About Sage Estate & Business Law
A firm built around one belief: families
deserve a plan that actually works.
Sage was founded to give Utah families and business owners access to thoughtful, attorney-led estate planning — without the complexity, the hourly billing, or the feeling that you’ve been handed documents and shown the door.
Our Story
Why we built this firm.
Sage Estate & Business Law was founded on a straightforward premise: most families who need an estate plan either don’t have one, or have one that no longer fits their life. The reasons vary, cost, complexity, not knowing where to start. However, the result is the same. When something happens, the family is left to figure it out under pressure. Most business attorneys ignore estate planning. Most estate attorneys ignore business
structure. We do both because for business owners, the two are inseparable.
We built Sage to change that. We focus exclusively on trust-based planning, estate administration, and business law. The areas where structure and clarity matter most. We use flat-fee pricing so clients know exactly what they’re paying before any work begins. And we keep our caseload intentionally manageable so every client works directly with an attorney, not a paralegal or a junior associate.
We’re based in Clearfield, Utah and we serve clients throughout the state. Northern Utah is home. This community is who we’re here for.
What makes Sage different
- Flat-fee pricing. You know exactly what your plan costs before we begin. No hourly billing. No surprises.
- Attorney-led, always. Every client works with a licensed attorney from the first call through the final signature.
- Trust-based focus We build revocable living trust plans, not will packages. Your family stays out of court.
- Plain English. We explain every decision in language you can act on without requiring a law degree to follow.
- Available statewide.Based in Clearfield. Serving all of Utah, including the Salt Lake Valley, by phone, video, or in person.
How we work
Three things we believe about estate planning.
approach every client and every plan.
The courtroom is never the best option.
When families resolve what matters most inside a courtroom, the options are narrow, the cost is high, and the damage to relationships is often permanent. A well-built plan keeps families out of court entirely, and keeps their choices in their own hands.
A plan that isn't funded isn't a plan.
The documents are only half the work. A trust that doesn’t hold your assets is an empty structure. We treat funding and follow-up as part of every engagement, not an afterthought, because a plan only works if it’s actually in place when it’s needed.
Family dynamics matter as much as legal structure.
Who you name as trustee, how you structure distributions, whether you’ve accounted for a difficult relationship. These decisions shape how a plan actually functions. We pay attention to the human side of planning, not just the legal side.
Your attorneys
The people you'll work with.
your matter from the first call through the final signature.
Charles Ahlstrom
FOUNDING ATTORNEY
Charles came to estate planning with a clear conviction: the courtroom is never the right place to work out what matters most to a family.
He spent 23 years as a family law attorney, representing individuals and families through divorce, custody disputes, and the difficult transitions that follow. That work gave him something most estate planning attorneys don’t have. A deep, practitioner-level understanding of how families actually function under pressure. He knows how quickly relationships fracture when people feel wronged or overlooked. He knows how a single decision about who holds authority, or who receives what, can either hold a family together or drive it apart permanently.
That experience shapes how he approaches every estate plan he builds. Charles thinks about the people first and the documents second. He pays attention to family dynamics. Who gets along, who doesn’t, where the sensitivities are, and designs plans that reflect that reality rather than ignoring it.
Three years ago, Charles handled his own mother’s estate after she passed. He had drafted a will for her years earlier, but when the family cleaned out her apartment, they couldn’t find it. As a licensed attorney with more than two decades of legal experience, he still found himself navigating probate. That experience stayed with him. It’s part of why he founded Sage, and part of why he takes the funding and safekeeping of every plan as seriously as the drafting.
At Sage, he works with clients to build plans that are specific, clearly written, and properly maintained, so that when something happens, the people they love have a clear path forward and a reason to stay on the same side.
Education
J.D., Gonzaga University School of Law, 2003
cum laude · Gonzaga Law Review
B.A., Criminal Justice, Weber State University, 1998
Minor: German
Admitted
Focus areas
Outside the office
Charles is a husband, father of five, and grandfather of five. He fly fishes when the rivers cooperate and sings a cappella when they don’t. He built Sage in Northern Utah because this is home, and because he believes families here deserve planning that’s thoughtful, personal, and built to actually work.
Gavin [Last name]
ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY
Gavin joined Sage because he believes most families who need an estate plan have been intimidated out of getting one. By complexity, by cost, or by firms that treat planning like a transaction rather than a relationship.
Replace this paragraph with Gavin’s story in his own voice. Lead with why he chose this work, what drew him to estate planning specifically, and what he believes clients deserve from their attorney. Credentials belong at the bottom, this space is for the human being behind them.
He approaches every client with the same question: what does your family actually need? His process is unhurried and thorough he doesn’t move on until the client genuinely understands where they are and why the plan is structured the way it is.
Education
[Law school], J.D., [Year]
[Undergraduate], [Year]
Outside the office
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