Legal Docs On Main

Marcella is so professional and detailed orientated with my Trust! Marcella and her assistant Shelly provided me a well thought out binder divided out in sections pertaining to the different facets of the Trust. She then goes though all the action items that I needed to do to finalize the Trust. And one of the benefits is that if you need to change anything then it does not cost you anything more!
All I can say is that I highly recommend her services! Great work Marcella and Shelly!

My husband and I wanted to create a trust and when we went to see Marcella we were instantly impressed at her knowledge and the degree that she was able to put both of us at ease , since we were combing two groups of children in our trust..One group from my husbands previous
marriage and then from our marriage.
This can be a tricky situation and Marcella was able to help each of us see the others concerns and wishes. These are just two of her assets when dealing with other peoples life stories, she is able to act as a mediator and she helped us through a complex process.
We were able to create a trust that both of us were pleased with, and I would recommend Marcella to everyone.

I am a Successor Trustee administering a trust after the Settlor died in March. The main trust asset is a beautiful home on a lake in El Dorado County.

There was a squatter living there, a relative who in 3 years had never paid rent or contributed to the any of the expenses. She had no intent on moving out. This meant I could not get my contractor or realtor in to make the property ready for sale.

I am an attorney and I have been doing litigation, including some trust work, for 40+ years. This was he first time I faced this problem and I immediately thought “evict her.”

Fortunately for me and the trust, I asked Marcella Goodwin, LDA, for advice because of her experience in trusts and trust administration. She said that maybe a strict and to the point letter would solve the problem. Marcella is a wordsmith, and she wrote a one-page “Get Out” letter that I posted and served on Tuesday. By Saturday afternoon, the squatter was gone.

Her fee was very modest; Her results were very cost effective.

Marcella made a difficult process much more seamless. She has knowledge of proper court procedures and helped prepare us for being in an unfamiliar environment. We will do business with her again in the future.

We appreciated Marcella taking the time to get to know all our particulars including the living trust previously created which we never felt comfortable about updating so we didn't. Now we feel good going forward and know if and when change occurs we will be in good hands

This firm provides extremely complete and detailed documents. They provided us with our Trust and we are very happy with their work and the professional and timely responses to our questions. We would highly recommend this firm to anyone interested in getting the job done quickly and accurately.

Ron and Debra Hurst
Pollock Pines, CA

Marcella prepared estate planning documents for me. I found her to be honest, knowledgeable, proficient, thoughtful and cost effective. I rwcemend her highly with no reservations whatsoever.

They were very patient and went above and beyond
Love!

After my brother passed away from Leukemia, my sister-in-law went to Marcella for assistance with transferring the estate into her name. Didn't matter that she was carrying their one-year-old infant or that she just lost her husband, like many others (check Yelp), Marcella decided to charge my sister thousands of dollars for services Marcella isn't legally qualified to provide. Not only is she not qualified, but she provided the wrong service, and, in doing so, divulged sensitive information (my sister's, my mother's, and my home address) to other parties whom we specifically didn't want to have our home address for safety reasons. This was made very clear to her many times, but since she knew she was actively robbing people, she didn't care about the damage caused along the way.
At some point, Marcella Goodwin disappeared with our money and documents. We've attempted to reach her for months. My sister has gone to her office multiple times, only to find it locked. She still possesses my sister's critically important original docs and their money. Marcella's business model is to overcharge for bogus services and then disappear for a while. If you have the unfortunate opportunity to utilize her services, know that you are giving your money to a thief and a liar. She has an F on the BBB. She has received cease and desist letters from the California BAR. I'm not entirely sure how she's not behind bars, but if you see her, be sure to let the police know.

Marcella Goodwin, Business Owner of Legal Docs On Main, is unprofessional and dishonest. I chose not to do business with her shortly after binding to her contract in Aug of 2018 for a couple of reasons, (there a lot of red flags here), but primarily because she could not advise me on what I needed for my situation. Her contract states if you need an attorney, you should get one. Her contract also states that you can cancel her service for any reason, at any time and she will refund your money. The fee I paid to her was $449. She said on August 29th, 2018, in writing, upon my terminating her service, that she would refund my money, but that I had to come pick it up in cash at her office the next day. What?? I told her to put a check in the mail like a normal professional would do! I had not received it. When I pursued it 2 weeks later, she ignored me. Her contract also states that you must go through Arbitration to settle any disputes. Arbitration costs the consumer $200 to expedite and $1400 per day to the business for the Arbitrator. I decided to try the Better Business Bureau first to avoid the cost and hassle of Arbitration. At the end of the BBB Complaint I filed, it was clear that she was proven a liar and she, again, said she would refund my money, but still has not. That's twice, now, that she has committed to refunding my money, but still does not. What kind of person who works in the legal field plays these games?? Certainly not any worthwhile professional you would entrust to prepare your most important family legal documentation! Now, it's been almost 3 months, and she still has not returned my funds. I will now be going to Arbitration, and it will cost her much more money. It’s hard to determine, at this point, what her game is. Is she a fraud and a LIAR? Is she profoundly irresponsible? or is it just plain stupidity? Clearly, If Arbitration is going to cost the business $1400 per day to resolve a futile matter, why go there? Don't waste your time or money on Marcella Goodwin....not only does she lie, but her voicemail is often neglectfully full, and she makes a lot of basic errors, i.e.she cannot even get her own email address on her own business cards right! Marcella Goodwin is NOT, by any means, a professional or someone I would ever want to do important business with !!
********************************UPDATE*********************************
I filed the claim with the American Arbitration Association, and get this: She was NOT in compliance with their registry guidelines and they not only fined her $3,050, but they also mandated that she remove them as an arbitrating option on her contract !!! Furthermore, they stated that they will not hear any of her claims in the future! WOW!!! So now, I'm free to take her to Small Claims Court. I do, and of course I win the Judgment in its entirety. Does she return my fee now as she had promised on so many occasions? NO! So, in pursuit of collecting my money, I learn through public records in El Dorado County that she owes thousands in state taxes dating back to the 90's, she had 2 previous small claims judgments against her, and she doesn't even care to maintain her professional bond, which is a state requirement to offer her services!! It's now June 6th, 2019 and still she has not returned my fee. It seems that there is nothing stopping Marcella Goodwin from ripping off the public. Good luck if you move forward with this one!

Wow is about I can say. One hour late for our appointment and doesn't have the docs ready. It's not like I drove 100 miles for the appointment... Oh, that's right I did.