Norcross Estate Plan Review Lawyer

A plan that was perfectly sound when it was signed can fail quietly: a trust never funded, a beneficiary designation that still names an ex-spouse, a power of attorney that a bank will not honor. In Gwinnett County, these gaps usually surface at the worst moment, when a family member is in the hospital or when a probate filing is already underway. Bowman Law Firm is a Norcross estate plan review lawyer practice that examines existing wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives for Georgia families across Gwinnett County and the greater Atlanta area, then updates what no longer fits.

A review is a different exercise from drafting a plan from scratch. The question is not “what should we build?” but “does what you already have still work, under current Georgia law, for the family you have today?” Documents signed ten or fifteen years ago may predate changes to Georgia’s power of attorney statute and its trust and digital asset laws. They may also predate a divorce, a remarriage, a grandchild, a business sale, or a move to Georgia from another state. Reviewing them takes a close read of every instrument alongside the way your assets are actually titled.

What a Georgia Estate Plan Review Actually Examines

A review starts with the documents but does not end there. The paper plan and the real-world holdings have to match, and in our experience the mismatch is where most problems live. A will can be flawless and still control very little if your accounts pass by beneficiary designation and your house sits outside the trust you meant to fund.

For wills, the first check is execution. Georgia requires a will to be in writing and signed by the testator, or by someone else in the testator’s presence and at the testator’s direction. It also needs at least two competent witnesses who sign themselves; no one may sign a witness’s name for them. Georgia does not recognize oral wills or handwritten wills lacking witnesses, so a document someone wrote out by hand and tucked in a drawer may carry no legal weight at all. A will that includes a self-proving affidavit is easier to admit to probate later, though notarization is not required for the will itself. Any change made by codicil must meet the same formalities as the original will, which is why informal handwritten edits to an old will are a recurring problem.

For trusts, we confirm the document is in writing, signed by the settlor, and that it reserves the powers you assumed it did. Under Georgia’s trust code, a settlor cannot modify or revoke a trust unless the trust expressly reserves that power, and any revocation or modification must be in writing and signed by the settlor. A trust drafted in another state, or by a form service, sometimes omits that reservation or states it ambiguously. We also test the trust against its funding: whether the deed, brokerage accounts, and business interests were ever retitled into it.

Why Bowman Law Firm Handles Plan Reviews Differently

Bowman Law Firm serves families in Norcross, throughout Gwinnett County, and across Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Forsyth, and Hall counties. The firm focuses on estate planning, wills, trusts, advance directives, powers of attorney, asset protection and Medicaid planning, elder law, trust funding, trust amendment, and trust administration. Clients work directly with an attorney who knows their family and their goals, and the staff speaks English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, which matters when the person whose documents are under review is more comfortable discussing them in their first language.

Her background includes trying cases for a national consumer law firm, serving as Law Clerk to a Federal Judge in Georgia, and handling personal injury cases on the defense side for a large Florida law firm. That mix of courtroom and chambers experience is useful in a review, because the point of the exercise is to anticipate how a document will hold up when a bank, a hospital, a probate clerk, or a disappointed relative tests it.

Clients describe the firm as knowledgeable, reassuring, and attentive, and the firm’s guiding principle is that every client is a person first, a client second, and never a file number. Consultations are unhurried, explanations are plain, and you should understand every change before you sign it. The process is three steps: a free discovery call by phone, email, or online scheduling; an initial consultation to examine your needs, which costs $100; and an in-person signing meeting where updated documents are presented. Virtual consultations are available for clients who cannot come in.

