David Ari Rephan

I hired Mr. David A. Rephan to assist me with a will and trust administration that my ex-wife established in 2018. I have never acted as trustee before, and I always felt that there were questions that I should be asking but didn't know at the time what they were and David never volunteered inform...ation that would be helpful in making the trust administration go smoothly. When I did ask a question, his standard response was, "that's a grey area, I'll have to do some research" There's a will and a trust for our 24-yr old daughter as beneficiary. David quickly made it clear that he did not want my daughter to be dialed in on zoom meetings or phone calls because she asked to many questions. In addition to original trust, David established a secondary trust that did not give instruction on how it was to be administered. There were several invoices that seemed to be billed to each trust by multiple members of Davids office. Even the lady at Hennepin County Recovery Office commented that "the attorney fees seemed quite high for a non-probate case. " We discussed at the beginning of the second trust 1-10-2024 that Chestnut Cambronne would handle both trusts' taxes, but they didn't get them done until I received a letter from the IRS that the trust taxes were delinquent. This caused over $500 in late fees and penalties. When I asked David to explain why the taxes were not filed on time, he said that he could tell that I was not happy with the way things were going so he withdrew himself and left us to figure out what to do next. Who quits on a client like that?

I've worked with David for about a year, and other family members have worked with his firm for about five years. I believe the entire firm is competent, ethical, and not outrageously expensive. I had a minor personality clash with another member of the firm, but I have always found David easy to t...alk to. I am not very "law savvy" but David doesn't talk down to me. I am tempted to rate David "Excellent" on everything but I don't do that for anyone! He has helped my family with a couple of important elder-related issues , that saved us much more money than we paid for the legal advice and form preparation.