Mahvesh “Marissa” Garcia
Mahvesh "Marissa" Garcia is the owner and Managing Attorney of Gold Law. Known to clients simply as Marissa, she joined the firm's Camarillo office in 2009 and has dedicated her practice to helping individuals and families navigate estate planning, trusts, probate, and conservatorship matters.
Marissa is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, a designation granted by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Her practice focuses on designing estate plans, creating and updating trusts, guiding families through trust administration, and assisting clients with probate and conservatorship proceedings. She also serves on the Court Appointed Panel for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, representing adults with developmental disabilities or dementia.
Clients often seek Marissa's guidance during significant life transitions, including planning for retirement, providing for children and grandchildren, protecting loved ones with special needs, administering a family trust after a death, or addressing the challenges that accompany incapacity. Her approach emphasizes practical solutions, clear communication, and documents designed to work effectively when families need them most.
Marissa works from the Gold Law office at 484 Mobil Avenue, Suite 26, in Camarillo. The office keeps hours Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Her team answers at (805) 388-8800.
What Estate Planning Attorney Marissa Garcia Handles in Camarillo
Marissa's practice centers on estate planning in Ventura County and the matters that follow it. She drafts the documents a family signs while everyone is healthy. She also handles the trust and court work that begins after an illness or a death. Her clients include individuals, married couples, trustees and private professional fiduciaries.
A Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law
California lets a lawyer claim specialist status only after an outside body certifies it. For estate planning, trust and probate law, that body is the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Estate planning attorney Marissa Garcia holds that certification. Her State Bar record lists it as a Certified Legal Specialty in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.
The difference matters when you compare lawyers. Any attorney can say they focus on trusts. Picture two lawyers who both describe themselves that way, where only one has passed the Board's exam and review. Only the certification tells you which one did, and the State Bar publishes it where anyone can look.
What the Board of Legal Specialization Requires
The Board of Legal Specialization sets several requirements before it certifies a lawyer. The lawyer must pass a written exam in the specialty and must have practiced law for at least five years. At least 25% of that practice time must go to the specialty area. The lawyer also completes extra continuing education and needs favorable evaluations from attorneys and judges who know the work. Certified specialists then recertify every five years.
Court Appointed Counsel for Conservatees in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties
Conservatorship proceedings provide a perspective on the legal system that many families never see. In these cases, the adult who may be placed under a conservatorship is known as the proposed conservatee. The court may appoint an attorney to represent that individual and ensure that the person's wishes, concerns, and legal rights are presented directly to the judge. That attorney's client is the proposed conservatee, not the family member who filed the petition.
Marissa serves on court-appointed counsel panels in two counties, representing proposed conservatees in conservatorship proceedings. This work requires meeting with the individual who is the subject of the petition, discussing the person's circumstances and preferences, and reporting those views to the court.
Consider a situation in which an adult child petitions to become conservator for an aging parent. Although the petition may be motivated by genuine concern, the court's responsibility is to consider the parent's interests independently. For that reason, a separate attorney may be appointed to meet with the parent, evaluate the circumstances, and ensure the court hears directly from the person whose rights are at stake.
This experience provides insight into conservatorship matters from a perspective that most families never encounter. It offers firsthand exposure to the questions judges ask, the concerns courts focus on, and the practical realities that influence conservatorship decisions. That perspective informs Marissa's work both in conservatorship proceedings and in proactive estate planning, where carefully drafted powers of attorney and healthcare directives can sometimes help families avoid the need for a conservatorship altogether.
Los Angeles Superior Court Panel Since 2016
Since 2016, Marissa has served on the Los Angeles Superior Court's court appointed counsel panel. Judges appoint panel lawyers to represent proposed conservatees in conservatorship cases. Founder Howard Gold does the same kind of appointed work for conservatees. In a general conservatorship, a court investigator also meets the proposed conservatee before the hearing. The judge then reviews the investigator's report along with the petition.
Ventura Superior Court Conservatee Private Counsel Panel Since 2020
In 2020, the Ventura Superior Court formed a new Conservatee Private Counsel Panel, and Marissa joined it that year. The panel serves the same purpose in Ventura County, where Gold Law practices. That work brings her before the local judges who hear conservatorship matters. It also gives her a close view of how Ventura County handles these cases from start to finish.
Education, Bar Leadership and Community Service in Ventura County
Marissa earned her B.A. from California State University, Northridge, in 2005. She then attended Southwestern Law School and received her J.D. in May 2009. In December 2009, the State Bar of California and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California both admitted her. She joined Gold Law that same year.
Her legal training began with public interest work and a judicial externship in federal court, both while she was a law student. Those experiences shaped how she works with families who come to the firm with little legal background.
Marissa's professional life extends beyond client meetings. She holds board seats in two Ventura County legal organizations and belongs to bar associations in two counties. Those roles keep her in regular contact with the judges and attorneys who practice in the same courts.
She also volunteers with programs for young people in the county, alongside her work as an owner, an attorney and a parent. A student preparing for a mock trial competition, for example, may meet her as one of the scorers.
Honors at Southwestern Law School
Marissa graduated from Southwestern in the top 20% of her class. In 2007 she received the Harvey L. and Lillian Silbert Public Interest Fellowship. That fall she also earned the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Constitutional Law. Both honors came while she studied at Southwestern. The same law school in Los Angeles also trained firm founder Howard Gold.
Judicial Externship in the Central District of California
Marissa worked as a judicial extern for the Honorable Patrick J. Walsh. Judge Walsh served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Central District of California. A judicial extern is a law student who researches issues and drafts memos for a judge. The role gave her an early look at how judges read the papers lawyers file. She completed it before the State Bar admitted her in December 2009.
Bar Associations in Two Counties
Marissa serves on the board of the Ventura County Bar Association's Estate Planning and Probate Section. She joined the board of Women Lawyers of Ventura County in 2020 and became its Treasurer in 2021. Her membership in the Los Angeles County Bar Association reflects her court work there. She also belongs to the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association, an independent organization separate from the State Bar.
Volunteer Work and Life Outside the Office
Every year since 2012, Marissa has volunteered as an attorney scorer for the Ventura County Mock Trial Program. She has also served as a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County. She joined host Amy Evans on episode 51 of the AlignWomen Podcast to discuss estate planning, trust and probate law. Away from work, she enjoys travel, baking, reading and Dodgers baseball, and she spends time with her family, including her three children.
Book a Free Consultation With Estate Planning Attorney Marissa Garcia
If you are ready to plan, or you are the trustee of a trust that now needs settling, Marissa can review your situation with you. Call Gold Law at (805) 388-8800 to book a free consultation. If you prefer to write first, the contact form for Gold Law reaches the same office. You can also email the office at info@goldlawcorp.com.
Please bring any documents you already have. A copy of an existing trust or will, recent deeds and a list of accounts give the first meeting something concrete to review. If you have none of those, the consultation can begin without them.
Marissa is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law through the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She meets clients at 484 Mobil Avenue, Suite 26, in Camarillo, and by phone or video.
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