Estate Planning & Probate — Charleston, South Carolina
Whitfield & Hale has guided Charleston families through estate planning and probate for more than three decades. We take the time to understand what you have built and who you are protecting before we draft a single document.
The Firm
Estate planning is among the most personal work the law allows. It asks you to think clearly about what you have, who you love, and what you want to leave behind. That conversation deserves time, patience, and attorneys who have had it thousands of times before.
Whitfield & Hale was founded in 1991 by Eleanor Whitfield and James Hale, two attorneys who believed that the Lowcountry deserved an estate law firm that felt more like a family institution than a transactional shop. Over three decades, the firm has remained focused on a single area of practice, and that depth shows in every document we prepare and every family we guide through probate.
Our clients range from young parents drawing up their first wills to multi-generational families restructuring complex trust portfolios. What they share is a desire to be heard before they are advised. We listen first.
"The documents matter. But what endures is the clarity a good plan gives a family — the knowledge that the people they love will be cared for, and that the things they built will not be lost to confusion or delay."— Eleanor Whitfield, Founding Partner
What We Do
Every engagement begins with a conversation. We learn what matters to you before recommending any particular approach.
A properly drafted will directs the disposition of your assets, names an executor to manage your estate, and — critically — designates guardians for any minor children. We ensure your will complies with South Carolina's execution formalities and expresses your intentions without ambiguity. Without a valid will, the state's intestacy laws determine what happens to your estate, which may not reflect your wishes.
A revocable living trust allows your estate to pass to your beneficiaries privately, without court involvement, and typically far faster than the probate process. You retain full control of the assets during your lifetime and can amend or revoke the trust at any time. For families who own real property, have minor or young-adult beneficiaries, or simply wish to avoid public probate proceedings, a revocable trust is often the cornerstone of a sound estate plan.
When asset protection, Medicaid planning, or removal of assets from a taxable estate are priorities, an irrevocable trust can be a powerful tool. These arrangements — including Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs), Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs), and Domestic Asset Protection Trusts — require careful design. Once established, the terms are generally fixed, so the drafting must be precise and forward-looking.
A durable financial power of attorney designates someone you trust to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. A healthcare power of attorney (or healthcare proxy) designates the person who will make medical decisions on your behalf. These documents are foundational: without them, your family may need to petition a court for guardianship or conservatorship — a process that is slow, expensive, and public.
South Carolina's advance directive for health care — commonly called a living will — allows you to specify the medical treatment you do and do not want if you are in a terminal condition or permanent state of unconsciousness and cannot communicate. Combined with a healthcare power of attorney, it gives your family and physicians a clear, legally binding map of your wishes so that the hardest decisions are never made in uncertainty.
When a loved one — whether an aging parent or an adult child with a disability — can no longer manage their person or finances independently, South Carolina law provides for court-supervised guardianship (for personal decisions) and conservatorship (for financial decisions). We handle both the planning side — helping families put documents in place before a crisis — and the court-appointment side when planning was not possible in time.
A properly structured special needs trust (also called a supplemental needs trust) preserves a beneficiary's eligibility for means-tested government benefits such as SSI and Medicaid while still providing funds for quality-of-life expenses those programs do not cover. Drafting errors in a special needs trust can inadvertently disqualify a beneficiary from essential benefits. We prepare these documents with care and precision.
For business owners, the estate plan must address what happens to the enterprise — not just personal assets. We work alongside business attorneys to integrate buy-sell agreements, valuation mechanisms, and ownership transfer strategies into the broader estate plan. Whether you intend to pass the business to family, sell to a partner, or eventually sell to a third party, the succession plan should be drafted and documented long before you need it.
For larger estates, federal estate and gift tax considerations shape every significant planning decision. We work with your financial advisors and accountants to design strategies — annual gifting programs, charitable remainder trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, and more — that reduce tax exposure while honoring your goals for your family and any causes you care about. South Carolina does not impose a state-level estate tax, but federal thresholds remain relevant for many of our clients.
When a loved one passes, the probate process in South Carolina can feel overwhelming on top of grief. Our firm guides personal representatives (executors) through each stage of administration — filing the petition, inventorying the estate, notifying creditors, paying debts and taxes, and ultimately distributing assets to beneficiaries. We keep the process moving and make sure the family is never left wondering what happens next.
When a will or trust is challenged — on grounds of undue influence, lack of capacity, fraud, or improper execution — the resulting litigation is emotionally difficult and legally complex. We represent both those who seek to uphold a decedent's expressed intentions and family members who have genuine cause to question whether a document reflects those intentions. Every case of this kind deserves careful, thoughtful counsel.
Interactive Planning Tools
These tools provide general information only. They are not legal advice and do not create an attorney-client relationship. Every family's situation is different, and only a conversation with one of our attorneys can account for your specific circumstances.
Answer three questions to find a thoughtful starting point for your estate plan.
Question 1 of 3
Do you own real property in more than one state?
A thoughtful starting point
This is general information, not legal advice. The right approach for your family depends on many factors not captured here. We encourage you to schedule a consultation so we can understand your complete situation.
Select any stage to see what happens, who handles it, and how long it typically takes.
The Attorneys
Every client at Whitfield & Hale works directly with one of our attorneys from the first meeting through the completion of their plan.
Founding Partner
Eleanor co-founded the firm after practicing at a Charleston general litigation firm for two years and concluding that estate planning was the area of law where she could do the most good over a career. Thirty-five years later, she has guided families through every conceivable situation — from the simplest will to multi-generational trust structures for significant family wealth. She is known among her clients for patience, directness, and an ability to explain complex planning concepts in plain terms.
