Estate Planning
Estate Planning Attorney Atlanta, Georgia
Find Out Where You Stand
What Does an Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney Do?
An Atlanta estate planning attorney creates legally binding documents (trusts, wills, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives) that transfer your assets to the right people without court involvement. For Atlanta residents, this means avoiding Fulton County Probate Court, protecting a home that may have tripled in value, and making sure your family knows exactly what to do when something happens.
Why Atlanta Residents Need an Estate Plan
Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods have seen extraordinary property appreciation. Homeowners in Buckhead, Virginia-Highland, Inman Park, Grant Park, and Midtown who paid $150,000 in the 1990s may now have estates worth $600,000 or more. Without a trust, that property enters Fulton County Probate Court when they die.
Fulton County handles one of the highest volumes of estate cases in Georgia. Probate routinely takes 12 to 18 months. Court fees, attorney fees, and administrative costs typically consume 3% to 8% of the estate’s gross value. A revocable living trust bypasses probate entirely. Your family receives your assets without a court hearing, without delay, and without those costs.
Atlanta also has a high concentration of blended families, same-sex couples, unmarried partners, and non-biological parents. Georgia law does not recognize informal family relationships. Without a trust or will that names your intended beneficiaries, the people who matter most to you may receive nothing under the state’s default distribution rules.
What Georgia Law Does If You Die Without a Plan
If you die without a will in Georgia, the state’s intestacy statute decides who gets your assets. Georgia distributes your estate to your closest living relatives. These may not be the people you would have chosen, or the proportions you intended.
Common consequences for Atlanta families without an estate plan:
- A blended-family home is tied up in probate for over a year while your spouse and children from a prior relationship dispute ownership in court
- Your unmarried partner receives nothing, because Georgia gives them no legal standing without a will
- Minor children’s assets are managed by the court until they turn 18, then distributed in full with no restriction
- Business interests pass to heirs who cannot run them, often destroying the business
- Your Fulton County home must go through a public court process before it can be transferred to anyone
Estate Planning Services for Atlanta, Georgia Families
The Hive Law provides the following services to Atlanta-area clients. All services are flat-fee, so you know the cost before we begin.
- Revocable Living Trust. Keeps your Atlanta home and financial accounts out of Fulton County Probate Court. Works for single people, married couples, and blended families.
- Last Will & Testament. Names guardians for minor children, directs your executor, and establishes your wishes. Required even when you have a trust.
- Financial Power of Attorney. Designates a trusted person to manage your finances if you become incapacitated.
- Healthcare Directive. Documents your medical treatment preferences and names a healthcare agent to make decisions for you.
- Medicaid Planning. Protects your assets if you or your spouse need long-term care. Critical for Atlanta homeowners with significant equity.
- Business Succession Planning. For Atlanta business owners, this ensures your company transfers to the right people without court involvement or operational disruption.
Why Atlanta Families Choose The Hive Law
The Hive Law is an Atlanta-area estate planning law firm led by Melissa Breyer, a Georgia-licensed attorney who focuses exclusively on estate planning, elder law, and probate. We work with Atlanta clients every day, including homeowners in Buckhead, families in Virginia-Highland, small business owners throughout metro Atlanta, and retirees protecting what they spent a lifetime building.
Flat-Fee Pricing — No Surprises
Every service has a flat fee, quoted before we start. Most Atlanta clients pay between $1,500 and $3,500 for a complete estate plan. You will never receive an unexpected bill. To put this in context: the average cost of going through Fulton County Probate Court without a trust is $15,000 or more, and it takes 12 to 18 months.
The Design Meeting
Every engagement starts with a free strategy call. If it’s a fit, the next step is a 60-minute Design Meeting with us. You leave with a clear picture of what you have, what would happen to it today without a plan, and exactly what a proper plan looks like for your family. We give you a flat-fee quote that day. The Design Meeting is a working session, not a sales call.
A Husband-and-Wife Team
Shawn and Melissa Breyer founded The Hive Law together. Melissa is the attorney. Shawn handles client experience and operations. You work with both of them, not with a junior associate you haven’t met. We serve clients throughout Atlanta including Buckhead, Midtown, Inman Park, Sandy Springs, Decatur, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Johns Creek, Alpharetta, and Marietta.
How It Works
A 15-Minute Call With Shawn
Tell us what is going on with your family. Shawn walks you through your options and what each one costs. Free.
The Design Meeting With Shawn and Melissa
In a 60-minute meeting, Shawn and Melissa review your assets, your family, and your goals together and confirm your price. This meeting is credited toward your plan if you move forward.
Review Every Document With Melissa
Before you sign, Melissa walks through every document with you in plain language. No legal jargon. No confusion about what you are signing.
Your Plan Is Complete
Melissa delivers your completed documents and explains exactly what your family needs to do. You leave knowing your plan is in place and your family is protected.
Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer is a Georgia estate planning attorney who works exclusively on trust-based estate planning and LLC formation. She personally designs and drafts every plan at The Hive Law after the initial call. Every plan is built from scratch for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.
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What Our Clients Say
After my father passed away, my mother had to rely on my father's employer to navigate the estate. It was a disaster. After this experience, I knew I needed a plan. I turned to The Hive Law to set up a trust. I no longer have to worry about my wife and children going through a difficult process if something happens to me. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
My biggest fear was that if I died first, my wife would have no idea how to navigate the estate and legal system. I reached out to The Hive Law and they put my mind at ease immediately. Their process is easy to follow and they took care of everything. The Hive Law is the best decision I've made for my family's future.
Working with Melissa Breyer to set up our Living Trust was a wonderful experience. She and her entire team were knowledgeable, professional, and made the whole process easy to understand. I highly recommend The Hive Law for all your estate planning needs!
We highly recommend Hive Law. They were extremely patient and responsive, answering our many rounds of questions regarding trusts and estate planning. Shawn consistently responded the same day we sent our questions, even while his family was on vacation, which we greatly appreciated. Shawn was also always available to discuss matters by phone whenever we needed additional clarification on the options we were considering. Both are very knowledgeable in estate planning, and we would confidently recommend Hive Law to friends and family.
The Hive Law made the entire estate planning and trust process easy to understand and stress-free. Melissa and Shawn walked us through every step and answered all of our questions. We feel confident that our family is protected. Highly recommend!
My mom chose The Hive firm to help with estate planning and developing a trust to protect her assets. I sat in on her meeting with Melissa, and Melissa did a great job of simplifying complex legalese into easily understood concepts. Shawn was very quick to get us our documents and all steps in the process were clear and easy. They make a great team and we are thankful for their help!
I used The Hive Law to help me create a trust for my family. The process was straightforward and Melissa and Shawn made sure I understood each step. They were responsive to all of my questions. I feel much more confident about my family's future now. Highly recommend!
Working with Shawn and Melissa at The Hive Law has been an excellent experience. They were one of three firms we contacted, but she made the strongest impression during our initial call. They asked great questions to understand our situation and clearly explained what we needed to put in place. We initially had some reservations about their fully virtual approach, but those concerns were quickly put to rest. After the first two calls, it was clear how easy they are to work with and how well connected we felt. Communication has been clear, organized, and reassuring throughout the process. Shawn and Melissa are professional, approachable, and thorough. We feel confident we're in good hands and highly recommend The Hive Law for estate planning.
The Hive Law Firm, and specifically Melissa, has been wonderful to work with during our estate planning process. She is knowledgeable, patient, and thorough. She answered all of our questions and made the process easy to understand. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
Shawn and Melissa were amazing to work with! My partner and I recently bought a house and wanted to get important things like wills, healthcare directives, etc. set up. They were incredible at answering all our questions and working with us to make sure we felt confident in all of the legal aspects. Having tried to do this online before with one of the DIY tools, it was just an amazing experience to get to talk through what we wanted with a knowledgeable human and have them take care of the details.
Hive Law was awesome to work with! Melissa and Shawn explained everything, kept things stress-free, and were always quick to respond to my questions. They made the whole process simple and smooth from start to finish. Highly recommend if you want a team that's knowledgeable but also easy to work with.
I lost my father in February of this year without any estate planning in place. The process of dealing with the probate court has been overwhelming and expensive. After this experience, I contacted The Hive Law to set up a trust so my children never have to go through what I've been through. Melissa and Shawn were compassionate, knowledgeable, and made the entire process simple. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
I used to know the bare minimum about probate and trust. I first encountered Shawn Breyer on Facebook. He was offering a webinar that I watched. That gave me a better understanding of probate versus trust. I was impressed enough to have him and his wife represent me. I had my initial one on one interview with Melissa Breyer, it went smoothly and she made everything clear. We are now proceeding with getting a revocable trust in place.
The Hive Law has been amazing throughout the process of setting up our trust. Every detail is considered and no stone is left unturned. They have been easy and enjoyable to work with. I would absolutely recommend them! Don't let your estate be turned over to Probate!!
The Hive Law helped us set up a revocable trust. Their webinar is great for answering any questions you may have, to clarify and avoid probate. Get in touch with them right away, you won't be disappointed.
Melissa was great! She gave me an honest review of my future plans that I already have in place. Turns out, I already had my ducks in a row!!! She was a pleasure to talk with!!
For several years now I have been thinking about having a will drawn up, but continued to procrastinate until an older sibling had a medical situation occur which none of the family was prepared for. This was the determining factor for me to get it done. We never know when an emergency medical situation could arise and I didn't want my other siblings to be scrambling around trying to figure things out in the event I couldn't make any decisions for myself, or God forbid I pass away. My attorney (Melissa), was very funny and made the whole experience quite entertaining. She listened to what I wanted and explained the type of plan I needed. Thanks Melissa & Shawn for making the process an enjoyable experience.
