My interest in estate planning didn't start in law school. It started at home, watching long-term illness move through my own family — and seeing how far the effects reached beyond the person who was sick. Medical decisions nobody was prepared to make. Finances nobody had organized. Family members guessing at what someone would have wanted.
That experience taught me something I've never forgotten: the legal documents are the easy part. The hard part — and the valuable part — is helping a family actually understand their own situation before a crisis forces the issue.
Since becoming an attorney in 2009, my practice has been devoted exclusively to estate planning, special needs planning, trust administration, probate, elder law, and taxation. I earned my LL.M. in taxation, taught as a law professor at Golden Gate University, and became a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law through the State Bar of California's Board of Legal Specialization — a designation held by a small fraction of California attorneys.
In 2019 I founded Keyes Law Group with my wife and business partner, Christina. Today our team serves families across Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Benito, and San Joaquin counties — most with estates between $1 million and $50 million, and many with situations that don't fit a template: a child with special needs, a business to pass on, real estate in several states, or an estate large enough to face federal estate tax.
Outside the office, I'm a husband, a father of two daughters, and the family's dungeon master. The storytelling skills transfer more than you'd think.
