Meet Chad Fuss (West Linn Estate Planning Attorney)
- Chad Fuss, Esq.
- Nov 17
- 3 min read
Chad was invited to do an interview with Canvas Rebel Magazine. Here it is below:
We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chad Fuss. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chad below.
Chad, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back at the decisions you made early in your career, particularly whether to join a firm or start your own, do you feel you made the right choice for that stage of your career?
When I was first starting out, I was eager to begin working and get into a courtroom. I was fresh out of school, and with my first of three bars passed, I joined the first firm that sent me an offer. They did primarily construction defect, and it wasn’t long before I realized that I wasn’t going to be going to court. But, it was a wonderful first step into the legal field and a chance to begin trying out defense work. This firm was the jumping-off point of my career in insurance defense. I did eventually work for firms that did car accidents, trip and falls, and all sorts of other personal injury cases that brought me into the courtroom. Insurance defense was fun because of the different types of cases and the challenges of learning about traffic, medical injuries, construction, and so many other topics. I became an excellent negotiator and settled cases that seemed impossible, and won many in court. I learned a great deal about insurance, risk assessment, and how to protect yourself through various types of coverage. But, about 12 years in, aging parents, a young family, a move to a new state, and working as a partner in a firm, I started to think that defense work may not be what I was meant to do.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
When our son was a toddler, we planned on going out of town for the first time without our child. That was the moment I realized that something could happen to both me and my wife, and we weren’t sure who would raise our son. There was an easy solution; we needed a will or trust. I called attorneys in our area only to be told that they wanted between $300 and $500 to consult with us, and the cost for a trust would be between $5,000 and $10,000. Who could afford that?
As an attorney, I was shocked at the cost and the lack of care that these law firms offered to potential clients. That was when I decided to start looking into doing estate planning for myself, just as a way to protect us as well as other family and friends. I never thought that this would be the path that I would take as a career, but in 2022, when my wife’s uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I stepped in to help his daughter get his California home, vehicles, and assets into order. I urgently created estate documents and walked them through probate. That was the moment I realized that this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people and prepare them for the inevitable. But, I didn’t just want to do estate planning; I wanted to help everyone who thought wills and trusts are just for the super wealthy – people with young families, retirees, people who were working hard to have a house and provide for their kids.
That’s when we created Affordable Estate Planning with the goal to make wills, trusts, and estate planning accessible and affordable for everyone.