Our firm knows that our client’s estate is a reflection of years of hard work, careful planning and good decisions. That's why our attorneys dedicate considerable time to design plans that are tailored to meet the unique needs and help ensure a secure future for those closest to our clients. Our attorneys provide practical solutions to estate planning and asset protection concerns to accomplish our clients' wishes, including maintaining management and control of their estate, while at the same time avoiding probate, protecting family members, ensuring their financial privacy, obtaining peace of mind, and avoiding unnecessary taxes.

Our attorneys accomplish the goals of our clients through the use of simple wills, tax planning wills, pour-over wills, revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations, business agreements, irrevocable life insurance trusts, charitable trusts, charitable planning and disclaimers. Selecting the best instrument, or combination of instruments, is critical to carrying out the last wishes and disposition goals of our clients. Our attorneys understand that every estate, regardless of size, is an important one.

Wealth Transfer and Succession Planning

Our attorneys advise high net worth individuals in achieving their desired objectives for the distribution of property, while attaining tax-planning objectives.

The service our firm offers is uniquely personal. The initial objective of our attorneys is to understand the client's goals and desires as well as the client's motivations and relationships. This understanding of personal goals is then combined with tax planning to obtain desirable planning results, usually resulting in very substantial tax savings.

A variety of tools are utilized to carry out individual objectives for the transfer of property and to achieve tax-planning opportunities. Our attorneys use these tools to accomplish tax planning advantageous to our clients.

For a number of our clients with valuable closely-held business, issues surrounding succession planning and business control are paramount. We work closely with these clients in structuring strategies to achieve their goals. 

Special Needs Planning

Individuals with special needs require specific planning tools. If any of your heirs or beneficiaries have special needs due to a disability, without careful planning any gift or inheritance left to them can cause them to lose important government benefits, or leave them exposed to people who will take their assets. Without proper advanced planning, even a small inheritance left to a beneficiary can have dire consequences.  The beneficiary may be disqualified for SSI or Medicaid until they have spent all the money and may have to wait to re-qualify. Thus, the inheritance you intended to benefit the beneficiary may actually hurt them. With proper advanced planning you can prevent this outcome, as well as designate someone to watch over your child’s best interests.

The Medicaid laws allow individuals to protect assets while providing for an individual with special needs. An individual can create a Special Needs Trust, also known as a Supplemental Needs Trust. This third party settled trust must contain specific language to protect the assets in the Trust from the claims of creditors and government agencies, while protecting the individual’s entitlement to public benefits.

Charitable Planning and Representation

Offering significant benefits to high net worth individuals, planned gifts to charities can be utilized to reduce transfer taxes and income taxes, and to achieve client goals.  Our attorneys assist clients in understanding and structuring charitable gifts, often involving the creation of charitable lead trusts, charitable remainder trusts, and private foundations.

In addition to charitable planning, our firm represents various charities including churches, private foundations, public foundations, and charitable trusts.

Health Care Directives        

Our clients recognize the possibility of incapacity and plan for substitute decision-making with respect to property management and health care decisions. Planning options include durable powers of attorney for asset management and health care decisions, Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care, revocable trusts, and statutory and private living wills.  These instruments are vital to all aging clients.  Living wills allow a person to arrange for a dignified death without prolonged suffering under circumstances where the application of life-sustaining procedures would serve only to postpone the moment of death.