Katie L. Capielo

Katie L. Capielo is a partner at Capielo Law Group LLP, where she leads the firm's trust and estate planning and litigation practice. With an LL.M. in Taxation (with honors) from Golden Gate University and years of experience representing trustees, beneficiaries, and fiduciaries in some of the most emotionally charged legal disputes, Katie combines deep technical expertise with a compassionate, client-centered approach.

Katie's practice encompasses the full spectrum of trust and estate matters: fiduciary accounting and surcharge actions, trust litigation, will and trust contests, interpretation of testamentary instruments, beneficiary representation, elder abuse litigation, and conservatorship disputes. She handles cases from pre-litigation planning and discovery through trial or settlement. On the transactional side, Katie advises individuals and families on estate planning strategies to preserve wealth across multiple generations, including tax-efficient trust structures, asset protection, and business succession planning.

She has designed estate plans for ultra-high-net-worth clients, prepared irrevocable life insurance trusts, irrevocable defective grantor trusts for lifetime gifting and legacy trust planning, partnership agreements, and LLC formation documents.

Before co-founding Capielo Law Group, Katie served as Special Counsel at Candelaria LLP, a prominent women-owned Bay Area law firm, and prior to that rose to partnership at Brothers Smith LLP. Her earlier career included working at boutique trust and estate firms in the East Bay and starting at a tax and accounting firm advising high-net-worth clients on estate and gift tax planning strategies — a foundation that gives her unusual fluency in the tax dimensions of estate planning.

What truly sets Katie apart is her path to law. Before becoming an attorney, Katie worked as a film editor and writer, with a particular fascination for the dynamics of family relationships — stories centered on trauma, competitiveness, and rivalry. That creative background sharpened her attention to detail and her ability to identify inconsistencies in opposing narratives. Today, she brings that same storytelling instinct to her legal practice, crafting compelling client narratives that faithfully, professionally, and persuasively present her clients' positions.

Katie is also available for educational presentations to financial advisors, real estate professionals, and insurance groups on topics related to estate planning and trust administration.