When family relationships become legal disputes, the issues are rarely just about the law.

That is true in Family Law. It is equally true in Trusts, Estates & Probate.

For Hon. Verna Adams (Ret.), that shared human dynamic is precisely what connects the two sides of her mediation practice.

Two Practices. Decades of Experience.

Before taking the bench, Judge Adams spent 28 years practicing family law. She then served for more than two decades on the Marin County Superior Court, including extensive leadership of both its Family Law and Probate divisions.

Today, she brings that rare dual perspective to mediation of sophisticated disputes involving:

Direct When Needed. Creative When It Matters.

Judge Adams built a reputation on the bench for knowing the law, identifying the real issues, and giving parties a clear-eyed assessment of their positions.

Mediation gives her another tool: the freedom to look beyond what a court could order.

She prepares extensively, speaks with counsel before mediation, and asks a deceptively simple set of questions:

What do you want? What do you need?

And how can we get it for you?

That can mean creative property arrangements, non-monetary terms, or solutions tailored to the relationships and priorities that brought the parties to the table in the first place.

Attorneys who have worked with Judge Adams as a neutral describe an approach that is both candid and compassionate. She will address weaknesses directly—but she also takes time to understand the clients, make them comfortable with the process, and help them see the value of compromise.

Because whether the dispute involves a marriage, a parent, a sibling, a trust, or an estate, Judge Adams understands something essential:

The legal case may end. The relationship often does not.

“With those eight years as supervising judge in probate, she gets the dynamic of this practice exceedingly well, and you don’t have to explain as much to her as you do some mediators. There are mediators that will include trusts and estates litigation in their list of specialties, but she’s a specialist.”

“Judge Adams lowers tensions in any family law setting by practicing empathy, imparting respect, and being truthful. Her knowledge of the law is such that she could teach any course in law school but never comes across as condescending. Judge Adams’ sole agenda is to help families resolve conflict so that they can move on to the next phase of their lives.”