Practice Area · Wills, Trusts & Estate Planning
Estate Planning Attorney in Franklin, Tennessee
Custom-built estate plans for individuals, families, and business owners across Middle Tennessee.
Overview
What is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is the process of deciding how your assets will be managed during your life, protected if you become incapacitated, and passed on to the people and causes you care about after you're gone.
In Tennessee, a well-built estate plan usually includes a revocable living trust, a will, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, a HIPAA authorization, and an advance directive. Together, these documents give you control while you're here and protect your family when you're not.
Our Clients
Who We Work With
Our clients are individuals, couples, and families between the ages of 30 and 75 who have built meaningful wealth. They're business owners, executives, physicians, entrepreneurs, professionals, and retirees.
They've worked hard to build their success. Now they want to make sure it's protected and passed on with intention. As that wealth has grown, so has the complexity of protecting it. That's where we come in.
Scope of Work
What We Handle
Every estate plan we build is custom-fit. That said, most of our plans include some combination of the following:
- Revocable living trust
- Pour-over will
- Financial power of attorney
- Healthcare power of attorney
- HIPAA authorization
- Advance directive
- Young adult package for children over 18 (healthcare POA, HIPAA authorization, financial POA)
- Trust funding and asset alignment
- Coordination with your financial advisor and CPA
For clients further up the wealth ladder, plans expand to include asset protection strategies, irrevocable trust structures, and multi-generational wealth transfer planning. Every engagement is flat-fee and scoped upfront so there are no surprises.
How We Work
Our Approach
We build plans that assume life will change. Marriages, births, deaths, business exits, moves, tax law shifts. A good estate plan should grow with you without starting from scratch every time. That's the difference between a plan built to be filed away and a plan built to work.
Your best interests are the anchor of every decision. Always.
Tennessee Statutes
Estate Planning Under Tennessee Law
Tennessee has its own rules for how wills, trusts, and powers of attorney work, and generic online templates rarely account for them.
Wills in Tennessee must meet the execution requirements of T.C.A. § 32-1-104 to be valid. Revocable and irrevocable trusts are governed by the Tennessee Uniform Trust Code (T.C.A. § 35-15-101 et seq.). Financial powers of attorney fall under the Tennessee Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act (T.C.A. § 34-6-101 et seq.), and healthcare directives are governed by the Tennessee Health Care Decisions Act (T.C.A. § 68-11-1801 et seq.).
If you die without a will in Tennessee, the intestate succession statute (T.C.A. § 31-2-104) decides who inherits your property, and it may not match what you would have chosen.
A well-drafted plan makes sure Tennessee law works for you, not around you.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I die without a will in Tennessee?
If you die without a will (called dying “intestate”), Tennessee's intestate succession statute decides who inherits your property. Your spouse and children generally split your estate, and if you have no immediate family, the estate flows to parents, siblings, or more distant relatives. The court also chooses who administers the estate and who cares for any minor children, and those choices may not match what you would have wanted.
Do I really need this?
If you have assets, minor children, or anyone who depends on you, the answer is yes. Without a plan, the state decides how your property is distributed, who raises your children, and who makes decisions if you're incapacitated. A basic plan is straightforward to put in place. Waiting until later is where problems start.
What is probate?
Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will, paying the deceased's debts, and distributing what's left to heirs. In Tennessee, uncontested probate typically takes six to twelve months and becomes part of the public record. A properly funded revocable living trust allows most or all of your estate to pass outside probate, saving time, cost, and privacy.
What if I already have a will?
A will is a good start, but on its own it usually isn't enough. Wills still go through probate. They don't cover what happens if you become incapacitated during your lifetime. And they don't govern assets that pass by beneficiary designation or joint title, which is often most of what people actually own. We review existing plans regularly and update or restructure them so they accomplish what you thought they did.
Will my family really be protected?
Yes, when the plan is designed and funded correctly. A revocable living trust keeps your affairs private and out of probate court. It lets you control not just who inherits but how and when. And it protects your family from having to make hard decisions during the worst moments of their lives without direction from you.
When should I start estate planning?
The right time is now if you haven't started, and every three to five years if you have. Common triggers for revisiting a plan include marriage, divorce, having children, buying a home, starting or selling a business, receiving an inheritance, or a change in health. Most clients wish they had started sooner.
What is the difference between a will and a trust?
A will takes effect at your death, goes through probate, and becomes public record. A trust takes effect the moment you sign it, works during your lifetime and after your death, avoids probate, stays private, and can control how and when assets are distributed. Most of our clients end up with both: a revocable living trust as the centerpiece, and a pour-over will as a backstop for anything not moved into the trust during their lifetime.
Next Step
Ready to Get Started?
Schedule a consultation. We'll spend the first meeting understanding your family, your assets, and your goals. From there, we build a plan that reflects what actually matters to you.