Florida Bar Board Certified Elder Law Attorney, Kellen Bryant focuses his law practice on advising and helping caregivers with a particular focus on asset protection and preservation from long-term care costs, creditors, and predators. Kellen Bryant is AV Preeminent® Rated, meaning his attorney peers rated him at the highest level of professional excellence. Kellen Bryant was nominated and selected as a Super Lawyer, Rising Star: 2022.

Kellen Bryant is a partner and co-founder of Berg Bryant Elder Law Group after having spent 7 years building his own practice from scratch. Kellen started his solo practice at 27 years old during the 2009 recession, with no contacts and no prior legal experience in elder law. Kellen has since built a practice that has served over 8,000 families and supports a full office staff to help serve all client needs. Kellen is a Jacksonville, Florida native, having attended Sandalwood High School and his close family still lives in Jacksonville. Like many of his clients, Kellen has been financially on his own since age 18.

Kellen is one of approximately 117 attorneys that the Florida Bar has certified as an expert in elder law. There are approximately 77,000 licensed attorneys in Florida, thus, the board certification makes Kellen uniquely qualified to help caregivers and elderly clients.

Due to the poor economy in 2009, traditional opportunities to work under experienced attorneys were not available to Kellen and he has spent nearly $100,000 (and counting) on seminars and training all over the country in pursuit of trying to become the best elder law attorney for his clients and their caregivers. Of course, lawyers cannot say that they are the best attorney, but the goal is to continually try to be the best.

Florida Board Certified Elder Law Attorneys R. Kellen Bryant and Carla Trinca-Conley at Berg Bryant Elder Law Group, PLLC assists caregivers and families with asset protection planning for long-term care, wills, trust creation and administration, Special Needs Trusts / SSI Preservation, and administration of probate and guardianship estates in probate court.

Berg Bryant Elder Law Group, PLLC practice primarily assists families living in Duval County (Jacksonville Beach Cities and Baldwin), Nassau County (Fernandina Beach, Callahan, and Amelia Island), St. Johns County (St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach, and St. Johns), and Clay County (Orange Park, Fleming Island, and Green Cove Springs), who want a face-to-face experience.

We use technology, including video conferencing and teleconferencing, to connect with caregivers whose loved ones live in Florida, but the caregiver does not. We use email and secure client portals to work with clients located outside our primary office location.

Our firm was founded on May 1, 2016, by Florida Bar Board Certified Elder Law Attorneys Rebecca L. Berg and R. Kellen Bryant.

Attorney Rebecca L. Berg enjoyed a long career serving Northeast Florida’s caregiver community, being one of the first board-certified elder law attorneys in the nation. Attorney Berg was active in elder law attorney associations both nationwide and statewide, having served in the highest executive capacities in those organizations. During her career, she has served thousands and has been an instrumental mentor to many attorneys in the Northeast Florida legal community, including the current partners of the firm.

Attorney R. Kellen Bryant was basically solo out of law school, and for 7 years, grew his elder law practice from nothing to merging with the most prestigious elder law attorney in his community.

Berg Bryant Elder Law Group seeks to be the go-to law firm for all caregivers in Northeast Florida and improve the lives of the aging and disabled population. Our firm wants Northeast Florida to be known nationwide for taking care of this critical demographic.

1. You call in. You’ll be scheduled for a 15-30 minute Free Intake Call to make sure we can help you.
2. We will send you a form before the call that will take 5-10 minutes for you to complete. These are basic questions and we are not looking for any specific financial information or social security numbers.
3. The Free Intake Call will discuss questions about process, whether can we help, and legal fees.
4. The Attorney Consultation will learn further about your situation and desires, drill down to the type of plan you’re looking to implement, quote a fee, review the fee agreement, discuss plan funding, and gather data to begin the next step.
5. We will draft your documents.
6. We will meet to review the first draft. We will make revisions before presenting drafts for you to review at home.
7. We will either repeat the comment/questions, review, and revision process until you’re comfortable signing.
8. You’ll sign the documents and we discuss responsibilities for funding and administration of the plan.

An attorney who listens without interrupting and makes sure you fully understand your options before making any decisions! I wouldn’t be doing my job as an attorney otherwise. It’s very important to me that you feel heard and have your questions answered. We’ll also review our process, fees, and overall client experience so you know exactly what you are getting and what the investment will be.

When you are ready to move forward, whether at your Initial Consultation or later, let me know. We’ll send you an engagement letter via Click-to-Sign (or hardcopy) and an invoice via our secure online payment provider. Once these housekeeping items are taken care of, you’ll schedule your next attorney meeting, which is usually a draft review meeting.

Let me start by saying what we do NOT need! At the first meeting, we do NOT need account statements, social security numbers, or tax returns. Beyond that, we simply need answers to questions about your personal estate planning preferences to start the process and further discussion, including:
* Who do you want to be in charge of your assets until your beneficiaries are old enough to manage it themselves
*Who do you want to have what’s left of your assets when you pass
* Who you want making medical and financial decisions for you in the event of your incapacity

Don’t worry if you don’t have the answers to these questions right away! You’ll have plenty of time to think things over throughout the process and we will help you.

It depends! Estate planning is not one size fits all, so it’s hard for us to give you a quote without knowing more about you. Even if you believe your situation is relatively simple, there are likely nuances you are not considering, which is the value that professionals bring to the table.

We discuss our fees and process at length in the Free Intake Call and the Initial Consultation, after we have counseled you on all your options.

We understand that cost is an important factor in choosing an attorney, and that estate planning is a significant investment for many. It is our goal to be as transparent and fair as possible. We also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not happy with our services before signing your documents, we will make it right, or refund your money.

Finally, we will only recommend planning with us if the amount you would save by doing an estate plan is greater than our fee.

Our process is designed to have your estate planning documents signed within 6-8 weeks of your Initial Consultation. It depends in part on your schedule and how long it takes for you to review your draft documents and the number of revision rounds you desire.

Will based plans can be completed 1-3 weeks from the date of your Initial Consultation.

No. Wills, trusts, and other estate planning documents need to be signed with very specific formalities or they will not be considered legally valid. That means signing in person, in front of 2 witnesses and a notary (which we provide). The witnesses are there to confirm you are lucid and not under duress, and the notary is there to confirm you are who you say you are. Any changes you make to your documents in the future will need to be executed with the same legal formalities.

We take on a limited clientele each month so we can offer a high level of service to each family. We work with people who value our advice and are seeking a long-term working relationship. If you are looking for the cheapest attorney you can find, do not want to devote time to learning about and understanding your options, or do not feel comfortable completing the Questionnaire before our session, we are not the right law firm for you and would be happy to refer you to a lawyer who may be a better fit.

You have two options with your estate planning: a will-based plan, or a living trust-based plan. The vast majority of my clients choose a living trust. A living trust is a document where you appoint a chosen individual to manage your assets should you become incapacitated and distribute them to your family at your death. It is almost always preferrable to a will because it is designed to avoid the time, expense, and publicity of probate, which a will cannot avoid.

It comes as a surprise to many of my clients that wills do not avoid probate court…they guarantee it!

I go over the difference between a will and a living trust in depth during the Peace of Mind Planning Session. The most common question I get at the end of this session is, “Why would anybody ever do a will?!” Ultimately, however, the decision is yours.