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Secure your future today

A legacy isn’t left – it is built with intention

Planning for the future isn’t just about documents—it’s about securing your family’s legacy with intention. At KR Hess Law, we go beyond traditional estate planning to ensure your wealth is protected, your loved ones are cared for, and your legacy endures for generations. With a trusted team of legal experts, we guide you through every step, from strategic planning to tax-saving solutions, so you can have peace of mind knowing your vision for the future is secure. Take the first step in building your legacy today.

Plan for Today

At KR Hess Law, we are committed to providing exceptional legal services tailored to your unique needs.

San Diego and Salt Lake City Estate Planning

KR Hess Law, PC is a boutique estate planning law firm with offices in San Diego and Salt Lake City. Kristina R. Hess, the founding attorney is a UC Berkeley Law Graduate with over 25 year of experience. During this time she has been guiding families to secure their legacies, disinherit the IRS, create plans that empower the next generation for success, and create charitable trusts and private foundations that leave legacy impact. She has been voted Best Trust Attorney from 2015-2024 by the local north coastal San Diego community papers. She is frequently hired by other attorneys to prepare their comprehensive estate protection plans.

Our Mission

Our Mission at KR Hess Law, is to provide excellent estate plans that empower our clients’ generations, inspire generosity, disinherit the IRS and allows them to create LEGACIES OF GENERATIONAL IMPACT.

Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts

Create an Estate Plan to suit your values, vision and dreams with the guidance of an experienced personal estate planning attorney.

Legacy Wealth & Charitable Planning

Secure your family’s future with advanced estate tax planning and charitable legacy planning.

Probate & Administration

Navigating probate or post death trust administration…

Small Business Planning

Our business planning services provide entity formation for protection, tax savings, and strategic management.

The Risks of No Estate Planning

Without a proper estate plan, your assets and loved ones are at risk:

Probate Court

A lengthy, costly process where the government dictates your estate’s distribution.

Public Record

Your family’s financial affairs become public knowledge.

Loss of Control

The courts decide who receives what, instead of you.

Family Disputes

Unclear legal guidance can lead to costly legal battles.

What our Clients Say

Kristina was amazing with helping us get our family trust set up. She is so friendly and understanding, she really looks out for the best interest of the client. Would recommend to friends, family and anyone looking for a top notch lawyer at a great price.

Mike R. (Chino Hills, CA)

If you need a caring and professional attorney that will protect the rights of those in need when it comes to Wills and Trusts Kristina is the best there is out there. She is very knowledgeable and will advise you to the best of her abilities. If she doesn’t know the answer she has a great network of colleagues that will help to get you the answer you need. Few businesses lack heart these days to put the clients well being first. Kristina’s heart is abundant for her clients and she will go to her clients who lack mobility to help them with their needs. No one will get the job done better than Kristina!

Liliana L. (San Diego, CA)

We just completed our estate planning with Kristina. We moved all of our work from a large law firm in downtown San Diego. Hands down, Kristina is by far the most thorough, professional, efficient and friendly estate attorney we have met. She took the time to explain everything and anything to us in layman terms and ensured what I would consider, a very complicated and intimidating process, to be completed in a very timely and comprehensive manner. Thank you so much Kristina!!

Mike W. (San Francisco, CA)

It is indeed a pleasure to recommend KR Hess Law in San Diego, California. KR Hess Law handled my probate case and was very efficient, knowledgeable, responsible, friendly and guided me through the entire process. The people in the firm, as well as Kristina Hess, basically held my hand through the entire process. I would like to thank them publicly for a job well done. If you need a law firm in the San Diego, California area I would highly recommend the KR Hess Law firm. They are awesome, outstanding and again thank you from a very satisfied client.

Herb

KR HESS LAW did a wonderful job on my estate planning. She helped me with the full package including the trust, the will and the power of attorney and health care directive. I strongly suggest using this firm for your planning needs!

Jennifer P. (San Francisco, CA)

I highly recommend KR Hess. Law! Kristina and her team provided me amazingly professional service on the work product as well as their courteous attitude throughout the entire process of updating my trust. They impressively helped me even years later when I asked for assistance.

Hua C. (Pasadena, CA)

I originally met attorney Hess at a presentation she was giving on Estate Planning. I had been to several, but it was her presentation that I filed away. That was several years ago … When my husband recently passed, I needed an Estate Attorney and I contacted Kristina Hess. She was just as I remembered. She is very detailed and was instrumental in setting up my Estate plan based on my needs. I highly recommend her and her firm (her staff is very efficient and helpful) if this is what you are looking for. Her personal touch along with her professional touch is she is a caring and emphatic person that made the experience in setting up my Estate very pleasant. Thank you KR Hess!

P.C. (La Jolla, CA)

We highly recommend working with Kristina! She was very easy, responsive and helpful in creating our trust. Her staff is friendly and upbeat.

Lynda A. (Santa Rosa, CA)

We finally got around to our estate planning after years of putting it off, feeling that this was something overwhelming that we didn’t want to deal with. Kristina was very accommodating, spent a great deal of time with us (several in-person meetings and several virtual conferences) explaining things and putting everything into perspective. She and her staff are total professionals who know their business, but they are all very easy to talk to and they answered all our questions and put us completely at ease. Fees are reasonable too. Papers are now signed and our trust is established with a minimum of fuss and bother. Highest possible recommendation!

Stormy H. (Encinitas, CA)

We just finished our trust signing with Kristina. Let me start by saying, if you’re estate planning, she is the attorney you want to talk to and retain. The amount of care and attention she put forth in helping us structure this out was incredible. Her front office staff, Elizabeth, was extremely helpful as well. They could not have made the process more fluid for us. I’ve already recommended her to several of my clients and friends, and will continue doing so moving forward. You’ll be making a mistake by not reaching out to her.

