Sarah Kern

Please read this review in its entirety if you are considering this firm to handle any estate planning documents or advocate for you in court. I consider this review to serve as public service announcement because I was introduced to this firm through a seminar with a nationally recognized public s...ervice, non-profit organization. Sarah was introduced to my mother through her employment or consultation services with the firm Goldfarb/ Luu in Tarzana. She handled a probate court matter for my mother. Legal Documents: Legal agreement constructed by Sarah, contained instructions, I am assuming, from a publisher, and it was sent to us. It read: “[It may be desirable to be more detailed in identifying the arbitration mechanism, or it may be preferable to preserve the option of jury or court trial for the client.]” My mother is the client. She was paying for legal expertise and you are sending me attorney instructions on how to complete the agreement. And, it was sent without a strategy meeting to discuss the pros and cons of using it. We mentioned it as an option in passing to explore after the court outcome. Court Representation: The court filings were redundant. Judge called that out in the hearing. On more than one occasion they were rushed. For example, Sarah would call around 1pm to notify me of an email for my mother to sign with the expectation to send it back within a few hours. I served as tech-support for my 82-year old mother at her request. Lastly, Sarah mentioned our judge was new to probate and unpredictable. Well, I looked her up. She went to Harvard Law, practiced in the area for 7+ years, Duke Undergrad, been on the bench for 7 years, served as expert witness, and was accepted into ACTEC. Please google ACTEC. Distinguished organization for top practicing attorneys, with skill, writings, teachings, with aim to improve and reform probate tax trust laws procedures etc. Does any of that read “new” to you? In my opinion, Sarah told us that to lower our expectations and deflect from the fact that our case did not meet the burden for probate. How do I know this? The judge told us in the hearing. Timing of Notices: Hearing Notices to our “enemy” were sent out 6 months prior to the hearing when 30 days is required. The opposing party did not attend the hearing or hire an attorney to notify them. In my opinion, this gave them advance time to prepare a fight. My mother is very disappointed and asked me to file the necessary complaints and reviews to warn other people.