A well-established estate planning and probate law firm, is seeking a Trusts and Estates Paralegal to join its team in Urbandale, IA, in the Des Moines metro. You’ll draft estate planning documents, manage probate and trust administration, and guide clients through some of life’s most important moments. Pay is $65,000-$80,000 plus a discretionary bonus, and employee health coverage is 100% paid by the firm.
This is a busy but laid-back small firm in a convenient suburban location, away from the downtown bustle. The right person is an independent, tech-savvy paralegal with a strong work ethic and genuine people skills, who enjoys owning their work with minimal oversight.
What You’ll Do as the Trusts and Estates Paralegal:
- Draft wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and related estate planning documents
- Manage probate administration from opening through closing, including court filings, inventories, notices, and accountings
- Support estate and trust administration for clients and fiduciaries
- Coordinate trust funding, including asset retitling and beneficiary designation updates
- Assist with client intake and gather the information needed to prepare documents
- Prepare and finalize documents for attorney review and signing
- Communicate with clients, families, and financial institutions with professionalism and compassion
- Track deadlines and keep case files organized and current
- Work independently and manage your own workload with minimal oversight
Must-Haves as the Trusts and Estates Paralegal:
- 2-3+ years of paralegal experience
- Experience with estate planning, probate, or trust administration
- Associate degree or higher
- Strong technology skills and comfort learning new software
- Excellent interpersonal skills with clients of all backgrounds, including families navigating a loss
- A strong work ethic and the ability to work independently with minimal oversight
- Exceptional organization and attention to detail
- Ability to work in the Urbandale, IA office
Nice-to-Haves as the Trusts and Estates Paralegal:
- Iowa probate experience
- Experience with Clio
- Experience with WealthCounsel
- Experience with Iowa Docs or other probate document assembly tools
- Trust funding experience
- Paralegal certificate or certification
This Role Offers:
- Base salary of $65,000-$80,000, depending on experience
- A discretionary bonus, historically equal to two months' salary
- Employee health insurance 100% paid by the firm
- Dental and vision coverage available
- A 401(k) with a dollar-for-dollar match up to 3%, beginning after one year
- 15 days of paid time off per year, accruing each week
- Hybrid flexibility possible after an initial period in the office
- A busy but laid-back small-firm environment that isn’t overly stressful
- A convenient suburban office, away from downtown traffic
- Great clients and meaningful work helping families plan and settle their affairs
Skills Required
- 2-3+ years of paralegal experience
- Experience with estate planning, probate, or trust administration
- Associate degree or higher
- Strong technology skills and ability to learn new software
- Excellent interpersonal skills with clients of diverse backgrounds
- Strong work ethic and ability to work independently with minimal oversight
- Exceptional organization and attention to detail
- Ability to work in the Urbandale, Iowa office
- Iowa probate experience
- Experience with Clio
- Experience with WealthCounsel
- Experience with Iowa Docs or other probate document assembly tools
- Trust funding experience
- Paralegal certificate or certification
What We Do
Who are we? As an independent, full-service marketing and consulting business based in Portland, Maine, we provide strategy, content and design for businesses, nonprofits and individuals in Maine and throughout the world. What do we do? Everything we do revolves around ROI—improving your bottom line. Through a rock-solid communication and branding strategy, we show you how to support and engage your employees, build your workforce, find new clients and support existing business. Here’s a snapshot of our services: Strategy: Branding and rebranding; mission statement; search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine results page (SERP); hiring and retention; fundraising; communicating with board members; personal branding (for executives); events and PR; advertising campaigns; product launches; social media campaigns and management. Design: Websites; logos; promotional material (digital and print); event guides; employee photos; drone video footage; custom magazines; advertisements. Content: Website text; speeches and keynotes; promotional text; employee bios; custom articles; social media posts; newsletters and internal emails; corporate reports. Custom Publishing: Vanguard, Equity, Toggle, Blueprint, Vision, Terra Firma What’s our mission? We want to help you solve real challenges—like growing your business, hiring and retaining employees, fundraising and keeping existing business. Our mission is to do this with honesty and integrity. Authenticity—it’s a good look on you. Why do we do this? We want to reimagine marketing. We want it to be less about the perfect image, and more about using good communication and branding as a way to engage with your employees and clients in successful and lasting relationships. Ultimately, we believe this approach will create a world where people come before profit, where the environment is respected and given back to, and where good business is synonymous with the best intentions.
