About

Alex Glassmann founded Sea of the North to serve families who want to avoid the courtroom conflicts and relational damage that poor planning creates.

For eight years, Alex worked as a full-time mediator, primarily with divorcing parents. In hundreds of mediation sessions, estate planning questions came up constantly: guardianship decisions, life insurance amounts, what happens if both parents die. Families would work through all of that in Alex’s office, then take those decisions to attorneys who’d charge thousands for documents that often didn’t accomplish what clients thought they would. Alex stayed in his lane—until it got personal. He watched both sides of his own family destroy themselves over inheritance, not because they lacked documents, but because those documents didn’t account for human dynamics. His mom’s parents spent over $10,000 (in today’s money) on an elaborate trust for their farm—a plan that only worked if all three daughters cooperated. The daughters don’t get along. Both grandparents have passed, and that expensive trust is now just paper. When Alex realized this wasn’t malpractice but common practice—clients ordering documents like they’re ordering off a menu, attorneys preparing what’s requested without checking whether it’ll work for that family—he decided to do something about it.

Sea of the North was built on a different model: lifetime legal counsel instead of one-time document preparation. The firm operates entirely on flat fees (no hourly billing), maintains ongoing relationships with clients through regular check-ins and membership programs, and focuses on legacy—not just assets. Every estate plan includes a recorded legacy interview, capturing clients’ voices, stories, and values so families inherit more than money. Alex designed systems to help procrastinators finally get estate planning done and done well, ensuring plans stay current as life changes rather than becoming outdated paperwork that fails when families need them most.

Alex continues to provide family mediation services alongside his estate planning work. He has taught mediation at the University of Minnesota Law School, served with the Conflict Resolution Center and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), and holds leadership roles with the ADR Section Council of the Minnesota State Bar Association and the Academy of Professional Family Mediators (APFM). He lives in Minnesota with his wife Kylen and their two daughters, Flo and Frankie.

Alex Glassmann, Esq.
Sea of the North, PLLC
(612) 234-5357
alex@seaofthenorth.law