Julianna Makler Malis

More About Julianna Makler Malis

Julianna Malis is a nationally recognized estate planning and elder law attorney focusing on traditional estate planning, asset protection, and estate administration. She has been practicing law on the Central Coast for over twenty years and is devoted to protecting families and small businesses. Julianna helps families stop worrying about the ‘what ifs’ in life and instead prepare for life events through proper estate planning. As the founder of Santa Barbara Estate Planning Law Group, she brings a family-centered approach to planning, with a focus on practical solutions for families and high-net-worth individuals. 

She is also a Certified Dementia Practitioner Trainer and Certified Dementia Practitioner and a frequent speaker to public and private groups on estate planning, elder law, and asset protection planning issues. Julianna formed the Santa Barbara Estate Planning Law Group after becoming her mother’s caregiver. She decided she would use her personal experience to help other families who might be part of the ‘Sandwich Generation’ (i.e. adults “sandwiched” between the challenges of simultaneously caring for aging parents and their own family) with navigating the elder care life care continuum. 

Over the last several years, Julianna has created a law firm that attends to her clients’ needs from a ‘holistic’ viewpoint by addressing legal, medical, financial, social, and family issues we encounter every day regardless of stage of life. Julianna’s primary goal is to promote and advocate for the highest quality of life for her clients. Her intelligent and heart-felt guidance for her clients is reflected in each and every estate and life care plan prepared. She is indeed the trusted advisor families turn to in their time of crisis, providing each person in her care hope and resolution. She received her J.D. from a top law school—University of the Pacific-McGeorge School of Law (1996), LL.M in Estate Planning-Taxation (1999) and her B.A. in Philosophy from University of California, Santa Barbara (1993). She is an active member of the Trusts & Estates Section of the California State Bar, WealthCounsel and ElderCounsel—both nationally recognized programs for estate planning lawyers that provides top training and continuing education. Julianna also serves on the board of the Santa Barbara County Legal Aid Foundation. Most importantly, Julianna and her husband Sean together have a blended family of five and one grandson.