Atlanta Estate Planning Lawyer

Where your estate ends up in court depends on where you live, and in metro Atlanta that can mean the Probate Court of Fulton County, DeKalb County, Cobb County, or Gwinnett County, each with its own filing system and its own pace. A plan that is drafted correctly under Georgia law keeps most of that machinery out of your family’s way. Bowman Law Firm handles estate planning, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance directives, and asset protection for families across Atlanta and the surrounding counties.

If you are looking for an Atlanta estate planning lawyer, the first question is rarely “what is a trust.” It is usually “what happens to my house, my accounts, and my kids if something goes wrong, and who gets to decide?” Georgia answers that question by default if you do not answer it yourself, and the default answer is often not the one a family would have picked.

Georgia has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax, so for most Atlanta families the real work of planning is about control, incapacity, privacy, and long-term care costs rather than tax avoidance. That shapes everything the firm builds.

Why Choose Bowman Law Firm for Atlanta Estate Planning

The firm prepares trusts, wills, powers of attorney, advance directives, and Medicaid and asset protection plans, and it also handles trust funding, trust amendments, and trust administration when a plan has to be carried out.

Attorney Bowman’s background is unusually varied 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 defense for a large Florida law firm. That courtroom and chambers experience matters in planning work, because she knows how documents hold up when someone challenges them and what judges actually look for when a plan is questioned.

Clients describe the firm as knowledgeable, reassuring, and thoughtful, and several mention being guided in the right direction by Shireen herself. That reflects how the firm works: you deal directly with an attorney who knows your family and your goals, not a rotating cast. The staff speaks English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, which matters in a metro area as diverse as Atlanta, where plenty of families want to discuss inheritance and incapacity in the language they use at home.

The process is simple. You start with a Free Discovery Call, move to an initial consultation to design your plan for $100, and finish with an in-person signing meeting where the plan is presented to you. Virtual consultations are available if driving across the Atlanta metro is not practical.

Documents and Planning Tools an Atlanta Estate Plan Can Include

• Revocable Living Trust: Lets you manage your assets during life and names a successor trustee to step in if you become incapacitated. Georgia requires an express trust to be in writing and signed by the settlor, and any later change or revocation must also be written and signed, so informal edits do not count.
• Last Will and Testament: Names guardians for minor children and directs property that never made it into a trust. Georgia requires a written will signed by the testator and two competent witnesses, and it does not recognize oral wills or handwritten wills that lack witnesses.
• Pour-Over Will: Acts as a safety net for a trust-based plan, sending anything left outside the trust into it at death. A trust cannot name a guardian for your children, which is why you still need this companion document.
• Durable Financial Power of Attorney: Under Georgia’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act, a power of attorney is durable unless it says otherwise, takes effect when signed unless it sets a later trigger, and ends at the principal’s death. Execution requires the principal’s signature, a competent witness, and a notary who is not the witness, all present together.
• Advance Directive for Health Care: Names a health care agent and records your treatment wishes. Two witnesses age 18 or older must sign, and neither may be your agent, someone who stands to gain from your death, or a person directly involved in your care. Notarization is not required.
• Medicaid and Asset Protection Planning: Georgia applies a 60-month look-back to transfers made for less than fair market value when someone applies for nursing home or waiver coverage, so planning years ahead keeps far more options available than planning in a crisis.
• Spendthrift and Specialized Trusts: Can shield an heir’s inheritance from creditors, though Georgia law does not let a spendthrift clause block claims for child support, alimony, taxes, tort judgments, or restitution orders.
• Digital Asset Directions: Georgia’s fiduciary access law lets you say in your documents whether an agent or executor may reach your email, cloud storage, and online accounts, a question that older plans simply never addressed.

What to Do When You Are Ready to Put a Plan in Place

Start by taking inventory, not by picking documents. Write down what you own, how each item is titled, and who is named as beneficiary on every retirement account and life insurance policy. Beneficiary designations override both wills and trusts, so a mismatch here quietly undoes careful planning. Gather deeds, account statements, and any existing documents, including a will you signed years ago in another state.

Next, decide who you trust to serve. You will need a successor trustee, an executor, a financial agent, a health care agent, and a guardian for any minor children. Think about backups, because the first person you name may be unable or unwilling to serve when the time comes. Have a candid conversation with each person before you name them.

Then schedule the discovery call. The firm will talk through your family, your assets, and what worries you before recommending anything, and the $100 initial consultation is where the actual design happens. If you already have documents, bring them. An attorney can tell you quickly whether they still work or whether a trust amendment would bring them current.

Where your estate eventually gets administered depends on where you live. Fulton County residents deal with the Probate Court of Fulton County in Atlanta, DeKalb residents with the Probate Court of DeKalb County in Decatur, Cobb residents with the Probate Court of Cobb County in Marietta, and Gwinnett residents with the Probate Court of Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville, which accepts electronic filing. Those courts probate wills and handle guardianships and conservatorships for incapacitated adults. A funded trust and valid powers of attorney are the tools that let your family avoid needing a guardianship in the first place.

Finally, finish the job. The most common failure we see is an unfunded trust: the document is signed, but the house and accounts are never retitled into it, so a court process happens anyway. Signing day is not the end of planning. Retitling real estate and accounts, updating beneficiaries, and storing originals where your agents can find them are part of the same project. Also avoid do-it-yourself will forms that skip proper witnessing, since a will with a defect in its execution can be denied.

