James E. Hickmon, known to clients as Jim, is the principal of our Charlotte estate planning and fiduciary law firm and has practiced law since 2001. He is certified by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization as a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law, and he is also a Certified Financial Planner®, a combination that allows him to address both the legal structure of a plan and the financial mechanics behind it. His practice centers on protecting families and closely held business owners through succession planning that keeps family assets, and family businesses, in the family after an owner's death. He has counseled families with operating businesses across a wide spectrum of industries, from farming and trucking to real estate development and software engineering. Jim holds a Juris Doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law, an MBA in Finance from East Carolina University, and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Certifications and Admissions

Certifications

• Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law, North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, since 2015

• Certified Financial Planner®, Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, since 1996

Bar and Court Admissions

• North Carolina State Bar, since 2004

• Virginia State Bar, since 2001

• United States Supreme Court, 2017

• United States Tax Court, 2002

• United States District Court, Western District of North Carolina, 2012

• United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, 2001

• United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Virginia, 2001

Areas of Focus

Jim concentrates his practice in the areas where estate planning, tax, and fiduciary obligations intersect:

• Business succession planning for closely held and family-owned companies

• Wealth transfer and lifetime estate planning

• Estate administration and North Carolina probate procedure

• Fiduciary duties, disputes, and litigation

• Fiduciary income taxation of trusts and estates

• Powers of attorney and incapacity planning

Teaching and Published Work

Jim has previously served as an adjunct professor of law at Wake Forest University School of Law, where he has taught Wealth Transfer and Fiduciary Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates to upper-level law students during the fall semesters of 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023. He is also a working author in his field rather than an occasional commentator on it. He wrote the Estate Proceedings chapter of the North Carolina Bar Association Foundation's Estate Administration Manual and its Fiduciary Litigation Manual, and he has contributed repeatedly to The Will & The Way, the publication of the North Carolina Bar Association's Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section, on topics including the North Carolina Uniform Power of Attorney Act, claims and liens against estates, and the unauthorized practice of law by non-lawyer professionals. His work has also appeared nationally in the Bureau of National Affairs' Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal and Financial Planning Journal.

Professional Recognition

• Best Lawyers in America - Trusts & Estates Litigation 2026 & 2027

• North Carolina Super Lawyers Magazine, Thomson Reuters, since 2016

• AV Preeminent Peer Rated Lawyer, Martindale-Hubbell, since 2011

• Business North Carolina Legal Elite, Estate Planning Section, 2010, 2012 through 2016, and 2019

• Avvo Superb Rated Lawyer - Rated 10.0

• 2016 Honor Roll, Mecklenburg Access to Justice Pro Bono Partners Program, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont

Leadership in the Bar and the Community

Jim has helped shape the rules his colleagues practice under. He has been a member of the American Bar Association's RPTE Committee on Uniform Laws for Trusts and Estates since 2013 and served as its chair from 2021 to 2023, and he has represented North Carolina in the ABA House of Delegates since 2020. Within the North Carolina Bar Association, he served on the council of the Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section from 2016 to 2018, chaired its Litigation and Dispute Resolution Committee, and sat on the drafting subcommittee for the North Carolina Uniform Power of Attorney Act from 2014 to 2017. He has also presented continuing legal education on probate procedure, guardianship, fiduciary income tax, and fiduciary dispute resolution for the North Carolina Bar Association, the Mecklenburg Bar Association, and the UNC School of Government.

His volunteer work follows the same pattern of sustained involvement. As president of NAMI Virginia, the state affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, he advocated for the passage of mental health parity legislation before the Virginia Legislature. Since 2019, he has served on the Humane Society of Charlotte's development committee as outside counsel for planned giving.

Outside the Practice

A native of the Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach area, Jim lives in South Charlotte with his wife, Alison, their three rescue cats, and their rescue dog. Away from the office, he enjoys writing, traveling, and landscaping his yard. You can also follow his work through our firm's LinkedIn page.

Schedule a Consultation With Our Charlotte Estate Planning Practice

If you are planning for the transfer of family wealth, building a succession plan for a closely held business, or facing questions about administering an estate or fulfilling a fiduciary duty, Jim and our practice are ready to help. Call our Charlotte office at 704-248-6325 to schedule a consultation.