Find Lawyers in Tennessee, United States for Trusts and Estates
Practice Area Overview
How Can a Trusts and Estates Attorney Help You?
Trust and estate attorneys help clients plan for the efficient and effective transfer of assets to spouses, to younger generation family members, to other persons clients wish to benefit, and to charities. The practice involves the preparation of trust agreements, wills, powers of attorney, medical directives, and closely held business structures, including partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations.
What are the Trusts and Estates Practices Focal Points?
Wealth Planning
When attorneys begin the planning process, they consider your objectives, your family relationships, charitable inclinations, and the relationship of federal and state estate tax, gift tax, and generation skipping transfer tax laws to these objectives. Attorneys then work with you and, in some cases, with other advisers to design the appropriate plan to meet your goals and objectives, prepare the necessary documents to carry out the desired plan, and assist with the implementation of your plan. In connection with family wealth planning, attorneys plan and draft trust agreements and wills, create various business entities, and carry out business reorganizations.
Estate Administration
Trust and estate attorneys also handle the administration of estates. Attorneys confer with members of a decedent’s family on the various issues, including:
• Assistance to the executor with the preparation of the required probate documents and assist in valuation of estate assets
• Making insurance claims
• Preparation of final income tax returns and the estate’s income and federal and state estate tax returns
• Monitoring of the investment of the estate’s assets
• Arranging for the distribution of the estate’s net assets
• Throughout the administration of an estate, consideration is given to income tax savings through the timing of distributions and the timing and claiming of appropriate deductions.
Trust Administration
In the trust administration area, attorneys advise and consult with corporate and individual trustees concerning the discharge of the trust’s terms and consult with beneficiaries concerning trust administration matters including the preparation of trust accounts.
Trust and Estate attorneys also assist clients in all phases of probate and trust litigation. This may involve construing or reforming the terms of a will or trust, prosecuting or defending a will contest action or surcharge actions against trustees.
What is a Trusts and Estates attorneys goal for its clients?
The goal of an trust and estate attorney is to assist clients to achieve their personal goals while obtaining the significant tax savings which may be available to them through proper planning. Attorneys in the practice spend a significant amount of time dealing with the federal estate, gift, and generation skipping tax issues involved in transfer planning.
Family Law Legal Guide 2024
View Legal GuideNell King Bieger was born in Bristol, Tennessee, on July 21, 1959, and was the top graduate of Tennessee High School in 1977. In 1981, she graduated summa cum laude (co-valedictorian) from the University of Mississippi, where she was president of Kappa Delta Sorority, honor vice president of Phi Kappa Phi Academic Honorary, treasurer of Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honorary, and secretary of the Associated Student Body. She received the Taylor Medal in Accounting, was recognized as the ODK ...
Mr. Carney's practice is grounded in federal, state, and local tax codes and regulations. He works directly with clients in employee benefits, tax planning, and estate planning. He understands the need to navigate these complex laws while providing options for each unique situation. His practice areas include but are not limited to the following: Employee and welfare benefit plans of private, tax-exempt, and governmental employers Other post-employment benefit trusts Executive compensation Co...
For more than 40 years, Harlan Dodson has been helping people and businesses solve problems and plan for the future. Clients seeking general business advice, estate planning services, or problem solving and advice generally count on his vast experience and track record of getting the job done. Dodson provides hands-on guidance for his clients, whether working with them to launch a business, structure a complex real estate deal, or draft a will. He learned this dedication from his attorney fat...
Chip Finn recieved his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas, Austin in 1978, his law degree from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 1981, and his Masters in Tax Law from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1985. His practice primarily involves general business and taxation matters (with and emphasis on business formation, acquisitions and related transactions), estate planning, probate and administration, and health law (with an emphasis on physician practi...
Joe’s practice is focused on federal, state and local taxation, including planning and controversy resolution. Joe has represented clients successfully before the Tennessee tax administrative bodies and before Tennessee courts, including the Tennessee Supreme Court. Joe represents a number of Fortune 500 companies with respect to their Tennessee tax matters. Joe also represents clients in federal tax controversy resolution, including administrative appeals and representation before the ...