How Georgia Treats Trusts, Creditors, and Incapacity

Many clients assume a revocable trust shields assets from creditors. In Georgia it does not. While you are alive, the property in a revocable trust remains reachable by your creditors, spendthrift language or not. After death, the property of a trust that was revocable at your death can be reached for claims to the extent your probate estate cannot cover them. A revocable trust is a tool for privacy, continuity, and avoiding court, not for defeating creditors.

Irrevocable structures work differently, and Georgia limits how much a settlor can keep for personal benefit and still claim protection. A settlor’s creditors can reach the maximum amount that could be distributed to or for the settlor. That is why Medicaid asset protection trusts require careful drafting and long lead time, and why the decision about how much control to give up is a real trade-off, not a formality.

Powers of attorney deserve more attention than they usually get. Banks and title companies scrutinize them, and a document that does not follow Georgia’s execution requirements invites refusals right when someone needs to pay a bill or close a sale. Georgia also honors a power of attorney validly signed in another state, which helps families who moved to Atlanta with an older document, though it is worth reviewing whether it still fits your needs.

For couples thinking about long-term care, Georgia’s Medicaid rules provide a protected allowance for the spouse who stays at home, and the home itself is subject to an equity limit. Those figures adjust periodically, so the right move is to have an attorney check current numbers before you make any transfer. Gifts made to children in an attempt to “get ahead of Medicaid” can trigger a penalty period during which coverage is denied, and the penalty begins only once the applicant is otherwise eligible, which surprises families who assumed the clock was already running.

Atlanta Estate Planning Questions Families Ask

Do I need an estate plan if my estate is well below the federal tax exemption?

Yes. Georgia has no state estate or inheritance tax, and the federal exemption is large enough that most families owe nothing. The reasons to plan are different: naming guardians, choosing who manages your money and medical care if you cannot, keeping your affairs out of the public court record, and directing who inherits instead of leaving it to Georgia’s intestacy rules.

What does a Georgia will have to include to be valid?

It must be in writing, signed by you (or by someone else in your presence at your direction), and attested by at least two competent witnesses. Notarization is not required, but a self-proving affidavit can make the will easier to admit later. Oral wills and handwritten wills without witnesses are not recognized.

Can someone else sign as a witness for me or sign a witness’s name?

Another person may sign on your behalf if you direct it and you are present, but no one may sign a witness’s name for the witness, even if the witness is present and asks them to. Each witness must personally subscribe the document.

If I have a trust, why do I also need a will?

A pour-over will catches anything you forgot to title in the trust and routes it there, and a will is where you name a guardian for minor children. Without one, an overlooked asset can land in probate and a guardianship nomination is missing.

How old do you have to be to make a will in Georgia?

Fourteen. Witnesses must also be at least 14. In practice we recommend adult witnesses with no stake in your estate, because disinterested witnesses make a later challenge harder to win.

Can I change or cancel my trust after I sign it?

Only if you reserved that power in the document. Georgia does not let a settlor modify or revoke a trust without an express reservation, a power to revoke is treated as including a power to modify, and any change must be in writing and signed by you. That is why drafting the amendment and revocation provisions carefully at the start matters.

Who can I choose as my health care agent, and who can witness my directive?

Your agent can be a trusted family member or friend, but not a physician or provider directly involved in your care. Witnesses must be 18 or older, and cannot be your agent, a likely beneficiary, or someone directly involved in your care. No more than one witness may be an employee or staff member of the facility treating you.

What happens to my online accounts and photos when I die?

Georgia’s fiduciary access law lets you instruct in your will, trust, or power of attorney whether your fiduciary may access digital accounts. Platform tools that let you name a recipient take priority over your documents, and a fiduciary’s access is still subject to the service’s terms and federal copyright law. Custodians have 60 days to respond to a proper request.

Does a power of attorney still work after I die?

No. All powers of attorney end at the principal’s death. From that point, authority passes to your executor under your will or to your successor trustee under your trust, which is why a complete plan includes all three.

Is the Medicaid look-back really five years, and what counts as a gift?

Georgia’s long-term care Medicaid program reviews transfers made in the 60 months before an application. Giving away property or selling it for less than fair market value can create a penalty period of ineligibility, calculated by dividing the uncompensated amount by a divisor the state updates annually. Planning well before a health crisis is the main way to limit that exposure.

Can I meet with the firm if I live outside Atlanta proper?

Yes. The firm works with families across Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Forsyth, and Hall counties, and virtual consultations are available. You can begin with a Free Discovery Call and decide from there.

Serving Atlanta Estate Planning Clients Across Fulton County and Metro Atlanta

Our work for Atlanta families starts inside the city and reaches outward through Fulton County. We help residents in Buckhead and the Perimeter area, along with neighbors in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, and Chamblee. North Fulton families in Johns Creek, Alpharetta, and Roswell come to us for trust-centered plans, and we also work with households in neighboring DeKalb County, including Decatur and Doraville.

Across the river into Cobb County, we serve clients in Marietta. In Gwinnett County, the firm represents families in Norcross, Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Suwanee, and Buford. Farther north, we work with clients in Forsyth County, including Cumming, and in Hall County, including Gainesville, and we also serve families in Dalton. Whether you live in an intown neighborhood or a suburb along the I-85 and GA-400 corridors, you get the same attorney attention and the same language support in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Talk With an Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Bowman Law Firm

A plan that is designed well and funded correctly is something your family will never have to think about, and that is the point. If you want an Atlanta estate planning attorney who will listen first and draft second, Bowman Law Firm is ready to meet you where you are, whether you are building your first plan or fixing documents that no longer fit.

Call to book a Free Discovery Call, or arrange an initial consultation with attorney Shireen Hormozdi Bowman, in person or by video. Your family should not be left to guess at your wishes.