Leonard A Hagen

Leonard Hagen helped my husband and I with planning our estate and making new wills. He is so knowledgeable and kind - he put us at ease immediately. Len explained all the choices very patiently and thoroughly. I felt like we had found someone with the expertise to help us, but also who cared about ...us and whether we had what we needed for a smooth transition when the day comes. He is professional, personable and understanding.

My wife and I were recommended to Len to review and update our wills and are so grateful for that recommendation. Everyone at Sound Estate Planning was very friendly, courteous and helpful. Len did an outstanding job of preparing our new will, Powers of Attorney and Health Directives. He is extremely... competent, knowledgeable and detailed and explained everything to us very clearly. From our initial meeting through the portfolio delivery, the entire process was very satisfying. We are so pleased to have Len Hagen as part of our financial/legal team and would highly recommend him.

initial appointment with Hagen was in Oct to prepare my Will, POA, Health care directive. Was informed the documents would not be ready until Dec. A few days before my Dec appointment, he stated that it would be better if I engaged an attorney closer to where I lived. As I was in a hurry to have this... done asap, I said I would keep my appointment. Gave him specific written instructions as to what I wanted on my Will and POA and he did not follow it as directed. I also was given assurance that if I had further questions - that he would be willing to talk to me further at the agreed upon rate of $975. After receiving his draft legal documents, I was not in agreement with some of the language he took it upon himself to change what I had instructed, I went to his office early to retrieve the draft in Dec so that by the time my meeting was scheduled, I can discuss the changes that need to be made. He ended up charging me $275 more than what was agreed upon for the changes I requested which should have been included in my Will and POA in the first place. Also included an alternate fiduciary company in my Will and POA that I did not ask to be included - must have a private deal with that company. He stated that because of the changes that I had requested in the first place, he had to go through the Will and POA to ensure there were no conflicting statements on other parts of the Will. I went through all the documents and did not see how there could have been any conflicting statements. He also said he was on the phone with me for 1 hour when the actual time I talked to him was 1/2 hour. He also said that most of his clients don't even look at the legal documents that closely and just sign their documents without asking questions. When I specifically ask that certain terms be included in my legal documents and he does not prepare the documents according to what we had discussed and justify the changes by charging me more money than what we had agreed on, I think it's just his way of upping his fee. I had emailed him since a few days ago to see if he could add a statement on my Will but he has not replied to my email or called me. I will have to spend more money engaging another attorney to do a better job of adding the additional statements. I rely on AVVO, Better Business Bureau etc before approaching an attorney and thought that his rating on AVVO should not be as represented.