Norcross Estate Planning Lawyer for Green Card Holders
A green card holder who signs a will in Gwinnett County is judged by the same Georgia execution rules as a citizen, yet the surrounding picture is different: relatives overseas, property in two countries, bank accounts that never left the home country, and a federal tax system that treats non-citizens differently from citizens. Bowman Law Firm is an estate planning and trust firm serving Norcross, Gwinnett County, and the greater Atlanta area, and a Norcross estate planning lawyer for green card holders has to plan for those cross-border realities from the first meeting.
Permanent residents often arrive at estate planning with an assumption that their immigration status limits what they can do. In Georgia, it generally does not. A lawful permanent resident can make a will, create a revocable living trust, name a financial agent, and appoint a health care agent on the same footing as anyone else. What changes is the planning around those documents: who inherits if relatives live abroad, how a foreign asset gets pulled into the plan, and how a spouse who is not a citizen fits into the tax picture.
The stakes of skipping this work are concrete. Without a will, Georgia’s intestacy rules decide who inherits, and those rules follow a fixed family formula that may not match your wishes or your family’s customs. Without a power of attorney, your family may need a court to gain authority over your accounts. For families whose loved ones are scattered across several countries, that delay can be especially costly.
Why Choose Bowman Law Firm for Green Card Holder Estate Planning
Bowman Law Firm helps Georgia families protect what they have built and decide how it passes to the people they love. The firm serves clients across Gwinnett, Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Forsyth, and Hall counties, with virtual consultations available for families who cannot easily come in person.
For immigrant families, language is not a side issue. Our staff speaks English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, so a client can review a trust or a health care directive in the language they think and decide in. A document you understand completely is a document you will keep current and trust to work.
Attorney Bowman’s background is unusually broad for an estate planner. She has tried cases for a national consumer law firm, served as Law Clerk to a Federal Judge in Georgia, and handled personal injury cases on the defense side for a large Florida law firm. That courtroom and chambers experience shapes how she drafts: she knows how documents get challenged and where they fail. Clients describe her as honest, hardworking, knowledgeable, and reassuring, and one reviewer noted working with her over seven years on hundreds of cases.
The firm’s guiding idea is that every client is a person first, a client second, and never a file number. You work directly with an attorney who knows your family and your goals, and the plan is built after the listening, not before it.
Issues That Come Up for Permanent Residents in Estate Planning
- Wills with beneficiaries abroad: A Georgia will must be in writing, signed by you, and attested by at least two competent witnesses. Oral wills are not valid, and Georgia does not recognize handwritten, unwitnessed wills, which matters for families used to informal arrangements back home.
- Revocable living trusts: A funded trust lets assets pass to heirs privately and without the court process that applies to a will, which can be a real advantage when beneficiaries live in several countries and cannot easily appear in a Georgia courtroom.
- Non-citizen spouses: The federal estate tax marital deduction works differently when a surviving spouse is not a citizen, so a trust designed for that situation may be needed to avoid a tax bill that a citizen couple would not face.
- Foreign property and accounts: Real estate, bank accounts, or businesses in another country usually follow that country’s inheritance rules. A Georgia plan should be coordinated with them, and a local attorney abroad may be needed for those assets.
- Powers of attorney: Georgia’s statutory power of attorney rules require the principal’s signature, a competent witness, and a notary who is not the witness, all present together. A power of attorney signed abroad is valid in Georgia if it met the law of the place where it was signed.
- Advance directives for health care: Any sound-minded adult can name a health care agent and record treatment wishes. Two adult witnesses are required, and neither may be the agent or someone who stands to inherit from you. Notarization is not required.
- Guardians for minor children: A will is where parents name a guardian. For families with children born in the United States and relatives overseas, naming the right guardian and a backup is one of the most consequential choices in the plan.
- Medicaid and long-term care planning: Georgia reviews transfers made in the 60 months before a nursing home Medicaid application, so early planning matters for older family members.
What a Green Card Holder Should Do Now to Get Their Plan in Place
Start by writing down what you own and where. List your Georgia home, bank and retirement accounts, life insurance, any business interests, and everything held in another country. Note who is on each account as a beneficiary. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance override a will, so they must match the plan.
Next, list the people. Who should manage your money if you cannot? Who should make medical decisions? Who raises your children? Who inherits, and where do they live? Those answers decide which documents you need and how they should be drafted.
Then call the firm for a free Discovery Call. The process has three steps: the discovery call, an initial consultation to design your estate plan for a $100 fee, and an in-person signing meeting where your finished plan is presented and executed. Signing in person matters because Georgia’s formalities are strict. A will needs two witnesses who sign it, and no one may sign a witness’s name for them. A power of attorney requires the right people in the room together.
Bring your green card and any documents tied to foreign assets. If your estate ever requires court involvement, the Probate Court of Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville handles probate of wills, estate administration, and guardianships and conservatorships for minors and incapacitated adults, and it accepts filings electronically. Families in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Forsyth, or Hall counties would deal with the probate court in their own county. A properly funded trust is meant to keep most of your affairs out of that process.
Avoid the common mistakes. Do not rely on a handwritten note or a form you downloaded; Georgia will not honor an unwitnessed will. Do not sign a trust and leave it unfunded, because assets never retitled into the trust do not benefit from it. And do not assume a plan made years ago still fits. Marriage, a new child, a move, naturalization, or a change in your property should prompt a review, and the firm recommends looking at your plan every three to five years.
