Allenby Law, PC

Focus and practice areas

Estate planning and probate for families are the core of this San Diego firm's work. It drafts wills and trusts, and it handles the paperwork that moves property to heirs after a death. The stated aim is to keep clients out of court and clear of conflict. Planning done early tends to cut down the disputes that surface for a family later.

Four connected areas make up the practice: estate planning, wills, trusts, and probate. These pieces usually sit in one client's file together. A person who signs a will often funds a living trust at the same visit, and the same family may come back years later when an estate needs settling. The firm handles both stages of that work.

Estate planning and probate can sound like opposites, yet they are two views of one subject. The first prepares for what happens after a death. The second is the court process that follows when that preparation was thin or missing. A firm that does both sees how choices made at the drafting table play out when a family actually needs the documents.

What this kind of work usually involves

Estate planning runs on documents more than courtrooms. A typical plan includes a will, and often a revocable living trust that holds the family home and other assets. The trust names a successor trustee, the person who steps in to manage things if the client dies or loses capacity. Powers of attorney and health care directives usually complete the file.

Probate is the court side of the same subject. When someone dies with assets that a trust does not cover, the estate can pass through a probate case in the county superior court. A judge oversees the payment of debts and the transfer of what remains to the heirs. In California that process can run many months and becomes part of the public record.

Funding the trust

A funded living trust can pass assets to the next generation without a probate filing at all. Getting there means titling property into the trust while the client is alive, a step people often overlook once the paperwork is signed. This is the outcome careful planning tries to reach, and it is the goal Allenby Law names for its clients. The firm's document work centers on closing that gap.

How the team is built

Founder Dawn A. Allenby is the attorney behind the firm. She graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2003 and has more than 20 years of legal experience. She lives in Point Loma with her husband and two children, a detail the firm shares on its site. Her work centers on estate planning for families.

Two paralegals support that work. Janet Rushforth prepares trusts, wills, and other estate planning documents alongside the attorney and clients. Patricia Serna is the Client Service Director and brings over five years of paralegal experience. In my opinion, a small team like this suits estate planning, where the same few people handle a client's file at every step.

Paralegals do real drafting work in estate practices, always under an attorney's review. Having a named Client Service Director points to a firm that treats scheduling, updates, and follow-through as part of the job. For a client planning something as personal as a will, knowing who prepares the paperwork has plain value.

Planning for children

One service the firm names is Kids Protection Planning. It answers two questions that parents of young children often put off: who would raise the children, and who would manage any money left for them. Allenby Law helps parents name guardians and set out how a child's inheritance should be held and spent.

These decisions carry legal weight that casual notes between parents do not. A named guardian in a signed plan gives a court clear direction if both parents are gone. Money left to a minor usually needs a trustee or a custodian, since a child cannot hold assets on their own. The firm lists this as a distinct service on its website.

In California a court has the final say on who becomes a minor's legal guardian, and a parent's written nomination carries strong weight in that decision. Putting it in a signed document gives the people left behind something a judge can act on quickly. This is the practical value behind the planning the firm describes.

Working with clients across California

The firm offers virtual services and states that it serves clients throughout California through those systems. A client in Sacramento or Fresno can work with the San Diego office without traveling south. For estate planning that arrangement fits, since most of the work is conversation and document review, and court appearances stay rare.

As a reviewer, I read the virtual option as a practical answer for people who want a San Diego firm without the drive. Signing and notarization still take care over distance, since any estate plan ends with formal execution. The firm makes the virtual route available to families anywhere in California, which widens the pool of people it can help.

Distance work also suits people with straightforward estates who simply want the documents done right. A video meeting can cover the same ground as an office visit for most planning conversations. The firm keeps its San Diego office for clients who prefer to meet in person, and it extends the same service to those who cannot.

What the firm publishes

Beyond client files, Allenby Law runs estate planning workshops and keeps a blog. The site offers free guides on topics such as choosing guardians and transferring property to heirs. These cover the same subjects the firm handles in paid work, so a prospective client can read its approach before booking a meeting.

Material like this gives a reader something to weigh. Blog posts and guides put the firm's thinking on guardianship and property transfers in plain view, and workshops let people ask questions in person. In my opinion, that openness is a fair signal of how a firm talks to the public. Allenby Law posts the guides for free on its website.