Top Best Probate Lawyers | 4185 Available

I advise individuals and corporate fiduciaries with respect to the intricate personal and business problems associated with the administration, disposition and sale of their assets. I am a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law (J.D.), New York University School of Law (LL.M. in Taxation) and Yale University (M.A. in Religion). I serve as the Chairman of the Darien Commission on Aging and as a Justice of the Peace.  I am pleased to be a frequent lecturer at community seminars and am admitted to practice law in Connecticut and New York. My charitable work includes raising money for children's cancer research each year by shaving the few hairs left on my head.  In nine years, I've raised over $26,000 dollars for this awesome cause.  I have been married for 28 years to my wonderful spouse, Annie, and we've been blessed with two great sons.

Our firm is led by Attorney Charles L. Kurmay, a native of Guilford, Connecticut with offices in nearby Madison and Milford. Mr. Kurmay is a skilled attorney with more than two decades of state, federal, and international legal experience, which equips him to handle large, complex cases with ease. He is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of Connecticut, New York, the United States Supreme Court, as well as the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Mr. Kurmay is also the son of renowned probate judge and former Probate Court Administrator, F. Paul Kurmay. While Judge Kurmay is now retired from the bench, he continues to advise as Of Counsel to the firm, lending his decades of experience and knowledge to various probate-related matters. The firm has relationships with counsel worldwide such that no matter is beyond its capability to protect your interests.

Since 2003, I have been assisting individuals and businesses with their legal issues in Connecticut in an efficient, cost effective manner.  Call me today to discuss how I can assist you.

Come visit my website at .  I graduated magna cum laude from Quinnipiac University School of Law and was a member of the Quinnipiac University Law Review.  My office is conveniently located on Boston Post Road in Guilford, Connecticut.  I frequently make home visits to serve my clients.

Combining 30 years of litigation experience with 21 years experience as a Florida Su­preme Court certified mediator, Attorney Diane Baltzelle McWhirter expects excel­lence in her legal product.   A Florida native, Diane has served Central Florida through her law practice since 1983.. Diane Baltzelle McWhirter counsels her estate planning clients about the details of legal document preparation. She crafts the Durable Powers of Attorney for continuity in the Client's financial planning and instructs clients  about safeguarding their legal documents.. Diane McWhirter helps navigate the bank­ruptcy system for  those  clients facing finan­cial failure. She advises  clients through the adversarial process on request and assists the client in following the federal requirements of the complex bankruptcy system.. As a Florida Supreme Court certified me­diator since 1991, her mediation training includes skill development in facilitating agreements using complex negotiations. Certified in family, county and circuit court mediations by the Florida Supreme Court, she mediates in the Florida court system. She counsels a cost benefit analysis of each case to determine the cost of litigation ver­sus the expected financial outcome of the case.. AWO Lawyer Rating Guide rates Diane McWhirter's legal abilities as "Excellent". Martindale-Hubbell, Peer review Rating Sys­tem, rates her as "Distinguished" and "High­ly Rated" in both legal and ethical Standards. She graduated from Duke University and the University of Florida, Law School.. Diane Baltzelle McWhirter cares about all of her probate, guardianship, bankruptcy and mediation clients. She continuously strives for excellence in her legal work, and uses her experience, education, legal re­search and technology to help her clients.

Brad’s practice is primarily focused on serving clients with business, succession and estate planning issues. He guides families through the legal process necessary to open succession for a lost loved one, and also assists families with the many financial and legal issues that result after someone’s death. Through his estate planning services, he helps people plan for the orderly transfer of their estate upon their death, as well as structure and protect their estate and wealth during their lifetime.. He is a native of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, and attended Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance. After working as a licensed stock broker, he attended law school at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he obtained his Juris Doctorate in Law.. For families and individuals, he provides the following services:. Successions and ProbateEstate LitigationHeirship LitigationEstate PlanningPreparation of WillsTrust Creation

Sarah Spigener and the Spigener Law Firm specializes in Louisiana successions and Mississippi probates.  Sarah Spigener also practices and has experience in the areas of civil litigation, estate planning, real estate law, and personal injury.. From Gulfport, Mississippi, Ms. Spigener made New Orleans her home nearly ten years ago.  Ms. Spigener studied Spanish at the University of Southern Mississippi to achieve her Bachelor's Degree, and spent a semester abroad studying at The University of Alcalá de Henares in Madrid, Spain.  At Southern Miss, Ms. Spigener was a member of the Honors College and various student organizations, such as the Student Government Association. Ms. Spigener earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. While at Ole Miss, Ms. Spigener was active in the Christian Legal Society.. Ms. Spigener has had a broad array of legal experience in areas such as environmental, employment, criminal, personal injury, class action, successions, estate planning, and civil law.