Federal Tax Rules and Citizenship Status in Your Estate Plan
Georgia levies no estate tax and no inheritance tax, so state-level taxes are not the concern. The federal estate tax is a different matter, and its rules depend on whether you are treated as a Georgia domiciliary for tax purposes. A green card holder living in Norcross is generally treated as a resident for estate tax purposes, which means the federal exclusion available to citizens applies to your worldwide estate, and foreign assets count.
The wrinkle is the spouse. Property left to a surviving spouse who is a citizen can pass free of estate tax under the marital deduction. When the surviving spouse is not a citizen, that deduction is generally unavailable unless the assets pass through a specially structured trust. For couples where one spouse holds a green card and the other has not naturalized, or both are permanent residents, this is often the single most important design question in the plan. Most families fall well under the federal exclusion, but the structure still deserves attention for larger estates.
Naturalization changes the analysis too. If you become a citizen later, the plan should be revisited so that you are not carrying a structure built for a status you no longer hold.
Digital Assets, Creditors, and Keeping a Trust Working
Georgia’s digital asset law lets you direct, in a will, trust, or power of attorney, whether a fiduciary may access your online accounts, though a direction made through a provider’s own online tool can override a contrary instruction in your documents. For families whose photographs, messages, and financial accounts live online and sometimes across borders, naming a trusted person and stating your wishes matters.
Trusts also interact with creditors in ways worth understanding. During your lifetime, the property of a revocable trust remains reachable by your creditors, so a revocable trust is a tool for control and privacy, not protection from lawsuits. After death, a trust that was revocable can be reached by claims if the probate estate cannot cover them. Protection from creditors or long-term care costs calls for different tools, such as a Medicaid asset protection trust, planned well ahead of need.
Questions Green Card Holders Ask About Estate Planning in Norcross
Can a green card holder make a will in Georgia?
Yes. Immigration status does not limit your ability to make a will. You must be at least 14, of sound mind, and sign in front of two competent witnesses who also sign. Notarization is not required, though a self-proving affidavit can make the will easier to admit later.
Do I need a Georgia estate plan if my family lives in another country?
Yes, and it may matter more. Without a plan, Georgia’s intestacy rules decide who inherits your Georgia property, and your relatives abroad may face a slow court process. A trust and a clear will let you name who inherits and who manages the process.
Will my foreign property be covered by a Georgia will?
Not automatically. Real estate and accounts abroad usually follow the inheritance rules of the country where they sit. We coordinate your Georgia plan with those assets and recommend that you also consult a local attorney in that country.
Does a green card holder pay Georgia estate tax?
No. Georgia has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. Federal estate tax is a separate question and depends on the size of your estate and your marital situation.
Why does my spouse’s citizenship matter for estate planning?
The unlimited federal marital deduction generally applies only when the surviving spouse is a citizen. If your spouse is not, a specially designed trust may be needed to defer federal estate tax on what passes to them.
Do I still need a will if I have a living trust?
Yes. A pour-over will sends any asset left outside the trust into it, and the will is where you name a guardian for minor children, which a trust cannot do.
Can I sign my power of attorney in my home country?
Often yes. A power of attorney signed outside Georgia is valid here if it followed the law of the place where it was signed. We review foreign-signed documents to confirm they will work with Georgia banks and institutions.
What happens to my U.S. bank accounts if I die without a will?
Accounts without a named beneficiary or joint owner generally pass through probate under Georgia’s intestacy formula, which divides your estate among your spouse, children, and other relatives. That may not match your wishes, and relatives abroad may be hard to locate and involve.
Will planning for long-term care affect my immigration status?
Estate planning documents themselves do not change your status. Medicaid planning is separate and involves a 60-month look-back on transfers, so timing matters. If you have questions about how benefits interact with immigration, raise them early so we can plan around them.
Can I meet with the firm in Spanish or Vietnamese?
Yes. Our staff speaks English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, and virtual consultations are available if travel is difficult.
If I naturalize later, do I need to redo my plan?
You should review it. Many documents will still work, but a trust built around a non-citizen spouse or a green card holder’s tax position may need to be updated, and a trust amendment can often do that without starting over.
How much does it cost to get started?
A Free Discovery Call comes first. The initial consultation, where we design your estate plan, costs $100, and the plan is presented at an in-person signing meeting.
Serving Green Card Holder Estate Planning Clients Across Norcross and Metro Atlanta
From Norcross in Gwinnett County, Bowman Law Firm works with permanent residents and their families throughout the county, including Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Suwanee, and Buford. Along the Buford Highway corridor, we serve the diverse communities of Doraville, Chamblee, and Brookhaven in DeKalb County, as well as Decatur.
We also help families in north Fulton, including Johns Creek, Alpharetta, and Roswell, and in the Perimeter area, including Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. To the west, we serve Marietta in Cobb County, and to the north, Cumming in Forsyth County and Gainesville in Hall County, along with Dalton. Clients across Gwinnett, Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Forsyth, and Hall counties receive the same personal attention, and virtual consultations are available for those farther out.
Talk With a Norcross Estate Planning Attorney Who Understands Green Card Holder Families
If you hold a green card and have not yet put a will, trust, power of attorney, and health care directive in place, a Norcross estate planning attorney can help you build a plan that fits your family, your assets, and the countries they span. Call Bowman Law Firm to schedule your Free Discovery Call, then meet with attorney Shireen Hormozdi Bowman to design a plan you understand completely before you sign it.