Common Problems a Review Uncovers

• Unfunded or partly funded trusts: A signed trust holds nothing until real estate, bank accounts, and brokerage holdings are retitled in its name. Assets left outside generally fall back on a pour-over will and the court process the trust was meant to avoid.
• Outdated beneficiary designations: Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by the form on file with the institution, not by your will or trust. A designation naming a former spouse, a deceased parent, or no contingent beneficiary can override your entire plan.
• Powers of attorney that no longer function: Georgia’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act governs documents signed on or after July 1, 2017. A valid one must be signed by the principal, attested by a competent witness, and attested before a notary who is not the witness. Older forms, or ones signed without that formality, invite rejection by financial institutions.
• Advance directives with disqualified witnesses or missing agents: Georgia requires two adult witnesses of sound mind, and neither may be your health care agent, someone who stands to inherit from you, or a person directly involved in your care. A directive witnessed by the wrong person, or naming an agent who has since died or moved away, may not work when needed.
• Revocable trusts mistaken for asset protection: During your lifetime, assets in a revocable trust remain reachable by your creditors under Georgia law, and after death they can be reached if the probate estate cannot cover claims. Families sometimes assume a living trust shields savings when it does not.
• Long-term care exposure: Georgia Medicaid applies a 60-month look-back to transfers made for less than fair market value, and a transfer can trigger a period of ineligibility. A plan with no long-term care strategy may leave a home and savings exposed to nursing home costs.
• Digital assets left unaddressed: Georgia’s fiduciary access law lets you direct who may access your online accounts, but an online tool setting can override what your will says. Plans that never mention email, cloud storage, or financial apps leave a fiduciary arguing with custodians.
• Spendthrift language that does not do what you expect: A valid Georgia spendthrift clause must bar both voluntary and involuntary transfers, and even then it does not stop claims for child support, alimony, taxes, tort judgments, or necessaries.

Getting Your Documents Ready and Knowing Where They Will Be Tested

If you are thinking about a review, the most useful thing you can do before the first meeting is gather what exists. Bring every will, codicil, trust, amendment, power of attorney, and health care directive you have signed, including ones you think are obsolete. Bring recent statements for bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts, the deed to your home, and copies of beneficiary forms for life insurance and retirement plans. If you do not have the forms, the institutions can send them; we can tell you which to request. A short list of changes in your life since you last signed, such as marriages, divorces, births, deaths, a move, or a business transaction, will help the review move faster than any amount of explanation in the room.

It also helps to know where each document would be tested. A will for a Gwinnett County resident is admitted in the Probate Court of Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville, which handles probate of wills, estate administration, and guardianships and conservatorships for minors and incapacitated adults. That court accepts electronic filing through eFile GA. If your plan lacks a working power of attorney and you become incapacitated, your family may have to petition that court for a guardianship or conservatorship, which is exactly the outcome good incapacity documents are meant to prevent. Clients who live elsewhere in the metro area face the same reality in their own county: the probate courts of Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Hall, and Forsyth counties each handle wills and estates for their residents, and each is an expanded or exclusive-jurisdiction forum for those matters.

One common worry is estate tax. Georgia levies no estate tax and no inheritance tax, and the old state estate tax reaches only people who died before 2005. That means a Georgia review is rarely about state tax savings. It is about control, privacy, incapacity, creditors, and long-term care. The federal estate tax exclusion is large enough that most families are not affected, though the federal rules deserve a look when assets are substantial.

The most common mistakes we see are treating a plan as finished once it is signed, relying on a form downloaded online, and updating one document without checking how the others interact. Changing a trust without updating the pour-over will, or naming a new agent in a power of attorney while the health care directive still names someone else, creates conflicts. Reviewing the whole set at once is the safeguard. A review should happen every three to five years and after any major life event, and it costs far less than a contested probate or a rejected power of attorney.

Estate Plan Review Questions We Hear Often

How do I know if my estate plan needs to be reviewed?

Review is worth doing if you signed your documents more than three to five years ago, if your family or finances have changed, if you moved to Georgia from another state, or if you are unsure whether your trust was ever funded. A single change, such as a divorce or a new grandchild, is reason enough.

Is a plan review the same as drafting a new plan?

No. A review starts with what you already have and tests it against current Georgia law and your current circumstances. Sometimes the answer is that the plan is sound and needs only a minor amendment. Other times pieces need to be replaced. You will know which before any new documents are drafted.

