Our Service

Estate Planning & Trusts

We believe a holistic, team-focused approach is vital to crafting an effective estate plan. We identify your objectives, help you focus on your specific needs and, when necessary, seek detailed guidance from our professional network of tax advisors, wealth managers, accountants, and those you have employed. We apply this tradition of excellence to creating custom estate plans that afford you peace of mind knowing your unique circumstance has been considered at every point. We are communicative, clear, and protective now, and are here if things should change in the future.

Estate Planning for

• Individuals from all walks of life
• Farmers
• Blended Families
• Family and Closely Held Business Owners

Asset Protection through

• Wills
• Trusts

Special Planning for

• Dependents with Disabilities
• Estate Tax and Gift Tax
• IRA Holders
• Charitable Giving
• Your Long-term Care Needs
• Incompetence due to illness or injury

Estate Administration, Probate, Estate Litigation

Clients often come to us when a loved one has passed away without having created a will or a trust. For these individuals, the confusion over how to handle the deceased’s estate is often coupled with the raw emotion of their own personal loss.  This can be a recipe for a confusing and emotionally exhausting experience that rides on top of their grief.  Our significant experience in the area of probate, estate administration, and trust administration can help put your mind at ease now, and spare your heirs unnecessary anxiety later. 

Regardless of whether a loved one dies with or without an estate plan, we can assist you with both post-mortem planning and estate administration. There are certain strategies that we can employ to achieve tax savings and simplify the administration of the estate, even after your loved one has died.

Incapacity Planning

If you are seeking long-term nursing care for your elderly loved one, you may not want personal finances and assets to cover all of their expenses. We help clients structure plans to ensure qualification for Medicaid, which can help alleviate certain living expenses. Long-term nursing home care is expensive but if you qualify Medicaid can help cover these costs.

Part of this qualification hinges upon developing a proper estate plan which can help you meet the requisite asset limits. Even when already in a nursing home, we provide clients with a thorough explanation of the laws related to Medicaid for long-term care, as well as careful attention to detail and craft a plan that will help you protect your assets from being consumed by your care and final illness.

Protecting Your Business

Business succession plans are not only for large scale businesses or those with complex ownership structures, exit plans benefit all businesses including those who anticipate passing a business to co-owners, family members, or even to third-party buyers.

Careful planning not only allows you to remain in control of the business in order to facilitate the continued growth of your business but also helps ensure your business has sufficient support and funds needed during a critical transaction period. Providing a successor with the peace of mind and authority to take control of the business in an orderly and thought out fashion can go a long way in alleviating stress to those who have a stake in the business, including family and key employees.

Some important goals of any estate plan are to protect assets and minimize tax liability. It is critical to provide the latest estate planning tools to achieve these objectives. We were one of first law firms in western North Carolina to use family limited partnerships (FLPs), limited liability companies (LLCs), and revocable living trusts to protect people’s estate plan. Other ways to protect assets and avoid unnecessary tax liability include:

• Business succession planning
• Medicaid planning for nursing home care
• IRA planning
• Charitable planning
• Estate tax and gift tax planning
• Asset protection