Meissner Ruggles Thompson, Inc. - Sacramento, California

WhiteSwan M.

Amy Ruggles is truly a one-of-a-kind trust attorney. She has handled several multigenerational trusts for our family, one of which was quite complicated. Amy has that rare combination of superb expertise, the knowledge borne of years of experience, coupled with true empathy and warmth, and an uncommon dedication to working with great commitment toward an agreement that is fair and equitable for all concerned. In a difficult and emotionally challenging situation, we were so grateful for Amy’s professionalism, her intelligence and her deep compassion. She is warm and engaging, and explains complicated terminology in lay terms very well. We felt her unwavering support through every step of the way. Her team, especially her wonderful assistant, Kevin Hanna, is extremely helpful, knowledgeable, friendly and responsive.

Amy is an outstanding professional, singular in her expertise of trust law, deeply compassionate and sensitive after years of managing the dynamics and consequences of family losses. We know her as our wonderfully caring attorney whom we trust with the most intimate details of our lives. She is a treasure and we have felt so very fortunate to have her help.

Juliet P.

My experience with Amy Ruggles of Meissner Joseph Ruggles, Inc. was outstanding! She assisted me with my estate planning, and made it such a smooth, stress-free experience which is all I could hope for! Her Assistant, Kevin Hanna, was excellent too, what a team! Together they answered all my questions and gave me every confidence, and no worries throughout the entire process. So friendly, and efficient, I would recommend them to anyone looking to do estate planning and beyond. Many thanks!

Maria B.

I worked with Angela to secure access to Google properties for my brother, who lost his life in an act of violence. Throughout all of the logistics and grieving, Angela showed such incredible compassion, explaining things to me in simple terms and understanding the emotional weight inherent in such a process. I highly recommended her for her thoroughness, expertise, warmth, and compassion—qualities I think are must-haves when dealing with anything having to do with the loss of a loved one.

NorCal R. L.

Highly recommend this law firm to handle creating or updating your trust. Amy Ruggles took the time to listen to all our needs and concerns so that we knew our estate would be handled just how we wanted it to be. Her team that includes Kevin Hanna was very professional and we received communication in a timely manner. We'll definitely be sharing her name with family and friends.

Karen S.

My husband and I worked with Jennifer Rouse on our joint family trust restatement back in 2019. It went well so when it came time for me to set up a separate second trust, I once again was pleased to work with Jennifer. She is so helpful! She even gave me tips on how to do a formal accounting for another family trust which is not an easy task to do. I highly recommend (as I did with friends) contacting Jennifer Rouse if you need any type of trust help.

Emily B.

We have been so grateful for Angela Thompson in setting up our Family Trust. She has been available to us to make necessary changes over the years, and we trust her wise counsel. We recommend her to all of our friends and family for estate planning.

emilie G.

My husband and I, unfortunately, have had multiple experiences with various civil attorneys. This law firm is by far the worst! After my mother-in-law died, my husband discovered his sister, who had a power of attorney, had fraudulently transferred my MIL's house and all the money from her bank accounts into her own. My husband contacted John Palley after reading all the fabulous reviews throughout the internet. Mr. Palley said he didn't do probate trials but would transfer him to the firms complex lawsuit expert, Ed Smith. When we attempted to research Mr. Smith there was nothing available on the internet as to his professional ,history in a positive or negative light. Now we know different

What a joke! This guy obviously has little background in probate and is so disorganized it's frightening. Right off, he misplaced our retainer check for 14 days, claiming he never received it yet it mysteriously then cleared our bank two days later. He has only called my husband by his given name twice, instead referring to him by another name. He has continued to email asking for documents that we either do not have in our possession or have already sent to him via US mail. Each time my husband explains that to Ed Smith. But the worst part is his lack of communication in a timely manner—if at all.

It has been over 4 months since we started with him and my husband still has not been appointed personal representative for his mother's estate. Because of this, my husband as been unable to deal with the banks or mortgage companies and other matters concerning his mother's estate. It has become a true nightmare. This Ed Smith has no business practicing probate law,. He is far from being an 'expert' in financial elder abuse. We need our retainer back so we can find competent legal representation before the statute of limitations runs out..

Cheri L.

I can write a book as to how terrible my experience was with this practice. Palley’s arrogance is astonishing. My probate case was handled so terribly along with lack of preparedness for court. When typos were written by the firm in court documents and them corrected by me, i was charged by the firm to fix the massive amount of typos and wrong information. For example, the county my father died in was repeatedly written incorrectly among the non-stop errors throughout the 2 years of probate. They billed me for hours outside of the regular probate costs without letting me know, because they said it was ‘so complicated.’ What a joke. Why did they take the case if it as so far over their head? Palley will arrogantly tell you he has exclusively done hundreds of cases, so for him to be overwhelmed was astonishing. They made my life hell. Palley was a coward most of the time and put Ed Smith in charge. Ed is a whole different story. Nightmare scenario and everything i dreaded during the time of my father’s death. I would never on my life trust this firm. They have since been referred to the state bar for their egregious handling of the case.