Two estate planning attorneys, 119 videos, 90 issues of a printed newsletter, a radio show, and a book. Read all of it before you call anyone, including us.
Phancao & Shaffer, LLPCosta Mesa and Laguna BeachSince 2004
Everything here was made by the attorneys of this firm. Most of it is free, and none of it requires an appointment.
You are healthy, you are working, and you own things now that you did not own ten years ago.
This is the stage almost everybody arrives in and the one nobody is in a hurry about. There is a house, probably a retirement account, maybe a business or a rental, and children who are either young enough to need a guardian named or old enough to inherit badly. Nothing is wrong. That is exactly what makes it easy to put off.
The work here is a living trust and the documents around it, so that nothing your family owns has to go through a court. Alongside it sits the question of exposure: what a lawsuit, a creditor, or a bad year could reach, and how to put it out of reach before anything happens rather than after.
What lives here: Estate Planning. Asset Protection. Advanced Tax Planning.
“Don’t walk around legally naked.”
Shadi Ala’i Shaffer, naming her own estate planning CD on Trust Talk Radio
“My wife and I have been saying for years we need to get our Living Trust in place but never found a lawyer we felt comfortable with.”
Michael L., client
If you have been meaning to do this for a while, this is your stage, and you are in ordinary company.
Start with a conversationThe paperwork does not wait for you to be ready, and some of it is on a clock.
“Well Rudy, first and foremost, I’m sorry to hear about your dad’s passing.”
Shadi Ala’i Shaffer, answering a listener’s question on Trust Talk Radio
Somebody has died. There are notices that must go out by law, accounts nobody can touch, a house in one person’s name, and a court process that may or may not be avoidable depending on what was set up years ago.
You do not need to understand any of that before you call.
If somebody has just died and you do not know what you are supposed to do first, start here, and start today. Some of these deadlines are short.
The most-watched videos in this library, by a wide margin, are the ones about what happens after a death. There has never been a place on the site that gathers them. This is that place.
The full collection, with the questions people asked her afterward
Most of the library is Patrick’s. He is the one on camera for asset protection, Medi-Cal, the business questions and the nursing-home questions, and he has been answering them since 2012.
“Number one, the best form of asset protection is no asset protection at all. Now, before you shut me off, give me a chance to explain what I mean by that last comment.”
Patrick Phancao, The Fundamentals of Asset Protection, 2012
People wrote to her on a public legal question board, in their own words, and she answered in writing. Nobody types “estate administration.” They write “my dead husband” and “my passed father.” These are the questions exactly as they were typed.
Can the children of my dead husband refused me a copy of his will?
“Hire an attorney as soon as possible. You have rights.”
How do I add my children’s names to the title of my house?
“You shouldn't, you should create an estate plan. A revocable living trust and have them as the beneficiaries of the home.”
If something happens to my boyfriend what will happen to our house?
“Be careful! You have NONE.”
How do I leave everything to my kids?
“It is best you meet in person with a trust attorney to assist you in meeting this goal, it is possible for you to do this but you should meet with an attorney to assist you better based on your circumstance.”
How can I become the administrator of my deceased father’s estate and assets?
“Sorry for your loss. It appears you are taking the right steps but the best way for you to get the answers you need is to get a consultation with an attorney.”
“For over 20 years, we’ve written this newsletter—month in, month out—sharing insights, cautionary tales, reminders, and legal updates with you, our valued readers.”
The firm’s own newsletter, August 2025
90 issues are in the online archive, March 2017 through July 2026, and it is still arriving. It is printed, and it is about whatever the two of them were thinking about, from dieting to the state of real estate.
First published (NEWSLETTER START YEAR, CONFIRM WITH CLIENT. Their own August 2025 issue says “over 20 years.”)
A radio show she hosted in 2013. Six episodes are preserved. One of them is a client, Tom Gates, describing on the air how he came to hire the firm.
“I ended up even giving a deposit to a different law company and there was trouble getting the deposit back over time but I eventually got it back. But I found with them you were just a number but working with you and your firm, I felt like I was a person first.”
Tom Gates, client, on Trust Talk Radio
How to Prepare for Life’s Unknown, by Patrick P. Phancao and Shadi Ala’i Shaffer. From her introduction:
“I love being an estate planning attorney. Patrick and I hope this book will give you a fun look into the world of estate planning and show you how important it is that we all plan properly.”
Shadi Ala’i Shaffer
Two attorneys started this firm in 2004 and still run it. Patrick handles the structures. Shadi handles the plans and the people. Four attorneys and four staff work here now, and a good number of the families on the books have been on them for more than a decade.
Staff: Taline Arthur, Jay Singh, Carol Carranza, Niki Moosavi. Between them the office also speaks Spanish, Vietnamese and French.
Founding partner. He takes the structures: businesses, holdings, advanced tax, and the arrangements that decide what a family owns and how exposed it is. He is also the one who handles the questions about nursing homes, Medi-Cal and the family house. Most of the video library is his.
Admitted to the State Bar of California May 31, 2001. (BAR ADMISSIONS, CONFIRM WITH CLIENT: California confirmed for both founders; Patrick’s Florida and D.C. admissions are unconfirmed and his own page contradicts itself)
Founding partner. She takes the plans and the people: trusts, probate, and the long conversations that have to happen before any of it is written down. Fluent in Farsi.
Admitted to the State Bar of California November 12, 2002. (NAME SPELLING UNCONFIRMED, rendered as “Shadi Ala’i Shaffer” per her own site heading)
Partner. Publicly named in the firm’s own succession plan, which is the plainest promise a firm can make that it will still be here.
Admitted to practice in California.
Attorney.
(BAR ADMISSIONS, CONFIRM WITH CLIENT)
It helps to see the rest of it.
You are healthy, you are working, and you own things now that you did not own ten years ago.
Estate Planning. Asset Protection. Advanced Tax Planning.
If you have been meaning to do this for a while, this is your stage, and you are in ordinary company.
Start with a conversationSomething has changed with a parent, a spouse, or a child, and the questions got harder.
Elder Law and Medi-Cal Planning. Special Needs Planning.
“Come talk to me. It’s not a scary experience, and we’ll go over a detailed plan of what you should anticipate as you age gracefully.”
Patrick Phancao, on camera, 2014
If you are the one making the phone calls for somebody else now, this is your stage.
Talk to someone who knows these rulesThe paperwork does not wait for you to be ready, and some of it is on a clock.
California Probate. Trust Administration.
If somebody has just died and you do not know what you are supposed to do first, start here, and start today. Some of these deadlines are short.
Call us todayThe people who inherited are now the people with houses and children of their own.
Bring us up to date“Attorney Shaffer has been our estate planning attorney for over 15 years and has helped us restate our living trust twice. She has guided us based on our evolving needs and is always dedicated to the best work.”
Erin L. C., client
“We are not a trust Mill. We are attorneys that once you become our trust client, we are with you for many years to come, and that is why our fee structure is very different. We’re not for everybody, but we offer that service.”
Shadi Ala’i Shaffer, on Probate Weekly
The first meeting is a conversation about your family. We get to the paperwork later.
(714) 966-2646Costa Mesa and Laguna Beach. Both offices answer this number.
Costa Mesa3187 Red Hill Ave #115
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Laguna Beach120 S Coast Hwy #100
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
You have probably been meaning to do this for a while. Most people who call us have.
Start with a conversation. Nothing gets signed that day.