Trachelle L. Cornish is the founding partner of Cornish Law LLC. For the past seven years, she has worked alongside municipal government to remedy the city of blighted property by establishing the heirs of heirship property and she has worked alongside highly successful attorneys in the areas of real estate, elder law, plaintiff’s litigation, commercial litigation, title, tax, bankruptcy, and personal injury law. Additionally, she has supervised in operations with an international Fortune 500 company, accounting for trillions of dollars in revenue and a staff of 75.. Trachelle graduated from Southern University Law Center, where she received national recognition after earning a CALI Excellence for the Future Award for Legal Research. Trachelle uses her award-winning legal research skills to determine the likelihood that a client will have a successful outcome in their legal matter. From here, she can more accurately and insightfully pinpoint her clients’ advantages and disadvantages and present the most effective plan of action.

In today's complex society, it's important to be well informed and prepared. Many times we are faced with making difficult decisions without sufficient information. Circumstances may also place us in complicated situations that could have been handled easily if proper planning had been undertaken.. My name is Nick Giuditta. I represent individuals seeking advice in estate and tax planning, probate, elder law and guardianship matters. I regularly prepare Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives (Living Wills). I also represent executors and adminstrators of estates to guide them through the technical probate and estate administration process. These services begin with probating or validating the Will through the completion of inheritance and estate tax returns and distribution of assets to heirs.. Procrastination, whether it be in planning your estate or acting in a timely manner to administer an estate, invariably leads to lost opportunity and  greater expense. We can assist you with difficult and personal decisions regarding these family matters and expedite the process. Telephone calls and emails are returned within 24 hours and usually the same day.. I am committed to ensuring the law works as effectively as possible for you. Please feel free to call so I can assist you in making the right choices for you and your family.

Mr. Pontoppidan has over 35 years experience representing individuals and small businesses in the State of Louisiana in a variety of legal needs.       His practice focuses primarily on succession and probate matters, from the preparation of wills to handling estates, as the attorney or executor. His small business practice includes the preparation of corporate and limited liability company documents, advice regarding appropriate business structure and collections. He has experience in personal injury cases and family law matters.       Mr. Pontoppidan is active in the civic community as well. He has been a member of the Kiwanis Club of New Orleans for over 30 years, and held every local office, as well as served the Kiwanis District Foundation as an officer and board member, including President. He is actively involved with the National World War II Museum located in New Orleans, as a charter member and restoration volunteer. His service has included the complete restoration of a 1943 Higgins LCPL Landing Craft, which is now on display in the main lobby of the museum. He is currently on the restoration team of the 1943 Higgins built PT305, which will be brought back to sea-worthy condition.    Mr. Pontoppidan received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Tulane University in 1977 and a Juris Doctorate from Tulane University School of Law in 1980.Bar Admissions Louisiana, 1980 U.S. Federal Court, 1980Education Tulane Law School, New Orleans, Louisiana J.D. Tulane University New Orleans, LA B.A.

Melanie Ritter takes great pleasure in being able to assist families with their legal needs especially in the areas of special needs planning involving special needs trusts, protective arrangements, guardianships, probate and estate administration.. Melanie currently works at Manes & Weinberg advocating for people with special needs. Melanie is a fomer associate with the Law Offices of G. Emerson Dickman and is a former judicial law clerk to the Honorable Judge Marguerite Simon and Judge Peter Doyne in the Chancery and Probate Divisions of the Bergen County Superior Court.. Melanie graduated University of Maryland-College Park, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice.  Melanie received her law degree from Seton Hall Law School where she was a president of the Student Honor Council.. Melanie is a member of Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains. She enjoys spending time with her children in her free time.