With a wealth of experience as a multidisciplinary and holistic family business advisor, Joe works extensively in succession planning and matters relating to family business ownership. Joe's practice is focused on estates, wills and trusts, income and estate tax, probate and estate planning and related matters. Joe has been providing services to high net worth families and family-owned businesses for more than 30 years and routinely facilitates the communication and decision-making process fo...
Bill Harbison is a member of Sherrard & Roe and works primarily in the areas of corporate law and trusts and estates. He also handles litigation in those same practice categories. Mr. Harbison is a 1980 graduate of Harvard Law School, cum laude . He received his bachelor's degree with highest honors in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Harbison is listed in The Best Lawyers of America. He is a member of the American...
Dan is a Fellow, Regent, and past Tennessee State Chair of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and serves on the ACTEC Charitable Planning and Exempt Organizations Committee. He is a member of the Knoxville, Tennessee, and Florida Bar Associations, The National Lawyers Association, and the Christian Legal Society. Dan served on the Tennessee Probate Study Group from 1986 to 2008, a joint ACTEC and Tennessee Bar committee responsible for reviewing and drafting proposed sta...
Jackson G. Kramer, a highly skilled, knowledgeable and trusted counselor who has over 30 years of legal experience, concentrates his practice in the areas of Corporate and Transactional, Real Estate, Estate Planning, Administration and Trusts and Local Government and Public Utilities. He is a strong but reasonable advocate for his clients. His primary goal is to help his clients solve their legal issues and achieve their overall objectives while simultaneously protecting their best interest. ...
Wayne R. Kramer has over 30 years of experience in his practice areas of Tax, Real Estate, Estate Planning, Administration and Trusts, and Corporate and Transactional. He represents individuals as well as a wide variety of small businesses and large companies. Mr. Kramer has a sound understanding of the law and is problem solver. He searches for "common ground" between parties in conflict and finds the counseling aspect of law to be the most rewarding. He has provided guidance to individuals,...
Carla Lovell received her J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1988. She received a bachelor’s degree with highest honors from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1985, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Throughout her career, Ms. Lovell has concentrated her practice in the areas of estate and trust planning, related business and tax matters, charitable planning, estate administration, and advising fiduciaries with respect to trust and estate administration issues.
Richard Matlock is a member of the firm whose practice is primarily in the areas of federal, state and local tax planning and controversies, corporate law, business formations, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, real estate, estate planning, business succession planning, and probate matters. The primary focus of Mr. Matlock’s practice is the representation of individuals, limited liability companies, partnerships, and corporations in various business transactions with a strong empha...
Donald E. Morton concentrates his areas of practice in estate planning, business succession, estate and trust administration and employee benefits. Mr. Morton advises family business owners regarding the transfer of family assets and family business to second and third generations and equalizing distribution to children not actively involved in business. Mr. Morton uses a variety of trusts to preserve family assets and to minimize taxation of asset transfers to beneficiaries. He makes creativ...
Mr. Murrah's practice is concentrated primarily in estate planning, probate, federal transfer taxation, estate and trust administration, and federal income taxation. He advises clients on all elements of wealth transmittal and preservation, including preparation of wills and trusts, closely held business succession issues, asset protection strategies, and techniques for the minimization of transfer taxes. His experience also includes representation of trustees and trust beneficiaries. Mr. Mur...
George J. Nassar, Jr., concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning, probate, tax planning and business transactions. He currently serves as Chair of the firm's Business, Tax and Estate Planning Practice Group. Mr. Nassar has over 30 years of experience in the practice of law. His areas of expertise include estate planning and formulation of sophisticated tax planning and wealth transfer techniques for clients with significant domestic and international holdings. He counsels clie...
Bill Nichol concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning, the drafting of wills and trusts, and probate and estate administration. He also has been involved in succession planning for closely held and family-owned businesses as well as general corporate transactions. From 2007 to 2010, he served on the board of trustees of his alma mater, the University of the South. Mr. Nichol was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2019 in the field of Tr...
Kevin Perkey is a member of the firm who is a trusted advisor to clients across many different industries. Kevin provides his clients with sound advice and innovation solutions on a wide variety of matters including mergers and other acquisitions and dispositions, tax planning, contract negotiation, business entity formation, business succession planning, general corporate and transactional law, and estate planning. When clients have issues outside Kevin’s expertise, he connects his cli...
