Margaret Ward Scott
Awarded Practice Areas
Biography
Margaret W. Scott concentrates her practice on estate planning, fiduciary and tax litigation, estate settlement, trust administration, charitable planning, charitable solicitation law and exempt organizations.
Margaret is a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel. She is the past chair of the Nonprofit Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia and is the Secretary of of the Fiduciary Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. She is the President of the Atlanta Estate Planning Council.
She serves as the secretary of the Charles Loridans Foundation and the secretary/treasurer of the Vasser Woolley Foundation. She serves on the Emory University Board of Visitors and the Chastain Park Conservancy board. Margaret founded Alston & Bird’s Wills Program for emergency services personnel and indigent Atlantans and annually provides wills trainings for volunteer attorneys. She has been selected to the Georgia Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers magazine three times and has recognized by the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent® rating
Margaret earned her B.A. from Duke University in 1996 and her J.D., with honors, from Emory University School of Law in 2003. Before law school, Margaret worked as a speech writer and policy analyst for the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C.
Overview
- Emory University, J.D., graduated 2003
- Duke University, B.A., graduated 1996
- Georgia, Georgia
- Alston & Bird Pro Bono Committee - Member
- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel - Fellow
- Atlanta Bar Association Estate Planning and Probate Section - Member
- Atlanta Estate Planning Council - Board of Directors
- CFA Institute - Claritas® Investment Certificate Recipient
- Chastain Park Conservancy - Board of Directors
- State Bar of Georgia Fiduciary Law Section - Executive Committee
- State Bar of Georgia Nonprofit Law Section - Past Chair
- Georgia, Georgia
- Alston & Bird Pro Bono Committee - Member
- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel - Fellow
- Atlanta Bar Association Estate Planning and Probate Section - Member
- Atlanta Estate Planning Council - Board of Directors
- CFA Institute - Claritas® Investment Certificate Recipient
- Chastain Park Conservancy - Board of Directors
- State Bar of Georgia Fiduciary Law Section - Executive Committee
- State Bar of Georgia Nonprofit Law Section - Past Chair
- Emory University, J.D., graduated 2003
- Duke University, B.A., graduated 1996
Client Testimonials
Awards & Focus

- Trusts and Estates, Atlanta (2022)
- Trusts and Estates
- COVID-19
News & Media
Case History
- Representative Experience
- Advocates for numerous clients, including financial institutions and individuals involved in contentious estate or trust-related litigation, including breach of fiduciary duty actions, fraud claims, will caveats, will and trust construction cases and actions for removal of trustees and executors.
- Assists multiple clients by providing advice on tax-efficient estate and charitable planning and routinely guides individual and corporate fiduciaries in navigating complex estate and trust administration matters.
- Counseled multiple clients on the regulation of charitable entities’ cause marketing and partnerships with charitable organizations.
- Obtained tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service for employee disaster relief funds for a number of large nationwide corporations.
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