Can I change my revocable trust without starting over?

Usually, yes, if the trust reserves the power to modify. Georgia requires any modification of an express trust to be in writing and signed by the settlor. A trust amendment can update trustees, beneficiaries, or distribution terms without replacing the whole document.

Do I need to redo my will if I move to Georgia?

Not automatically, but you should have it reviewed. A will validly executed elsewhere may be honored here, yet its structure, witness provisions, and coordination with your trust and beneficiary designations may need attention. Powers of attorney and health care directives signed in other states are also generally recognized in Georgia if valid where signed, but local financial institutions often respond better to Georgia-compliant forms.

My power of attorney was signed years ago. Is it still valid?

It may be, but it is worth checking. Georgia’s current Uniform Power of Attorney Act applies to documents executed on or after July 1, 2017, and it sets specific witness and notary requirements. Powers of attorney are durable unless they say otherwise, and they end at the principal’s death. A review confirms whether yours would be accepted by a bank today.

Does a handwritten change to my will count?

Not unless it is executed with the same formalities as the will itself. A codicil must be signed by you and attested and subscribed by witnesses. Georgia does not recognize unwitnessed handwritten wills, so notes in the margin or a handwritten page added later may be disregarded, and they can create confusion about your intent.

What if I do not know whether my trust was funded?

That is one of the most common reasons clients come in. We compare the trust to your deeds, account statements, and beneficiary forms to see what is actually titled in the trust. Where assets are outside it, we handle retitling as part of our trust funding work so the plan operates as designed.

How long does a Medicaid look-back matter for my plan?

Georgia looks back 60 months from the date of a Medicaid long-term care application for transfers below fair market value. A penalty period can follow, and it begins only once you are otherwise eligible. Because of that timing, reviewing a plan early leaves more options than reviewing it after a nursing home admission.

Is it worth paying for a review if my estate is modest?

Often, yes. Most of the problems a review catches, such as a disqualified witness, a stale beneficiary form, or an unfunded trust, have nothing to do with estate size. They affect whether your family can act quickly when you are incapacitated and whether your home and accounts reach the right people.

Can my agent or executor access my online accounts?

It depends on what you directed and the terms of each provider. Georgia’s digital assets law lets you grant or withhold access in a will, trust, or power of attorney, but a direction made through a provider’s online tool takes priority over a conflicting document. A review should include a list of key accounts and a plan for each.

Do you review documents for clients who live outside Norcross?

Yes. The firm works with families throughout Gwinnett, Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Forsyth, and Hall counties, and virtual consultations are available for those who prefer not to travel.

Reviewing Estate Plans for Families Around Norcross and Gwinnett County

Starting in Norcross and the rest of Gwinnett County, Bowman Law Firm reviews and updates estate plans for families in Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Suwanee, and Buford. Along the Buford Highway corridor, we work with the many communities of Doraville, Chamblee, and Brookhaven, where families often hold documents in more than one language and appreciate being able to discuss them in English, Spanish, or Vietnamese.

We also serve clients in north Fulton, including Johns Creek, Alpharetta, and Roswell, and in the Perimeter area through Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. To the west and south, our work extends to Marietta in Cobb County and Decatur in DeKalb County. Families in Cumming in Forsyth County and Gainesville in Hall County are part of the firm’s service area as well, along with Dalton and the wider greater Atlanta region. Wherever you live, an existing plan can be reviewed against the Georgia rules that apply to it, and updated without starting over.

Schedule With a Norcross Estate Plan Review Attorney

If your documents have not been looked at in years, or you are not sure they would work when your family needs them, a conversation with a Norcross estate plan review attorney is a sensible next step. Bowman Law Firm offers a free discovery call, followed by a $100 initial consultation where attorney Shireen Hormozdi Bowman examines your documents and your goals. Call the office or ask for a virtual appointment, and bring whatever you have signed so far. The review will tell you what is working, what is not, and what it will take to bring your plan current.