Amir N. (San Francisco, CA)

We have completed hours of work gathering documents to finalize our Living Trust with an excellent Trust Attorney. My colleague and her husband attended a seminar where there were ten Trust Attorneys, and they were most impressed with one. They executed their Living Trust with her, and we decided to do the same.

Barbara

My experience with Kristina and her team has been first rate. I had been putting off creating a Trust because it could be a frustrating and intimidating process, especially if the attorney was male. But finding a caring, patient, brilliant female changed all that. I felt safe. I am so thankful to have Kristina to discuss matters WITH me, not TO me.

Carole S. (San Diego, CA)

Kristina is the opposite of the stereotypical attorney in every way! She is kind and caring, and it was obvious to me that she was much more concerned about representing me well than soaking me for a lot of money. She even returned my email with a phone call while on vacation! She is extremely knowledgeable and efficient, as is her staff. My sister’s estate was very challenging in many ways, and she dealt with some difficult and nasty attorneys in a professional way without lowering herself to their level. I cannot say enough to recommend her.
With enthusiasm and affection …

Linda P. (San Diego, CA)

As for the documents, Kristina and her team kept me informed on the progress and asked very pertinent questions to ensure we are on the same page. A nice final binder prepared with various instructions eg funding the estate, was given to me at the end along with a graphical chart of my estate summary as the estate passed from one generation to the next. Kristina personally handled all the key legal questions I had via email and was very responsive. The team also followed up to ensure you are funding the trust.
I am extremely pleased with the service and value provided by KR Hess and will recommend them whenever the occasion merits.

J.C. (San Diego, CA)

Kristina and her team are absolutely outstanding, and I recommend them without reservation. They were particularly sensitive and understanding in dealing with my family member who can be a bit of a “challenge”–straightforward and clear, but knowing how to finesse communications to suit the client. I also appreciated the up front pricing, which took a lot of stress out of the situation. The entire process of updating a Trust and Will was completely smooth and I would strongly suggest anyone with a loved one who needs sensitive and competent representation make Kristina their first stop. I look forward to using KR Hess Law for any of our family’s planning and business needs in the future.

Cynthia R. (San Diego, CA)

Highly recommend Kristina and her excellent staff. My trust, and my Mom’s was dated and other attorneys recommended more expensive changes. I shopped around and luckily found KR Hess on Yelp and couldn’t be happier. They don’t charge hourly like others do so there’s no rush and Kristina truly cares about taking care of her clients families. Best choice by far!!

Robin E. (San Diego, CA)

Kristina is wonderful in every way. As a lawyer myself, my expectations of her client-service and knowledge of the law were high; and, in addition to that, I was pretty nervous to go through the process of creating a family trust. Kristina instantly put me at ease, with the perfect blend of professionalism and warmth. The entire process was simple, at times fun, and she and her office staff were extremely efficient. She explained a very complex area of law in a way that my husband and I easily understood, which enabled us to create exactly the right kind of estate plan. Her services go well beyond just the creation of a legal document, and she is affordable, to boot. Highly recommend her!

Sarah S. (Carlsbad, CA)

Top notch, knowledgeable, accommodating and professional are the words I would use to describe Kristina as she navigated us though our estate planning. I would highly recommend anyone looking for an estate planner to call Kristina. Very satisfied with her service and attitude throughout the whole process.

Joshua S. (Carlsbad, CA)

Kristina is sharp, knowledgeable, and professional. We felt confident in providing our trust information to her and her qualified staff to ensure that we had the most current legal information included in our documents that were drafted years ago. Make sure to keep your legal documents current! She’s an excellent resource to ensure that you have all your ducks in a row! We will definitely recommend this firm to our friends and family with confidence.

Ruby R. (San Diego, CA)

We had Kristina handle our estate planning and she did a wonderful job from beginning to end. She is thorough, knowledgable and takes the time to really understand her client’s needs. In addition to being a great lawyer, she is also very nice and very responsive to emails. I had several questions for her as we worked on putting together our trust and she always got back to me right away. I really enjoyed working with Kristina and I would definitely recommend her to my friends and family.

Karen B. (San Diego, CA)

I attended Kristina’s “Truth About Estate Planning” seminar in 2013, she is extremely knowledgeable about the laws respective to estate planning. She listened carefully about my needs and proposed a solution to achieve my goals. Her follow up has been excellent, I have always received prompt replies to all of my requests.

John S. (La Jolla, CA)

KR Hess Law Team

Kristina R. Hess

Managing Attorney & Founder

Kristina Hess is the founder of KR Hess Law and a leading estate planning attorney dedicated to helping families and individuals protect their wealth, secure their legacy, and avoid probate.

Kimberly Mike

Client Services Director & Case Manager

Kimberly Mike studied Psychology at California State University San Marcos and received her bachelor’s in psychology at National University. Kimberly has been working with us as Client Services and a Notary since 2022. She is driven and organized to always make sure she meets our clients’ needs.

Erin O’Donnell

Client Services Associate & Paralegal

Rachel Lee

Law Clerk

Rachel Lee earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and is a recent graduate of the University of California, Irvine School of Law (UCI Law). At UCI Law, she served as President of the UCI Tax Law Society and as Associate Editor of the UCI Law Review. At KR Hess Law, Rachel approaches estate planning with compassion and care and is dedicated to providing attentive, client-focused service.

Lee Trahan

Document Production & California Notary Public

Lee Buthod Trahan studied Criminal Justice at the University of Tulsa and Law at the University of Virginia. She retired from practicing real estate and business litigation law to raise her three boys. She has been working with us since 2011.

Aaron Haymes

Client Services Associate

Aaron Haymes is a college student with plans of attending law school. He assists our Client Services Team.