The Hive Law Firm did an excellent job helping my mother-in-law with her estate plan. The process felt overwhelming at first, but their team walked us through every step with compassion and professionalism. They listened to our concerns, explained things in simple terms, and made sure our mother's wishes were honored. We're very grateful for their guidance.
The Hive Law firm did an outstanding job helping my family members with their estate planning. They made the process clear, smooth and stress free. Truly professional and caring team, highly recommend!
The whole process of creating a family trust felt simple, clear, and stress-free. We really appreciated how patient, helpful, and easy to communicate with the team was throughout everything. Shawn and Melissa gave us great guidance and helped us feel confident every step of the way. We're grateful for their support and would definitely recommend them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your estate goes to the probate court in the county where you legally lived. Atlanta sits mostly inside Fulton County, and part of the city falls inside DeKalb County, so the answer follows your address and not your mailing city. A funded revocable trust keeps your assets out of that court either way, which is why the county question stops mattering once the trust owns the property.
A deed held with survivorship language does pass the home to the surviving spouse without probate. Georgia requires that language to actually appear on the deed, under O.C.G.A. 44-6-190, so it is worth reading yours rather than assuming. What survivorship does not solve is the second death. When the surviving spouse dies, the house sits in one name with no co-owner left, and it goes through probate then unless a trust owns it.
Recording the deed costs a flat $25 in Georgia. That fee is set by O.C.G.A. 15-6-77(f)(1)(A)(i), so it is the same in Fulton, in DeKalb, and in every other county, and it does not rise with the number of pages. Moving your own home into your own trust is not a sale, so it does not trigger Georgia transfer tax under O.C.G.A. 48-6-2(a)(9). The Hive Law prepares the deed and records it as part of your package.
Your lender cannot call the loan for that reason. Federal law blocks it. 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(8) bars a due on sale clause when you move a home into your own living trust and stay a beneficiary, and that protection covers residential property with fewer than five units. The step families do forget is telling the insurance company, so the trust gets added to the homeowners policy.
Georgia gives an unmarried partner nothing by default. The intestacy rules send your estate to blood relatives, so a partner of twenty years can be left with no legal claim to a house they helped pay for. Naming your partner in a trust, and holding the deed the right way, is the only way to make the outcome match what you actually intend.
Georgia divides the estate between your spouse and your children when there is no will. Under O.C.G.A. 53-2-1(c)(1), your spouse shares equally with the children and can never receive less than a one third share. With no children or grandchildren, your spouse takes everything. Georgia also has no elective share, so your spouse cannot claim a set percentage the way a spouse can in some other states.
Year’s support is a Georgia claim your surviving spouse or minor children can file in probate court, asking for property to support them for the twelve months after your death, under O.C.G.A. 53-3-1. It is paid ahead of most other claims against the estate, and the petition must be filed within 24 months of the death under O.C.G.A. 53-3-5. It reaches only the probate estate, so property already retitled into a funded trust sits outside it. Blended families are the ones most often caught out by this.
Georgia limits what a parent can manage for a child without court involvement. Under O.C.G.A. 29-3-1, once a child inherits more than $25,000, a court appointed conservator has to manage it under court supervision until the child turns 18. The full balance is then handed over at once. A trust avoids that, because your trustee manages the money and you choose the ages at which it is released.
Only a will can nominate a guardian for a minor child in Georgia. O.C.G.A. 29-2-4 gives that job to a will, and no trust can do it however carefully it is written. This is why a complete plan still includes a will next to the trust, even for families whose main goal is avoiding probate.
The whole process is handled remotely, with no office visits. That is true whether you live in Buckhead or two hours outside the city. You meet with Melissa and Shawn remotely, your documents are mailed to you, and you arrange the notary and witnesses for signing.
The Complete Family Trust Package is $3,500 as a flat fee, and it is the same for Atlanta clients as for anywhere else in Georgia. It covers the revocable trust, the pour-over will, powers of attorney for both spouses, the healthcare directive, the HIPAA form, and the deed on your home. You start with a Design Meeting with Melissa and Shawn, which is paid and credited in full toward your plan if you move forward.
An old will can still be valid and still be wrong for your family. Names change, assets change, and a will never avoids probate no matter how recently it was signed. Bring it to your Design Meeting and we will tell you what still works and what needs replacing. If you already have a trust rather than a will, The Hive Law reviews an existing trust package for $1,050 flat.
Find Out Where You Stand
You’ve been meaning to do this for a while now. That’s normal. Most families wait until something happens, then wish they hadn’t.
A 15-minute call tells you exactly what you have, what’s missing, and what your family needs next. No paperwork, no obligation, just a straight answer.
- No sales pitch. Just a straight answer about where you stand.
- No confusing terms. We explain everything in plain English.
- A real next step. You’ll know exactly what to do when we hang up.