Estate Planning Attorneys

Andersen, Tate & Carr offers a full range of estate planning services. We work with our clients on estates of all sizes, taking into account the clients' needs and desires. We are experienced in drafting basic estate planning documents such as Wills and Durable Financial Powers of Attorney and we assist clients in completing Georgia Advance Directives for Health Care. We enjoy and appreciate our clients and strive to put together an appropriate plan for each client based upon a full understanding of the clients' assets, family, values and goals.

We are also experienced in addressing sophisticated estate planning issues such as estate and gift tax planning for transfers to family members and charities, asset protection planning, business succession planning and planning for difficult and complex family issues. When appropriate we can prepare documents such as pour-over wills and revocable living trusts, credit shelter trusts, qualified terminable interest property trusts, generation-skipping trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, intentionally defective grantor trusts, grantor-retained annuity trusts, supplemental needs trusts and prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements.

Estate and Gift Tax Planning Attorney's

Estate taxation is a major concern for many people. At Andersen, Tate & Carr, we develop plans and draft documents to assist clients in reducing or eliminating the impact of estate taxes. Our goal is to help you maximize the assets left to your heirs, and we are dedicated to addressing your interests efficiently.

We also assist our clients in using gifting strategies that are available under the tax laws to ultimately reduce the impact of estate and gift taxes. Strategies run from simple annual exclusion gifts of cash to family members to more sophisticated gifting strategies such as transfers to charitable trusts or transfers of interests in real estate or interests in closely held business entities, such as limited liability companies or family limited partnerships.

Andersen Tate & Carr offers planning not only for probate assets which pass as directed in your Will but also planning for non-probate assets which pass outside your Will, such as life insurance proceeds and retirement accounts. Many times a client's most valuable assets are non-probate assets, and planning for the distribution of those assets is essential.

Disability Planning

Planning for the eventuality of physical and mental incapacity is essential to the estate planning process. Durable financial powers of attorney and Georgia Advance Directives for Health Care are documents which we recommend to all of our clients.

Durable Financial Powers of Attorney are the most widely-used planning documents for incapacity. These documents provide you with the opportunity to appoint someone you trust to manage your assets on your behalf without the necessity of expensive and time-consuming probate court conservatorship proceedings. Durable financial powers of attorney are advisable even when you have a revocable living trust in place which addresses incapacity.

Georgia Advance Directives for Health Care are legal documents that allow you to name someone you trust to make all medical decisions for you if you are not competent to make those decisions for yourself. These documents authorize your agent to make life or death decisions for you when you are unable to communicate your preferences and provide guidance to your agent about your wishes. It also gives your agent access to your medical records notwithstanding federal privacy laws.

Prenuptial Agreements

At Andersen, Tate & Carr, our attorneys have the experience necessary to assist clients with prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. We work with our clients to draft and negotiate these important documents.

Business Succession Planning for Business Owners

We assist small business owners in thinking through an appropriate business succession plan which may include coordination with our corporate department in reviewing an existing buy sell agreement or drafting a new buy sell agreement. We can help you work through a range of issues dealing with succession planning, including planning to minimize estate taxes, planning for the retention of key employees and planning for the fair balance of estate distributions between members of the family who are involved in the business and those who are not.

Administration of Estates and Probate Proceedings for Estates, Conservatorships and Guardianships

Our firm provides experienced representation to fiduciaries and beneficiaries in the administration of estates, trusts, conservatorships and guardianships. We also provide experienced representation in probate proceedings and superior court proceedings regarding estates, trusts, conservatorships and guardianships, whether contested or uncontested. Our litigation team has handled numerous contested issues such as will disputes and disputes between fiduciaries and beneficiaries.

Coordination with Other Practice Areas

Whenever appropriate, we will coordinate with other practices within our firm, including real estate, litigation, family and corporate to ensure all aspects of your estate planning are handled expertly.

For further details, call or contact us today for a free consultation!