About Gayle Jordan

Our Law Firm Story

I made the decision to go to law school when I was a teenager, but it didn’t happen for me until I was 50 years old. I had graduated from college in the usual timeline, and my young adult years were full of marriage, babies, and military life. After I realized my long-held dream of becoming a licensed lawyer, I had to choose what area of the law I wanted to practice. 

Along the way I had gotten divorced, which necessitated a new will and estate plan. Because my long-term partner and I chose not to get married, as I put together my own plan, I began to recognize the tremendous gap that is created in the absence of marriage. I have been working with non-traditional families of all ages and all types ever since, including my own children.

However, the regular way of estate-planning was horrendous, and if you’ve done it, you know what I mean. 

First: Charge-By-The-Minute. It makes me tense up just to type that. Old school law practices charge clients by the hour, and hence by-the-minute for creating an estate plan. When I was a young wife and mother, I was my family’s budget-keeper. When my husband and I arranged a time to meet with a lawyer to create our will, I had tried to write down every single thing I thought he might need, and even then, as we sat in his office, I was a hot mess watching the minutes tick by. I didn’t want to talk about anything about him or us or our children because it was costing us $400 per hour!! 

Second: lawyers are notoriously unavailable. As I went to create a new will following my divorce, I opted to do the online will option - $59! You gotta love that! Have a question? Good luck getting Legal Zoom to call you back! But even most brick-and-mortar law firms don’t have a system in place to return your calls.

Third: most legal practices don’t have a mechanism for follow-up, and if you take the initiative to reach out to your lawyer, you’re back to the $400 per hour fee to explain how your life has changed, your assets have changed, your family has changed, or to ask if the law has changed. 

I’ve found a new way to practice law, specifically, to help families plan for what happens when the unthinkable happens. With my flat rates, you are in charge of what you want. No surprise billing statements, no talking-as-fast-as-you-can to get your plan created. Families are not all the same, and you will want to select what works for you and your needs. Our flat-rate pricing accommodates that.

Next, since my objective is to help folks plan for their future, I’ve put a team in place to respond to your questions. I have a dear friend, whose young grandchild was in an unhealthy situation. A moment arrived when the child’s parent was ready to allow my friend to assume guardianship, but it was an extremely limited window of time to make it happen. My friend needed just a moment of his lawyer’s time, but her voicemail said she was on vacation and unavailable, and no effort on his part could reach her. He moved forward with taking the child, causing a lot of heartache and expense later on because it wasn’t done properly in the first place. My team will respond to you and answer your questions, and if it’s a question only I can answer, I will be in touch with you in the manner of your preference. 

Lastly, your plan will need to change, along with you and your family. New purchases, changes in the law, new jobs all might affect how we’ve worked together to structure your plan. My flat rate pricing includes looking at your plan and assets every 3 years to ensure your wishes are reflected. 

But there’s one more thing that we do that makes us different from other legal practices. I recognize the importance of protecting your assets and keeping your family out of court and out of conflict. But there’s something equally as important to your family. Your intangible assets, the legacy that is most often lost when you die, are included in our plan. How? We arrange for you to have the opportunity to create a voice recording, write letters, and leave one last loving gift to your family. This is as much a part of your wealth as your money and property. And we provide a way for you to do this.

These are the things that make your experience with us different from other law practices. We know what it’s like to love and care for your family, and we want to help you do that for the duration of their lives, and not just yours. 

I’m a mom, and a gammy. An elder once told me that the most wonderful gift we can give to our children is to have our own affairs in order. My kids and grandson are everything to me, and for me, they bring an awareness that planning my estate is a thing I did for them, not for me. Just as it is for my family and me, you won’t be the one to benefit from the plan we want to design with you - the ones who will benefit are the ones you love the most.