The parties · Eleanor Marlowe
Eleanor Marlowe
Eleanor drafts wills, settles estates, and untangles the disputes nobody planned for. She co-founded the firm in 1987 and still answers her own phone.
Partner · Called 1989
1. What Eleanor actually does
Most of Eleanor's week is wills, estates, and the paperwork that follows a death in a small town: probate applications, executors who have never done this before, families sorting out a house and a woodlot. She drafts the will while you are in the chair and reads it back before you sign.
She co-founded the firm in 1987 and has watched three generations of some Bellwood families come through the door. When an estate goes sideways, she is usually the one who has known everyone involved for thirty years, which helps more than it should.
The other half is civil disputes: a boundary line, a contract that fell apart, a claim too small for a city firm to bother with. She takes them because someone has to, and she keeps them out of court when the numbers say court is a poor bet.
2. The rate, stated plainly
$385
per hour, partner
Eleanor’s time is billed in six-minute increments and itemized on a monthly statement, so you can see exactly what was done, when, and for how long. Many matters Eleanor handles are quoted as a flat fee instead, agreed in writing before the work begins.
3. Clauses Eleanor keeps
Three commitments Eleanor makes to every client, written the way they would sit in an agreement, with the plain meaning in the margin.
Every instruction is read back to the client, in the client's own words, before a single line is drafted.
I say your wishes out loud so we both know I heard you right.
Where a family is likely to disagree, the reasons for a decision are recorded alongside the decision.
If your kids might argue about it later, I write down why you chose what you chose.
An executor named in a will I have drafted may call me, when the day comes, without a new retainer for the first hour.
When you are gone and someone has to sort it out, their first call to me costs nothing.
Sealed with the EM mark, the engraving Eleanor presses into every agreement that leaves this desk.
4. Where Eleanor works
- 3.3Wills & EstatesWills, powers of attorney, probate, and estate administration, in plain language your family can act on.
- 3.6Civil DisputesNeighbour disputes, contract claims, and small claims court, resolved as early and as cheaply as honesty allows.
Begin with a conversation
Ten minutes on the phone, no charge. Ask for Eleanor when you call (250) 555-0184.