San Jose Attorney — Estate Planning, Business, and Real Estate
Volo Law is a San Jose law office at 1541 The Alameda, between downtown and the Rose Garden. Attorney Tony Bayard de Volo has practiced here since 2003, handling wills and trusts, business and transactional law, and real estate matters for clients across the city and Santa Clara County. Flat fees, quoted in advance. The first 20-minute consultation is free.
Our clients are San Jose homeowners protecting a house that has appreciated well beyond what they paid for it, business owners who need an entity and contracts that hold up, and families sorting out property, a lease, or a boundary line. What they have in common is wanting a direct answer and a price before the work starts.
Why San Jose Homeowners Need an Estate Plan
Probate in Santa Clara County is heard at the Downtown Superior Court on North First Street, a few minutes from our office. It is a process most San Jose families can avoid entirely, and most don’t realize how close they are to needing it.
The reason is the housing market. California allows smaller estates to skip formal probate, but the threshold is measured against the gross value of your property — the full value, before the mortgage is subtracted. A typical San Jose home clears that threshold on its own. It does not matter whether you have savings, investments, or a modest income. If the house is titled in your name when you die, your family is likely headed to court on First Street for twelve to eighteen months, paying statutory fees calculated on the full value of the property.
A living trust avoids it. That is the entire reason this firm charges a flat $1,000 for a complete will and trust package rather than billing hourly — it should be an easy decision for a homeowner in Willow Glen, Almaden, Evergreen, or Berryessa, not a major expense.
Property tax is the second reason. California’s Proposition 19 changed how a home’s assessed value passes from parent to child, and in a city where a long-held house may be assessed at a fraction of its market value, how the trust is drafted can matter enormously to what your children pay each year.
What Is Included in a San Jose Will and Trust Package
Our flat-fee package is designed for San Jose homeowners who want to keep their family out of Santa Clara County probate. It includes:
Revocable living trust that names your successor trustees and beneficiaries
Pour-over will as a backup for any assets left outside the trust
Durable power of attorney so someone you trust can manage your finances if you cannot
Advance health care directive naming who makes medical decisions for you
Nomination of guardian for parents of minor children
Deed transferring your San Jose home into the trust
Trust Book with signing tabs, so you can keep your documents and account information in one place
Signs It Is Time to Update Your Trust
Many San Jose clients signed a trust years ago and have not looked at it since. It may be time for a review if:
You married, divorced, or had a child since signing
You bought, sold, or refinanced property and are not sure it is titled in the trust
A successor trustee or beneficiary has passed away or is no longer the right choice
Your children have grown and you want to change the ages at which they inherit
Your estate has grown significantly in value
You signed the trust in another state before moving to California
Common San Jose Real Estate and Business Questions
San Jose’s older neighborhoods, like Willow Glen, the Rose Garden, and Naglee Park, have many homes with garage conversions, additions, and accessory units built decades ago. Unpermitted work can delay a sale or lower the price, so it helps to address it before listing. For business owners, we form LLCs and corporations for a flat $700 and draft buy-sell agreements that work alongside your estate plan.
Why San Jose Clients Choose a Local Attorney
Online legal services can produce a trust document, but they cannot tell you whether it fits your family, whether your home is properly deeded into it, or how Proposition 19 might affect your children’s property taxes. Working with a local attorney means someone who knows Santa Clara County probate practice reviews your situation and answers your questions directly. At Volo Law, you work with attorney Tony Bayard de Volo from your first call through signing. Fees are flat and quoted up front, so there are no surprise hourly bills, and existing clients can call with quick questions at no charge.
Business and Transactional Law in San Jose
San Jose runs on small businesses — contractors, restaurants, professional practices, retail, and the long tail of technology companies that never make the news. All of them need the same things: the right entity, an agreement between the owners, and contracts that hold up.
We form S corporations, LLCs, and partnerships at a $700 flat fee, draft and review commercial contracts of every kind, and keep corporate records in order — the minutes and resolutions that matter when a lender, buyer, or opposing party asks to see them.
Business owners in San Jose also tend to have the same blind spot: the business is often the second-largest asset after the house, and it usually isn’t addressed in an estate plan. A buy-sell agreement that says what happens when an owner dies or wants out, coordinated with a trust that actually holds the ownership interest, prevents the situation where a surviving spouse inherits a share of a company alongside partners who never planned for it. Because this firm handles both sides, that conversation happens once.
Real Estate Matters in San Jose
Attorney Bayard de Volo is both a lawyer and a licensed California real estate broker, running his own brokerage, Legal Realty. In a city where property is most families’ largest asset and most disputes trace back to a document, that combination is practical: purchase agreements, commercial and residential leases, quiet title actions, easements and boundary disputes, financing documents, and valuations.
Two problems come up repeatedly in San Jose specifically. Older neighborhoods — Willow Glen, Naglee Park, the Rose Garden — have housing stock old enough that fences, driveways, and additions predate anyone’s memory of where the recorded line actually sits. And unpermitted work, especially converted garages and additions, routinely surfaces during a sale and stalls it. Both are cheaper to resolve before a property is listed than during escrow.
Visiting Our Office
We’re at 1541 The Alameda, San Jose, CA 95126 — on the stretch of The Alameda between downtown and the Rose Garden, minutes from Santa Clara Street, the Diridon Station area, and Highway 87. Parking is available on site.
Most clients come in twice: once to review the documents, and once to sign and notarize. If getting to the office is difficult, we can handle much of the work by phone and email, and for trust clients we can prepare the complete Trust Book and mail it to you with signing tabs already in place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Talk to a San Jose Attorney
Whether you need a trust, are forming a business, or are looking at a contract you’d rather not sign blind, the first conversation is free. Attorney Tony Bayard de Volo handles every matter personally.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Viewing it or contacting Volo Law does not create an attorney-client relationship.