California Trusts & Estates Attorney

Marc Joyce

I am a California trusts and estates attorney with over ten years of practice devoted exclusively to this area of law. My path into the field was unconventional — and I believe it gives my clients a meaningful advantage.

Out of law school, I joined Gaw Van Male, LLP, a well-respected boutique trusts and estates firm in Napa, California. There, I spent four years immersed in complex trust administrations — the work that happens after a grantor passes away. Most attorneys learn estate planning first and may never handle a full administration. I did it in reverse. I learned firsthand how trusts actually operate under pressure: the disputes, the accounting challenges, the fiduciary obligations, the court proceedings.

That experience fundamentally shapes how I approach estate planning today. Because I have seen what goes wrong in administration, I can anticipate those problems during the planning stage and guide clients toward solutions that will hold up when it matters most. After Napa, I returned home to Los Angeles to open my own practice, where I continue to serve clients throughout California.