Sanford Law Office
Your Sunset Coast Family Lawyer
About
We are a general practice law firm specializing in representing families. We represent families in divorce, custody, support, adoption, estate planning, insurance claims, criminal matters, traffic tickets, and other matters such as business disputes. We look to protect you when your legal needs arise, and to plan with you to avoid disputes and maintain relationships. We look to help you plan for the future and handle current issues that arise without warning. If a matter arises that is a specialty issue or beyond our capacity to handle, such as a class action or patent or complex business or disability matter, we will find proper referrals to ensure that you are protected. As your family's lawyer, we will assist on a project basis or an ongoing basis. We feel that you should never be afraid to call a lawyer, and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We seek to help you not only legally, but emotionally, especially when emotion can cloud judgment and bring on the fear of seeking a lawyer in the first place.
Rebecca Breitkreuz Sanford is also a trained mediator since 2007. She mediates special education matters, civil disputes, family disputes, abuse/neglect matters and probate matters. She has a unique, friendly style that welcomes all persons to the negotiation table to work out a mutually agreeable resolution to the issues presented during the mediation. The goal of mediation is client driven—that the persons mediating find a unique solution that will work for them. Occasionally she is requested to blend the pure neutrality of classic mediation with an evaluative standpoint, only offering her suggestions/opinions when requested based on her rich and varied career experience. Also, she offers and is requested from time to time, to facilitate meetings, so that all parties are heard, and so that meetings run professionally and expeditiously. This is a variant of mediation but does not require all of the same formalities as classic mediation. An example of a facilitated meeting is a Section 504 planning meeting in the special education arena.
Services
We provide a range of services to support your family.
Family
Assist with family matters such as divorce, custody, support, adoption and grandparenting time.
Provide “first call” assistance in your family's legal matters.
Estate Planning
Assist with estate planning, will drafting, succession planning and living trusts, including proper transfer of assets to your living trust, and annual review and revision of documents, in order to avoid probate.
Accident
Negotiate and draft documents for car wreck claims, fire claims, contracts and contract reviews, and other similar documents, to prevent unnecessary financial losses.
Litigation
Assist in litigation support and services.
Provide mediation services outside of court litigation.
Real Estate
Assist in real estate purchases and the proper, correct drafting of and review of the documents, which can cost thousands of dollars, and expensive litigation, if not otherwise prepared and reviewed in advance.
Emergency
Assist in emergency matters such as criminal complaints and traffic matters.
Advise on legal issues in divergent areas as the needs arise, such as zoning, securities, non-competition clauses, and personal protection orders (restraining orders)
Billing
Transparency in billing is our goal. Most matters are billed on an hourly basis, without “nickle and diming” you: we never charge large flat rates for brief phone calls, such as a half hour for a 10 minute call. Our actual call time is kept through our internet phone lines. We charge flat fees for certain document preparation matters. We discuss fees up front. When you have a question about how we charge, we answer as best we can. We “go paperless” to be a “green” firm and avoid unnecessary photocopy charges, scanning documents and exhibits, providing files electronically when requested, and faxing to computer files without actual printing and paper costs. If you want me to be “on retainer,” I can discuss this kind of arrangement with you and customize your payment and my availability to match your needs. We encourage you to be a partner in your litigation matter to reduce our legwork and thereby reduce our fees. We work with you to make your legal needs affordable, as this is simply the ethical way to do business.