Practice Areas

Estate Planning and Probate Administration

Our attorneys are equipped to handle both estate planning and probate administration.  We routinely offer comprehensive advice necessary to address complicated estate and family wealth transfer planning matters.  In order to balance significant personal and family objectives with complex legal and tax issues, we advise our clients of available options and their important implications.

To strike this balance, our attorneys seek a full understanding of the goals, values, needs, and assets of each client and then tailor an effective estate plan to accomplish each client’s objectives.  Large or small, simple or complex, each estate plan is customized to the individual needs of the client and their family members, often across multiple generations.  Whether dealing with family succession planning for a family-owned business or farm, addressing asset protection strategies, or working through the formation of trusts to accomplish family objectives, our attorneys work hand-in-hand with our clients and their other advisors to design an appropriate plan.

In addition to drafting the documents necessary to implement the plan (wills, trusts, powers of attorney, etc.), we assist with appropriate titling of assets, counsel on balancing estates for tax purposes, and advice regarding beneficiary designations.  From the initial stages of information gathering to the final signatures on relevant documents, our attorneys will work with you to fashion and implement the plan that best suits your individual needs and desires.

In addition to planning for your estate, our attorneys also assist with the estate administration process. The death a close family member or friend is difficult.  The personal representative/executor is tasked with resolving complicated probate administration issues while also experiencing grief and stress of losing a loved one.  Our attorneys help clients understand and implement the estate plan, digest applicable South Carolina law, work through requirements of the probate court, and plan for potential income or estate taxes.  We represent and guide our clients through the complex estate administration process, including probating wills, liquidating assets, accounting to the probate court, and distributing of assets to beneficiaries consistent with the decedent’s wishes.  If there is no will, we can assist the personal representative with marshalling the assets according to the South Carolina intestacy laws and complying with the probate court process for intestate estates.