Estate Planning Services- Hilton Head, Bluffton, Okatie & Beyond

With a solid foundation in real estate, business and tax law, combined with 35 years of estate planning experience, Bill strives to craft the perfect estate plan for each individual client. His ability to listen, learn and respect his clients' desires, to empathize with their concerns, and yet to make the difficult recommendations when his client's needs and safety require it, make him an ideal choice to assist you with all of your estate planning needs, whether you are from Hilton Head, Bluffton, Okatie or anywhere in the State of South Carolina.

 

Sarah brings a fresh, new perspective to our practice, and expands our ability to anticipate and address issues on behalf of our younger clients, while at the same time providing excellent counseling and service to our older clients as well.  Sarah oversees the bulk of our estate administration files, and assists with estate planning files as well. In that respect, she provides us with an opportunity to offer more cost-effective planning for those clients who do not require advanced tax planning at this time.  

 

Each plan will be as simple and affordable as the client's circumstances permit, or as complex and detailed as the client's circumstances require. We present options in an understandable way, and only begin to draft documents once the client completely understands the "why's" and "how's" of the process.  This allows us, in turn, to gain a fuller understanding of each client's family dynamics, priorities and desires. Our primary goal with regard to estate planning, at all times, is to protect our client's assets for his or her benefit, to insure those assets will be available and accessible to the client for whatever needs the future may bring.  Secondarily, we can simultaneously minimize transfer taxes, income taxes, probate fees and other costs through a wide variety of planning documents, including:  

  • Revocable Living Trusts
  • Wills
  • Joint Tenancies
  • Disclaimer Planning
  • Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
  • Spousal Limited Access Trusts
  • Charitable Trusts
  • Restricted Gifts
  • Irrevocable Trusts

 

When necessary, we will consult with your CPA, financial advisor and other professionals to make certain we are addressing both the big picture, as well as the minute details, in order to meet your needs as thoroughly as possible.  We have access to nationally recognized consultants as well, to insure that your planning incorporates the latest techniques, and anticipates developing issues in the law.

 

Equally important, we will not mystify the process, call meeting after meeting, or shuffle documents back and forth in endless reviews just to generate fees.  We will provide the level of planning you need, and provide it at a reasonable cost.

 

Finally, if you do not understand any part of what we are proposing, or what we have drafted, we have failed at our job.  While prudence may require us to resort to what may seem to be legal "mumbo jumbo", we will explain it to you in understandable terms.

 

After you are gone, we can continue to implement your planning, and often adjust it, post death, to meet changed circumstances or law.  Estate and Trust Administration.