REAL ESTATE INVESTORS
Estate Planning for Real Estate Investors in Georgia
When a Georgia real estate investor dies, rental properties freeze in probate for 9 to 18 months. Your family cannot collect rent, sign leases, or authorize repairs until a court appoints someone. If your properties are held in an LLC, the LLC survives — but no one has authority to act as its member. A properly funded revocable trust gives a successor trustee legal authority on the day you die, with no court involved. This section covers every ownership structure, every failure mode, and the steps that keep your portfolio running.
Most estate plans are built for W-2 employees. If you own rental properties, your plan needs to address LLCs, deeds, beneficiary designations, and what happens to your income stream when you cannot manage it.
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The Gap Between Your Portfolio and Your Plan
You built a rental portfolio. You probably have an LLC or two. You may even have a will. But if those three things are not connected through a properly funded trust, your family still faces probate court when you die — once for every property that is not inside a trust or LLC that names a successor.
Georgia probate averages 18 to 30 months. During that time, your family cannot sell the properties, refinance them, or in some cases even collect rent. The court controls what you built while lawyers get paid from the estate.
Incapacity is the part most investors never plan for. If you become unable to manage your properties, someone needs legal authority to collect rent, pay mortgages, and make repairs. Without a durable financial power of attorney and a funded trust, no one has that authority. Your properties sit idle. Your lenders may call the loans.
The Hive Law builds estate plans specifically for investors. We connect your trust, your LLCs, and your deeds so your portfolio transfers cleanly — and so someone can step in and run it if you cannot.
Which of these sounds like you?
What happens if I do nothing?
If you died tomorrow with your current setup, here is what happens to each part of your portfolio.
What does this actually cost?
Every option has a price. These articles give you the exact numbers before you decide.
Is my current setup good enough?
Most setups look fine on paper. These articles show you exactly where they break down.
Which approach is right for me?
Compare your options side by side before you decide.
How do I actually set this up?
Step-by-step guides for the most common tasks a Georgia real estate investor needs to complete.
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 every plan at The Hive Law and handles every client consultation herself. 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 helpful and professional in guiding us through the process of creating a Revocable Living Trust. Melissa and Shawn were thorough, answered all our questions, and made a potentially confusing process easy to understand.
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 after my father passed away. They were very thorough in explaining every step of the process. They made a difficult time much easier to navigate. I highly recommend The Hive Law for anyone needing estate planning services.
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 a great experience. They are very knowledgeable and took the time to explain all of our options. They made the process of setting up a trust simple and stress-free. I would highly recommend them to anyone needing 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!!
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