Partner
Marcus joined Eleanor in 1993 and has built the firm's tax planning and trust administration practice. His LL.M. in taxation informs every complex trust and tax planning engagement — from federal estate tax mitigation strategies to the technical drafting of charitable remainder trusts and generation-skipping arrangements. He is one of a small number of South Carolina attorneys who hold fellowship in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a distinction awarded to fewer than 2,500 attorneys nationally.
Associate Attorney
Simone joined Whitfield & Hale in 2018 after clerking for the Honorable J. Ernest Kinard in the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas. Her practice concentrates on Medicaid planning, special needs trusts, and guardianship and conservatorship proceedings. She brings a meticulous attention to benefit eligibility rules that protects her clients' access to essential programs. Families with a member who has a physical or intellectual disability will find in Simone an attorney who combines technical depth with genuine empathy.
Before Your First Meeting
You do not need to have everything on this list — we can help you locate documents and fill in gaps. But the more of these you bring to your first consultation, the more time we can spend on planning rather than gathering.
Full legal name, Social Security number, date and place of birth for you and your spouse. Same for any minor or dependent children you wish to include in the plan.
Any prior will, trust, power of attorney, or advance directive. Even if you believe these are outdated, we need to see them before creating new documents.
Addresses and approximate values of all real estate you own — primary home, vacation property, rental property — along with how title is currently held (individually, jointly, etc.).
A general summary of bank accounts, investment and brokerage accounts, and retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions). Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance are especially important to review.
Policy numbers, insurer names, face amounts, and current beneficiary designations. Life insurance can pass outside of probate, and the beneficiary designation controls — not your will.
If you own a business in whole or in part, bring any existing operating agreements, buy-sell agreements, partnership agreements, or shareholder agreements. The business interest is often the most complex asset in an estate plan.
Approximate outstanding mortgage balances, personal loans, and any guarantees or other contingent liabilities you have signed. These affect the net estate and can influence planning choices.
Names and ages of intended beneficiaries. Notes on any family members who may need special consideration — a child with a disability, a beneficiary with financial difficulties, or a blended-family situation. Your intentions — not just your assets — shape the plan.
Client Reflections
These reflections represent individual experiences. Every family's situation is different. Prior results and client experiences do not guarantee a similar outcome in any other matter.
Eleanor took the time — and I mean real time, two full hours at our first meeting — to understand our family before she made a single recommendation. We left with a plan that actually fits us, not a template with our names on it. Three years later, when my father passed, Marcus guided us through probate with patience and clarity that I will be grateful for the rest of my life.
My husband and I had been putting off our estate plan for years — it felt overwhelming and, honestly, a little morbid. Simone Beaumont changed that completely. She made the process feel like an act of love rather than an exercise in morbidity. We walked out with a complete plan in two meetings and finally felt like responsible adults.
My son has a developmental disability, and finding an attorney who truly understands special needs trusts — not just the boilerplate version, but the details that actually protect his benefits — was not easy. Simone Beaumont was exactly the right person. She knows these rules cold.
Yes. Even with a well-funded living trust, you should have what is called a "pour-over will" — a will that catches any assets you failed to transfer into your trust during your lifetime and directs them into the trust at death. Without it, assets that were never transferred into the trust will pass under South Carolina's intestacy statutes. The pour-over will is a safety net, not a redundancy.
As a general rule, review your plan every three to five years and after any significant life event — marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, the death of a named beneficiary or fiduciary, a substantial change in your financial situation, or a move to a different state. A plan that was right for you at 45 may be wrong at 65, and the law itself changes. We invite all our clients to call us when their circumstances change, at no charge for that initial conversation.
A routine, uncontested South Carolina estate typically takes nine to fourteen months from the date of death to final closing, largely because the creditor notice period runs for eight months. More complex estates — those with real property in multiple states, business interests, contested claims, or litigation — can take considerably longer. A properly funded revocable living trust avoids probate entirely for trust assets, which is one reason many clients choose that approach.
In South Carolina, a guardian has authority over a person's non-financial affairs — where they live, what medical care they receive, and similar personal decisions. A conservator has authority over a person's financial affairs — their property, accounts, and financial decisions. Court appointment of either requires a formal petition and a finding of incapacity. Many situations call for both. With proper planning (a healthcare power of attorney and a durable financial power of attorney), the need for court-supervised guardianship or conservatorship can often be avoided.
Yes. A will or trust can be challenged in South Carolina on grounds including lack of testamentary capacity (the person did not understand what they were signing), undue influence (another person improperly overrode the decedent's free will), fraud, or failure to comply with the legal formalities required for execution. These cases are fact-intensive and require prompt action — South Carolina's statute of limitations on will contests is eight months from appointment of the personal representative. Contact us as soon as a concern arises.
South Carolina does not impose a state-level estate tax or inheritance tax. However, the federal estate tax applies to estates exceeding the federal exemption amount — currently over $13 million per individual, though this threshold is scheduled to decrease significantly after 2025 unless Congress acts. For estates that may be affected, planning now — while the current exemption is in place — can make a meaningful difference. We review federal tax exposure as part of every comprehensive estate planning engagement.
South Carolina Code §62-2-502 requires that a will be in writing, signed by the testator (or by someone at the testator's direction and in their conscious presence), and signed by at least two witnesses who are present at the same time and witness either the testator's signature or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature. A will that fails these formalities is generally not valid, regardless of the decedent's clear intentions. We ensure every will we prepare is correctly executed and, for added protection, include a self-proving affidavit that simplifies the probate process.
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