Christopher Albence
Founder
Christopher Albence is the founding member of the firm of Albence & Associates, APC, established in 1994. Mr. Albence’s practice concentrates on wills, trusts, probate, trust administration and trust and estate litigation. He has practiced exclusively in trust and estate law for over 29 years. He became a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law by the State Bar of California in 2001, a distinction that fewer than 1% of all California attorney possess. He has drafted thousands of estate plans, administered hundreds of trusts and estates, and litigated hundreds of trust and estate cases. Trials and settlements on behalf of his clients in the trust and estate litigation portion of his practice exceed tens of millions of dollars. He has built the Firm to be a full-service trust and estate firm. Each firm attorney practices exclusively in the trust and estate area of the law and each has an emphasis on a subsection of the law including probate, estate tax planning, trust and estate litigation, long-term care planning, and special needs trusts.
His philosophy is that to become a great estate planning attorney, one who drafts high quality estate plans, one must have diverse experience in litigating and administering trusts and estates. It is difficult for an attorney who only drafts estate plans, without being involved in their ultimate administration or disputes, to become a great estate planning attorney. As such, each firm attorney has experience in litigating trusts and administering trusts. Many estate plans appear to be clear on their face when completed. The conflicting terms, gray areas, and lost tax savings opportunities often only become apparent after a death. Experiencing those unfortunate cases, affords each firm attorney the opportunity to become a more proficient and skilled drafting attorney, who can design an estate plan to avoid those unfortunate situations and provide our clients with the appropriate estate plan for their situation.
His first legal position was as an associate attorney for Senior Citizens Legal Services, a non-profit organization. He has conducted numerous seminars and speaking engagements on estate planning and financial protection of the elderly. Mr. Albence’s business, financial and legal background have created a practice that consists of all facets of estate planning, trust administration, trust and estate litigation.
Mr. Albence was born in New Jersey and graduated from Jesuit High School Tampa, Florida. He did his undergraduate work at Clemson University and Florida State University, where he received a degree in Finance. He obtained his law degree at California Western School of Law and was admitted to the California State Bar in 1993.
His organization affiliations include the California State Bar, State Bar Board of Specialization – Estate Planning, Trust and Probate, 2003-2005 chair of the San Diego Bar Association Trust and Probate Section, 1997-1998 President South Bay Bar Association, the San Diego County Bar Association, the La Jolla Bar Association, the South Bay Bar Association, the California State Bar Trust and Probate Section, the San Diego County Bar Trust and Probate Section, the La Jolla Bar Trust and Probate Section; California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, former board member of the South Bay Bar Association, former Board of Directors for the South Bay Lawyer Referral Service and Board of Directors La Jolla Bar Association.