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Asset Protection & Elder Law Center

3187 Red Hill Avenue

Suite 115

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

(714) 966-2646

AssetProtectionCenter.com

How Two Friends Built a Firm Rooted in Family, Integrity, and Community

Twenty years ago, two attorneys opened shop to make a dent in the estate planning universe and the Asset Protection & Elder Law Center opened on November 4, 2004. 

Attorney Shadi Ala’i Shaffer met her best friend and soon to be business partner, Patrick Phancao, in UCSB as undergraduates. They quickly realized that family was a core value they each held closely at heart. They started their own professional career in different fields. With three years of experience under her belt, Shaffer was determined to open shop with a set of core values that reflected her core beliefs—family before everything.

Shaffer has a “business is personal” mentality and she wanted each of her clients to feel that personal touch. From the most affluent to the working class, it was imperative for Shaffer to let each client feel valued and cared for, the same way she would have wanted her parents to be treated when they came to the U.S. as immigrants. Growing up in an immigrant family gave Shaffer perspective despite living in South OC. However, it was experience that helped her grow more empathetic towards others. Backed by that mental, physical and spiritual alignment, she sought to leave a positive impact in the legal world and the clients that crossed her path. 

“I am so thankful to have found Asset Protection & Elder Law. Shadi and Taline were able to help my brother and I close a complex property inheritance issue after multiple other law firms were unable to do so. Working with them was an absolute pleasure. They were always quick to respond to my questions and stayed on top of everything. I would highly recommend their services and would certainly use them again if we have any future issues.”—Catherine S.

Shaffer and Phancao shared a desire to challenge the norm and steer away from some of the archaic practices of law firms. For example, the hourly billing rate had to go. As consumers before lawyers, they understood the uneasiness of entering a business arrangement not knowing what it will cost. They began working on a flat-fee model years before it was popular—the focus was on the clients, their legal needs and relationship building for life. 

As a younger firm entering the estate planning field, Shaffer found there was a gap between the importance of estate planning compared to the information provided to the public at large.

This is where the concept of legal education without the legal jargon came in. The Asset Protection & Elder Law Center prides itself in providing books and consumer’s guides that walk a client through what to do in the event of a loved one’s incapacity or death. Whether a new client decides to hire the firm was not the focus, the objective was to educate clients so that they understood why pre-planning was so important, and they could then make an educated decision on who to hire for their legal needs.

For the better part of a decade, Shaffer and Phancao intentionally stayed small and grew their practice organically. They were slow to hire and to ensure that each team member shared the same values. Technical knowledge can always be taught; doing the right thing is innate. The practice naturally evolved, but one hire ended up challenging the partners for the better.

The Evolution: “Similar Souls Stick Together”

Throughout the years they hired staff and attorneys who stayed with the firm and only left due to personal life changes or bigger pastures. One of the best hires was Senior Paralegal Taline Arthur—she is best known as the “Probate Closer.” Arthur leads the Probate and Trust Administration departments with her 20-plus years of knowledge behind her and having handled complex probate cases in LA and all throughout California. She is always ahead of the challenging probate court deadlines and settles cases in stellar time due to her thoroughness and diligence. She is the legal backbone of the firm and is highly regarded in the estate planning community in Southern California. Shaffer commends the firm’s trust administrations growth due to Arthur’s support of the cases and clients’ matters.

Another then-and-now difference is the addition of their attorneys. Valerie Pasion now heads the Trust Planning Department and is often referred to as a “mini-me” for Shaffer and has taken her place in being the lead attorney that handles new trust clients. Pasion found her way in the estate planning world very much the same way as Shaffer—she knew her legal knowledge could be put to good use without the need to create animosity. Representing families proactively under the law to protect them before legal issues arose was the perfect fit for Pasion who almost considered leaving the law due to its lack of meaning and heart. She discovered estate planning as a practice, met Shaffer, whose personality reflected her own, and realized that she had found her forever home in the legal world. She is now a client favorite and is often showered with baked gifts and stellar reviews. Pasion assists the firm when Shaffer and Phancao are traveling and is positioned under the firm’s succession plan—ensuring clients will be serviced for years to come.

