Attorneys at law
Harlan & Voss
Family and estate law, explained before it is billed.
The office, at a glance
Telephone
Consultations
Mon–Fri · 08:30 – 17:30 most days
First meeting
45 min · no charge
The matters we take on
Start with what has happened
Not with a price list. Find the one that sounds like your situation and read what it actually involves — the money is a conversation we will have, in writing, before anything begins.
01
45 min first meeting
Family law consultation
A first meeting about divorce, separation, parenting time or support. No charge and no obligation, and you leave with a written estimate for whichever route you choose.
02
45 min first meeting
Estate planning consultation
Wills, trusts and powers of attorney. We map what you have, who it should go to and what it costs to put in place. No charge.
03
1 hr 30 min first meeting
Will and advance directives
Flat fee. A will, medical and financial powers of attorney and an advance directive — drafted, reviewed with you and signed with witnesses at our office.
04
2 hr first meeting
Revocable living trust
Flat fee for an individual trust. Includes funding instructions and deed preparation for one Colorado property.
05
1 hr first meeting
Uncontested divorce
Flat fee where both parties agree. Covers the petition, the separation agreement, the parenting plan and the final orders hearing.
06
1 hr first meeting
Probate administration
Billed hourly at this rate against a written estimate. Denver County filings, creditor notice and the final accounting.
Every one of these is quoted before it starts, and the figures for all of them are on the practice-areas page. If what has happened to you is not on this list, telephone and ask — we would rather point you somewhere useful than take work we are wrong for.
The library
How we work
Four things you can hold us to
Undertakings rather than adjectives. Everything on this list is something you would notice the absence of.
1
The person you meet does the work
A small practice, so your matter is not opened by a partner and then handed to somebody you have never spoken to. The attorney across the table at the first meeting is the one who writes the letters.
2
A written estimate before you instruct us
Itemised, with the assumptions it rests on written down beside it. If one of those assumptions stops being true you hear about it in advance, not on the invoice.
3
Telephone calls returned the same working day
Not "within 48 hours". The single most common complaint about lawyers is silence, and it is an entirely avoidable one.
4
Plain language, including when it is unwelcome
If the law is unhelpful to you, you will be told at the first meeting rather than the fifth. A client who understands a weak position can still make a good decision about it.
Your first meeting
What a first consultation covers
45 min · no charge
No preparation required beyond turning up with whatever paperwork you already have.
A
You tell us what happened
Uninterrupted, in your own order. Bring dates, documents and the questions you have been turning over — there is no such thing as a detail that is too small to mention.
B
We tell you where you stand
In plain language, including the parts you may not want to hear. If the law is unhelpful to you we will say so at the first meeting rather than the fifth.
C
We set out the options
Usually there are three or four, and they differ in cost, time and how much of your life they take up. We will tell you which one we would choose and why.
D
You get the figure in writing
Before you commit to anything, you leave with a written estimate of what the route you have chosen will cost. If you decide not to instruct us, that is a perfectly normal outcome of a first meeting.
Tell us what has happened
Nothing you send here is confidential until we have agreed to act for you, so keep it to the outline — and please do not attach documents yet.
What to put in it
Four lines is plenty
You do not need to marshal the whole story to send a first message. What lets us tell you quickly whether we are the right people is small:
—
What has happened, in your own order.
—
When it happened, and whether anything has a deadline on it.
—
Who else is involved — the other side, an insurer, a court.
—
What you would like the outcome to be.
If there is a hearing, a deadline or a police matter inside the next few days, telephone instead. The diary moves faster than the inbox.
In their words
What clients have said afterwards
“I had put off ringing a solicitor for four months because I did not know what I would be starting. Forty minutes in a room and I knew what my options cost. That was the whole barrier, and it was made of nothing.”
Marguerite R. · Probate, 2025
“The estimate they gave me at the first meeting is the figure I paid. When one assumption behind it changed they rang me before doing the work, not after.”
D. Okonjo · Commercial lease
“They told me at the first meeting that my position was weaker than I wanted it to be. I did not enjoy hearing it and it saved me about eight thousand pounds.”
Ines V. · Contested boundary
The money
How our fees work
Three ways of charging, and you will always be told which one applies to your matter before any work starts. Which of them fits yours is a five-minute conversation, not a line on a price list — which is why the figures are on the practice-areas page rather than in front of you here.
Flat fee
Most planning work — a will, a trust, an uncontested filing — is quoted as one figure for the whole job. You know the number before you agree to anything, and it does not move because a matter took us longer than we expected.
Hourly
Anything whose length genuinely depends on the other side is billed by the hour against a written estimate. We tell you the rate, the estimate and the assumptions behind it, and we tell you again as soon as any of them stops being true.
Retainer
For ongoing matters we hold a sum on account and bill against it, with a statement each month showing what was done, by whom and for how long. Anything unused is yours and comes back.
Estimates are written, itemised and given to you before you instruct us. Where a fee has to change we tell you why, in advance, and you decide whether to carry on.
The attorneys
Who you will actually be working with
01
Margaret Harlan
Partner · Family law
Handles the contested end of family law and would far rather settle it. Will tell you at the first meeting whether your case is one that genuinely belongs in front of a judge.
02
Daniel Voss
Partner · Estates and probate
Wills, trusts and the administration afterwards. Spends most of his week explaining to families that the paperwork is duller and more survivable than they feared.
03
Priya Raman
Associate · Family law
Parenting plans, support modifications and the long tail of orders that need revisiting. Returns telephone calls the same day, which clients mention more than anything else.
The office
Tell us what happened
A first conversation costs you nothing but the time, and you will leave it knowing what your options are and what they cost.
Request a consultation