Recent Notable Cases and Representations:. 2024: Terminating a Biological Father’s Parental Rights after trial in a contested adoption proceeding;. 2023: Successfully stayed a civil Wrongful Death proceeding in its entirety (including any pleadings and discovery) pending the conclusion of a notable criminal proceeding pending in Kane County, Illinois, where my client is accused of murdering an individual approximately twenty (20) years ago. Said murder case is regularly covered in the news media;. 2022: Successfully obtained a Plenary Order of Protection against a Mother on behalf of the guardian and two minor children from having any communication or interaction with the children based on Mother’s egregious behaviors and previous endangerment of said children;. 2021: Successfully obtained a dissipation award in excess of $116k against a Husband after trial in a marital dissolution proceeding who had another “secret” family out-of-State;. 2021: Successfully terminated the guardianship of a minor child and obtained reunification between child and father from a grandmother who actively prevented the minor child from having a relationship with her father for years [upheld on appeal];. 2020: Successfully obtained over a hundred-acre farm and placed same into a special needs trust for a disabled person’s benefit that a Bank Trustee sought to sell over four years of litigation;. 2019: Obtained a One Million Dollar Judgment against an individual for the wrongful death of his mother, specifically for being the intentional cause of her death (his murder trial is still pending). Additionally, I applied the “Slayer Statute” in a Declaratory Judgment against said individual in a separate proceeding so that said individual could not receive any benefit as a result of his mother’s death from any source;. 2019: Successfully defeated a spouse's claim to a business with a yearly gross revenue in excess of $10 million (determined premarital), as well as successfully retaining the marital residence worth in excess of $1.50 million in a highly contested marital dissolution proceeding;. 2018: Successful application of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“HAGUE”), as well as the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (“ICARA”), to compel settlement with a mother who, without permission, retained a Minor Child in the United States and would not allow contact between said minor child and her father;. 2017: Successful retrieval in excess of $175k pursuant to a Citation to Recover Assets in a Probate proceeding where there was a dispute as to whether the Decedent intended her cousin to be named as a pay-on-death beneficiary of her account;. 2016: Successful representation as Court-appointed counsel for an elderly man whose family member sought guardianship of both his person and estate and who involuntarily committed him to a nursing home, where he was forced to take psychiatric medications against his will. After successfully petitioning for an Independent Medical Examination, the Petitioners withdrew their Petition for Guardianship, and my client was set free of his own accord;. 2016: Litigation Counsel of Record for Erin Merryn (nom de plume). Erin is a world-wide activist against child sex predators and a proponent of Erin’s Law, an initiative to promote education in public schools to prevent childhood sexual abuse, for which she regularly speaks before Congressional Committees both domestic and abroad. As of May 2016, Erin’s Law has been passed in 27 States, having first been signed into law in Illinois by then Governor Quinn. Most recently, she was the primary participant in a TLC special “Breaking the Silence” about this topic;. 2015:    Successful representation of a pregnant woman detained and tried in Indonesia for the premeditated murder of her mother. I successfully obtained $150k from her mother's trust to ensure my client had criminal legal representation in Indonesia that could have resulted in death by firing squad. Additionally, I ensured that my client’s daughter was born in a hospital in Indonesia as opposed to the prison infirmary.  Finally, I was designated by Order of the Court to be responsible for stipend funds to ensure my client had access to adequate food, toiletries, and medicinal care while pregnant and incarcerated;. 2015:   Successful representation as Court-appointed counsel for a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia whose family member sought guardianship of both the person and the estate over my client. After preliminary hearings, the Petitioner withdrew his Petition for Guardianship, and, to my knowledge, my client is free to exercise her wishes both medically and financially to this day;. 2015:    Successful defense of a removal action preventing Wife from leaving the State of Illinois with the parties’ two minor children. Complexities of the case included, but were not limited to, Wife filing no less than five (5) Orders of Protection against Husband within a two (2) year period for, inter alia, physical assaults and abuse.

I am licensed attorney in the State of Illinois, admitted in November 2019. I primarily practice in the areas of family law litigation and probate litigation. I am Court approved Guardian ad Litem for the Probate Division in Kane County, Illinois. Additionally, I am a member of the Illinois Bar Association, Kane County Bar Association, and Chicago Bar Association. Recently, I was published in the Kane County BarBriefs magazine.