Claire Whitfield
Founder & Managing Attorney
Divorce & separation · Mediation · Parenting plans
About the firm
A small firm for the turning points of family life
Since 2012 we've helped northern Colorado families through separations, estate plans, guardianships, and visas for the people they love. We stay small on purpose, so the attorney you meet is the one who does the work.
Every letter we send is written to be read at a kitchen table.
Our story
Built as the opposite of what people expect
Aspen Family Law began in 2012 with one attorney, one borrowed conference room, and one idea: the people who call a family lawyer are already having the hardest month of their year, and the firm should make that month easier, not more expensive and more frightening.
Claire Whitfield had spent nine years at a litigation firm watching families arrive scared and leave poorer and angrier. She opened Aspen to do the opposite. She published her fees on day one, offered mediation before litigation, and wrote every letter so a tired parent could read it at the kitchen table.
Families kept asking the same next question: now that the divorce is done, what about our wills? So in 2015 Daniel Osei joined to build a flat-fee estate-planning practice. Guardianship followed, then family immigration when Maya Reyes-Chen arrived in 2019, because the same families were sponsoring a spouse or bringing a parent home. Tom Lindqvist joined in 2021 to give wills and elder planning more time and patience.
We're still small on purpose. Four attorneys, two paralegals, and an office manager who knows every client's name. Small means the attorney you meet is the attorney who does the work.
A few dates along the way
- 2012 Claire opens Aspen Family Law with published flat fees for uncontested divorce.
- 2015 Daniel joins and builds three flat-fee estate-planning packages.
- 2017 Free monthly document-review mornings begin at the senior center.
- 2019 Maya joins, leading guardianship and the new family-immigration practice.
- 2021 Tom joins from a probate clerkship to focus on wills and elder planning.
- 2026 Evening and video appointments every week, for parents and caregivers.
What we believe
Four promises that shape every matter
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Plain words first
You'll never leave a meeting wondering what we said. We translate every filing, form, and option into ordinary language before you're asked to decide anything.
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Calm is a strategy
In family matters, the least inflamed path is usually the strongest one. We lower the temperature where we can. Where we must, we hold the line firmly and without theatrics.
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Honest fees, in writing
Flat fees wherever the work is predictable, published on this site. Where only hourly is honest, we say so, estimate in writing, and tell you when a fight isn't worth its fee.
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Your pace, not ours
Grief and separation don't run on court calendars. We build timelines around what you can carry this month, and we never invent urgency to move you along.
These show up in practice as our list of nevers and published fees.
The team
Four attorneys, and the people behind them
Daniel Osei
Partner, Estate Planning & Probate
Wills & trusts · Probate administration · Blended-family planning
Maya Reyes-Chen
Senior Associate, Guardianship & Immigration
Parenting plans · Guardianship · Family immigration
Tom Lindqvist
Associate, Wills & Elder Law
Wills & powers of attorney · Elder planning · Probate support
Behind the attorneys
Two paralegals and an office manager
They answer the phone, keep every deadline on the calendar, and know which clients prefer a text to a call. When you reach out, a real person picks up, and within one business day you'll hear from the attorney who owns your matter. Paralegal time is billed at a published rate on hourly matters and is always included in flat fees.
Where we work
Rooted in Fort Collins, working across Colorado
Our office is in Fort Collins, and most clients come from Larimer and Weld counties: Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor, Wellington, and Greeley. Planning meetings, mediation sessions, and immigration interview prep also work by video for families anywhere in Colorado.
- Fort Collins
- Loveland
- Windsor
- Wellington
- Greeley
- Video, anywhere in Colorado
Visit us at 2210 Birchwood Lane, Suite 140, Fort Collins, CO 80524. Directions and hours →
In the community
Free help, given on purpose
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Senior-center mornings
The first Friday of every month, Tom reviews old wills and powers of attorney for free, two doors down from our office.
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Caregiver will clinics
Once a year Daniel runs a free will-signing clinic for hospice caregivers, the people who spend their days looking after everyone else.
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Kinship-care support
Maya trains volunteers who help grandparents and relatives raising children, so families know their options before a crisis.