Dana Perry concentrates her practice on estate planning, special needs planning and elder law. Dana has a hands-on approach helping clients provide for their family's future security and protect their assets through creative planning. Additional areas of focus include long-term care planning, navigating the Medicaid rules, veterans' benefits planning, multi-generational trust planning and drafting and administering supplemental needs trusts. Dana is certified as an Elder Law Specialist by the...
Chairman of the transactional and tax practice group within Egerton, McAfee, Armistead & Davis, P.C. Jonathan focuses his practice in the areas of estates and trusts, taxation, exempt organizations and entity formation and operation. He serves as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Tennessee College of Law where he teaches classes on estate and gift taxation and on estate planning and frequently serves as a lecturer in individual seminars for continuing legal education. He is...
O. E. “Sonny” Schow, IV is a member of the firm whose primary areas of practice include federal and state taxation, including tax disputes in federal and state court, estate planning, trust administration, probate law and estate administration, business entity formations and governance, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate and transactional law. Mr. Schow assists clients with transactional tax planning, including entity formation, operation and governance, real estate excha...
Darsi Newman Sirknen is an experienced transactional attorney who represents businesses and individuals in connection with contract drafting and review; business organization and reorganization; complex merger, acquisition, and sale transactions; estate planning and business succession planning; and other general transactional matters. Ms. Sirknen initially joined Woolf McClane as an associate attorney in 2006 and worked with the firm until 2015, practicing primarily in the areas of estate pl...
Carolyn W. Schott practices in the areas of business and tax planning, business litigation, nonprofits and tax exempt organizations, and federal tax and estate planning. Ms. Schott's experience includes representation of companies in state corporate income tax disputes; sales and use tax disputes; local property tax litigation for commercial and industrial property owners; and advice to energy, communications and transportation companies in property tax planning and litigation. Ms. Schott adv...
Mr. Wohlfarth concentrates his practice on estate planning and the drafting of wills and trusts, specifically addressing issues related to federal and state estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes as well as asset protection. He has had extensive experience with various estate planning tools, such as wills and revocable trusts which utilize the federal estate tax exemption amount, irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), "Crummey" trusts, qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), Ten...
Companies and individuals rely upon Mike Yopp to guide them through the ever-changing landscape of state and federal taxation, partnerships, limited liability companies and general business law. Mike advises clients on both strategy and implementation regarding a broad variety of tax issues including: Corporate tax Estate Planning Partnership tax State and local tax (SALT) Trust and estate matters Conservatorships and guardianships
Ann Ralls Brown is an attorney in the firm's Nashville office where she concentrates her practice in the area of Family Law. She assists clients with domestic and family legal matters, including, but not limited to prenuptial and postnuptial agreements as well as divorce and post-divorce matters involving issues of child custody, child support, alimony, and financial and property disputes. She is a member of the firm's Trusts & Estate Planning Service Group. Recent News, Articles & Sp...
Carolyn Levy Gilliam is a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. She primarily practices in the areas of wills, trusts, elder law, conservatorships, probates, business matters, and litigation regarding these areas. She was named as a Top Attorney for 2020 in the Knoxville Cityview Magazine in Social Security Disability, Elder Law, and Adoption. Ms. Gilliam also serves in a fiduciary capacity for her clients, as a trustee of a trust, personal representative/executrix of a will...
Chris arrived at Takacs McGinnis Elder Care Law with 19 years of legal and military experience. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps after graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, Chris’ career included multiple deployments to Japan and Afghanistan and he served in a number of roles as an Infantry Officer and Judge Advocate, including Platoon Commander, Company Commander, Chief Legal Assistance Officer, Senior Defense Counsel, Military Justice Officer, 3r...
Andrea Sinclair is a trusted counselor and valued guide for individuals and families as she helps them plan for and navigate life’s joys, challenges, and transitions. She understands that the trust and estate planning, administration, and litigation matters she handles are both deeply personal and profoundly impactful. She also recognizes that clients often call upon her during times of mourning, conflict, or stress. Combining legal acumen with a deep sense of empathy and genuine concer...
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