Attorney Shilpa Bhatt is another addition to the firm and has a background in sophisticated, highly transactional commercial real estate. Bhatt found the transactional aspect was too dry and impersonal and working for big institutions acquiring large assets did not resonate with her. Meeting Shaffer affected Bhatt the same way it did Pasion and ignited her love for the estate planning arena. Once Bhatt came on board, her knowledge in estate planning grew as she became more focused on the drafting of the trust plans and helping clients understand how crucial it was for their real estate holdings to be properly funded under the plans themselves. She has recently taken on the new satellite office in Laguna Beach and has spearheaded community outreach and education in their new location in the city of Costa Mesa.

Another team member, Jay Singh, unexpectedly came into the firm during Covid. While Shaffer saw the talent, Phancao, the more pragmatic of the partners, didn’t see a fit until he met Singh. Singh has become one of the pillars of the firm, whose been nicknamed “007” by Shaffer due to his ability to catch the smallest of errors and his meticulous attention to detail. Singh processes all the real estate deed filings in the firm, processes all the trust and asset protection plans and ensures that nothing is missed. What was thought as a temporary position turned into a lifelong career for Singh, and the firm’s brand and clients have benefited ever since beyond measure. 

As a result of referral business the firm built over the years, they are positioned to do virtual estate planning all throughout California with many clients up along the coast and in the Bay Area. This virtual service and operation the firm built was especially helpful during the Covid crisis as they were able to help many clients and families create estate plans despite the lockdown. Growing slowly helped the office survive that difficult time, servicing referrals and clients in need while also keeping their staff intact. The sense of duty to do well by their clients evolved in doing the same within their team, and Shaffer feels humbled having survived that storm while other firms were laying people off.

Any contact with the firm goes through the gate-keeper Carolina (Carol) Carranza, Client Services Director and now firm manager. Three years and counting and they have never seen Carol without a smile on her face. Clients enjoy her barista drinks and she has been a breath of fresh air for their clients and the team as she makes sure the office runs smoothly and no one, not even clients go hungry. A foodie to heart—Carol sets the firm apart with her customer service and online reviews show how loved she is. Niki Moosavi, the newest hire and paralegal—a Canadian import, has been a nice addition to the growing team. Moosavi deals with the IRS, Secretary of State, and other third-party agencies who require niche fields of knowledge. 

Having become a strong work family and everyone feeling secured in their position, Phancao has urged the team to take pride in putting honesty over harmony. Shaffer admits that when you are that close, it is hard to put business first but in the end, the team is strong due to their motto—family over everything. “This belief is what I believe has contributed to our firms’ success,” Shaffer says.

With a well-equipped team, it was inevitable client cases would get more sophisticated and complex over time. This pushed everyone to increase their legal knowledge and experience which resulted in the execution of complex advanced estate plans, and asset protection. 

Not Your Average Estate Planners

The attorneys and staff of Asset Protection & Elder Care Center sometimes find themselves tasked with resolving issues created by other professionals in the business. One of the biggest cases, and biggest legal messes they encountered, was from a referral by a financial planner to a family-owned business in California. The business is worth $40 million. A husband, wife, and three grown children were involved.

The financial planner said he needed her firm’s expertise in making sure the family had been taken care of properly by another firm. That firm was large, fully staffed for probate, trusts and related services, and had a good reputation. The previous year they had created an estate plan for the family. Though some of the legal bases were covered, Shaffer was shocked to discover the family’s $40 million family-owned business, as well as their portfolio of family-owned properties in California and out-of-state had not been not transferred into the trust. The Asset Protection & Elder Law Center team moved as quickly as possible to get all the moving parts under the newly revised trust. They connected with out-of-state attorneys to ensure the family properties in those states were properly titled and funded.