WILLS, TRUSTS AND ESTATES AT A GLANCE

Our Charleston law firm provides a range of estate planning services to singles, couples, families, non-traditional families, professionals and business owners throughout South Carolina.

Personalized Estate Planning Services

Too often, the thought of planning seems overwhelming or unnecessary, especially for young families and busy professionals or individuals. However, there is no good reason to put off estate planning. Planning your estate is not as expensive as it sounds. We feel there is much to be gained by you and your loved ones through estate planning, and even more to be lost if you don't.

Whether you are young or old, married or single, a parent or without children, you should invest in estate planning and make sure you have properly prepared, properly executed documents in place.

Instead of charging hourly rates, we will do our best to negotiate a fixed fee that will stay within your budget.

Why Create An Estate Plan?

Well drafted estate plans cover key life decisions such as what happens to your property, who cares for your children, who manages your finances and health care decisions when you are unable to do so for yourself. Without the right estate planning documents, these important decisions will be left in the hands of others.

Proper planning through wills, trusts and a variety of other estate planning instruments is essential to ensure that you and your family are prepared for any eventuality. We work tirelessly to make sure our clients have well-drafted estate plans in place so they have the peace of mind knowing their estate will pass to whom they want, when they want, and is carried out in the manner they have chosen.

No Estate Is Too Small For Careful Planning

We work with our clients to design personalized plans to address the financial and dispositive objectives that reflect each client's unique situation. We handle many types of estate planning matters, including: wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, life insurance trusts, pet trusts, advance medical directives, living wills, anatomical gift programs, durable powers of attorney, and other ancillary estate planning instruments.

Trusted Guidance And Counsel At Every Stage of Life

Additionally, we may partner with our clients' investment advisors, accountants, and life insurance underwriters to:

• Plan for times of disability through living wills (often referred to as Advanced Health Care Directives), durable powers of attorney for management of finance and property, durable health care proxies, and revocable trusts.

• Provide estate planning advice and counsel in connection with closely-held corporations, limited liability companies, and other business entities, including operating agreements, shareholder's agreements, restructuring, dissolution, and transferring business interests to younger generations of owners.

• Minimize income and estate taxes, and structure lifetime gifting programs through use of outright gifts or gifts in trust.

Our personalized estate plans, unique to every client and family situation, provide a lasting legacy that will continue to reflect our clients' values and ideals for generations to come.

Our law firm will not charge for the initial meeting to discuss the many estate planning options that exist, and to compare the costs and benefits of these various options. We invite you to contact our law firm by creating a secure Client Account, or email one of our professionals to see how we can work with you.

Busy Professionals and Working Families

We are increasingly providing client services via telephone, email, VLO Client Account technology, video conferencing, electronic whiteboards, and using advanced screen-sharing technology for client meetings.

Eliminating scheduling conflicts and avoiding unnecessary travel by providing innovative, efficient communication technology are just some of the ways we save our clients time and money. It's also good for the environment.