an estate, from drafting trusts and wills through trust administration and trust litigation. That range matters if you want a planner who understands how disputes arise and can draft around them, and the volume of local client reviews points to a steady Torrance client base.

7. The Law Firm of Kavesh, Minor & Otis, Inc.

• Attorney/Key Figure: Philip J. Kavesh, Founding Attorney
• Headquarters: 990 W 190th St, Suite 500, Torrance, CA 90502
• Phone: (310) 324-9403
• Website: kaveshlaw.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, wills and trusts, trust and estate administration, probate, Medicaid planning, retirement and investment planning
• Firm Size: Large estate planning firm; one of the biggest in California, founded in 1981, with several attorneys who practice only in estate planning and trust and estate administration

About The Firm: Founded in 1981, the firm has built one of the largest estate planning practices in the state from its Torrance base. Philip Kavesh was one of three attorney co-founders of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, wrote the Successor Trustee Manual and the Personal Asset Trust Manual for beneficiaries, and has personally trained more than 4,000 attorneys and financial planners.

The draw is scale and specialization: a team of lawyers who work only on estate planning and administration, with financial planning services offered alongside. As a larger firm, clients typically work with a team rather than a single attorney throughout, which suits people who value process and depth over one-to-one contact with a founder.

8. Sanders & Montalto, LLP

• Attorney/Key Figure: Nicholas T. Montalto, Partner (with Scott M. Sanders and Leslie Marell)
• Headquarters: 21250 Hawthorne Blvd, Suite 850, Torrance, CA 90503
• Phone: (310) 371-4611
• Website: sandersmontalto.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, wills and living wills, living and irrevocable trusts, durable powers of attorney, health care directives, probate, trust administration, guardianship, elder law, civil litigation including trust and will contests
• Firm Size: Small firm with three attorneys and more than 75 years of combined experience

About The Firm: Nicholas Montalto has been licensed for 30 years and leads the firm’s estate planning work, which covers living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, and health care directives. The firm serves clients across the South Bay, including Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes, Long Beach, Lomita, Hawthorne, Gardena, and Lawndale.

A practical feature is the offer of free consultations and free review of existing estate planning documents, which helps families who already have a plan and want a second opinion. The firm also litigates trust and will contests, which adds courtroom capability. The firm also practices sales agent law and personal injury, so estate planning shares attention with other areas.

9. Peninsula Law

• Attorney/Key Figure: Beti Tsai Bergman, Founding Attorney
• Headquarters: 3220 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 203, Torrance, CA 90505
• Phone: (310) 694-8703
• Website: peninsula.law
• Practice Areas: Probate, trust and estate administration, conservatorships, estate planning, elder abuse, beneficiary rights, trust and probate litigation
• Firm Size: Boutique firm with an attorney team and 28 years of licensed experience for its founder

About The Firm: Beti Bergman is certified in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization and founded Peninsula Law to focus on probate, trust and estate administration, conservatorships, and related litigation. The firm represents clients across Palos Verdes and the Los Angeles County South Bay from an office just off Hawthorne Boulevard.

Its estate planning work is shaped by the administration and litigation side of the practice, with a stated emphasis on personalized plans built around each client’s goals for their wealth. Avvo shows a 5.0 rating and an Avvo rating of 10. Families searching mainly for planning should note that the firm’s center of gravity is probate and litigation, with estate planning as one of several services.

10. Teresa Gutierrez Law

• Attorney/Key Figure: Teresa Gutierrez, Founding Attorney
• Headquarters: 3655 Torrance Blvd, 3rd Floor, Torrance, CA 90503
• Phone: (310) 503-6492
• Website: teresagutierrezlaw.com
• Practice Areas: Estate planning, probate and trust administration, guardianship, business entity formation, operating agreements, business succession planning
• Firm Size: Boutique practice founded in 2016

About The Firm: Teresa Gutierrez founded her Torrance practice in 2016 and has spent more than a decade on estate planning, probate, and trust administration for South Bay families and business owners. She serves Torrance, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, and Harbor City, and she has handled guardianship matters that bring families together after difficult circumstances.

The firm is fully bilingual in English and Spanish, which is uncommon among estate planning practices and makes the process more accessible for Spanish-speaking families. Business owners can fold entity formation and succession planning into the same engagement. As a boutique built around its founding attorney, the practice is smaller than the larger firms on this list.

Torrance, CA Estate Planning Resources

• Los Angeles County Superior Court: Provides information about probate cases, estate administration, court filings, and related legal procedures.
• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk: Offers resources for obtaining vital records and recording certain property-related documents.
• California Courts: Provides self-help resources covering wills, probate, conservatorships, and other estate-related legal matters. 
• California Attorney General: Offers information about charitable trusts, consumer protection, and legal resources relevant to estate planning. 
• California State Bar: Helps residents verify attorney licenses and access information about finding qualified estate planning lawyers.
• Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services: Provides information about Medi-Cal and other assistance programs that may be relevant to long-term care planning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a living trust or is a will enough in California?

A will controls who inherits your property but generally has to go through probate court, while a properly funded revocable living trust lets assets pass to beneficiaries without a court case. Many California homeowners choose a trust because the home is often the largest asset, and a trust also provides a built-in plan if you become incapacitated. Firms such as Patinelli & Chang, LLP build most plans around a revocable living trust paired with a pour-over will, powers of attorney, and health care directives, and a consultation will tell you whether that structure fits your situation.

When is probate required in California, and what does it cost?

For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, California lets heirs collect qualifying personal property by affidavit when the probate estate is worth $208,850 or less, and a separate petition process exists for a home of modest value. Estates above those limits generally go through formal probate. California sets statutory fees for the attorney and the personal representative by a sliding scale, beginning at 4 percent of the first $100,000 of the estate and stepping down from there, with each paid separately. Firms that handle both administration and planning, such as The Probate House and Peninsula Law, can explain how those fees compare with the cost of a trust.

What does State Bar certified specialist mean for an estate planning lawyer?

The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization certifies attorneys in estate planning, trust, and probate law after they meet experience, education, and examination requirements. It is a voluntary credential, and not every capable attorney holds it. In Torrance, attorneys with this certification include Angela Klenk of Beach Cities Estate Law, Beti Bergman of Peninsula Law, Mark Swatik, and the partners at Patinelli & Chang, LLP. Whether or not a lawyer is certified, ask how much of their work is estate planning and how often they administer trusts after a death.

Should I choose a boutique firm or a larger firm?

A boutique or solo practice usually means you work directly with the attorney whose name is on the door, which many clients prefer for a personal subject like family wealth. A larger firm such as Kavesh, Minor & Otis offers a team of specialists, systems built for volume, and more bench depth. Neither is better by default. If you want continuity with one lawyer, firms like Teresa Gutierrez Law or Meinzer Law Firm fit that style, while a team model may suit more complex or multi-asset plans.

Disclaimer: The information in “10 Best Estate Planning Lawyers in Torrance, CA” is for educational purposes only and is not legal or financial advice. Inclusion does not imply endorsement or guaranteed outcomes. Verify California State Bar standing independently and consult a qualified local attorney before creating an estate plan.