The firm has a long history of assisting individuals and families with their personal legal needs. Our clients have worked hard and invested carefully to provide financial security for their family and other beneficiaries. We consider it a privilege to help our clients manage and dispose of their assets in accordance with their wishes. How that wealth will be transferred to heirs, charities or other beneficiaries is critical, and our attorneys are skilled at providing legal services relating to wills, trusts, estate planning, probate and estate administration. Attorneys in the group appear regularly before the various county probate courts on guardianship matters for minors and incompetents and on trust and estate administration matters. 

Given the complexity of issues which our individual and family clients face, we have attorneys with a broad range of expertise that are able to assist our clients with such matters as:

• Planning for the appropriate disposition of wealth to meet family goals and minimize taxes
• Succession planning for family owned or closely held businesses 
• Tax advice regarding retirement savings and distributions 
• Completion of designation of beneficiary forms for IRAs and qualified and non-qualified retirement plans
• Guidance in the areas of fiduciary responsibilities and prohibited practices 
• Preparation of gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax returns 

A critical element of estate planning is planning for asset protection. Asset protection planning involves strategies designed to maximize the use of the client's statutory exemptions available under state and federal law and to legally protect the client's assets from claims of creditors during life as well as after death. Through the use such planning techniques as trusts, family limited partnerships and other business entities, retirement accounts and annuities, and insurance, clients can maximize the protection afforded them under the law against the potential claims of creditors. Our firm represents a large number of physicians, attorneys, accountants, and other professionals and business owners who are concerned about exposure to personal liability in connection with their activities and business holdings, and we have a broad range of experience in helping clients meet their asset protection objectives. 

All of our services are coordinated with the services provided by a client's financial planners and other professionals so that all plans are integrated and strategically devised to optimize tax benefits and meet our client's expectations. Our firm regularly provides an update on the current status of tax laws and how they impact existing or contemplated estate plans.

Members of the Wills, Trusts, Estate Planning and Asset Protection Group:
John Creighton III
Brian A. Mills
Lloyd H. Carll
Lance C. Fox
Benny H. Hughes, Jr.
Jennifer M. Turner

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