Maryland Estate Planning Lawyers

I use my personal and legal experiences to help my clients and their families. I have written articles for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and Maryland State Bar Association. I spoken at Churches, Junior League, NARFE, Ameriprise, Prudential, Montgomery Hospice, American Association of Daily Money Managers, Grass Roots Organization for the Well-Being of Seniors (GROWS), and Hospice Caring on topics, such as, Estate Planning: Wills and Trusts, Common Mistakes in Estate Planning, Planning for Long Term Care, Advance Medical Directives, and Guardianship.

I help people separate and divorce with dignity outside of court through mediation, collaborative practice, and legal coaching. I believe families can continue to be families after divorce.

I practice in all aspects of estate planning and elder law. I have over a decade of experience in these and related areas of law. Some of the services I provide include: · Planning for high net-worth individuals · Handling nearly all types of probate, guardianship, and trust administration cases · Representing Personal Representatives of estates in every step of the probate process · Providing Powers of Attorney for healthcare and...

Nakia Gray is a multi-faceted businesswoman and lawyer. She leverages her expertise in intellectual property law and brand strategy to give Black women business owners the legal strategies they need to package, protect and profit from their intellectual property. Having launched her law firm in 2014, Nakia has provided brand strategy and legal solutions to thousands of small business owners, and believes that with the right legal strategy a business can expand, grow and create a lasting legacy. For four years in a row Nakia has been named a Top Attorney by Washington, D.C.’s SuperLawyers magazine and has been featured on the...

Nicole devotes her law practice exclusively to building and protecting families. When working with her clients, she takes an educational approach so her clients fully understand their options and the steps they should take to achieve their goals. She takes the time to listen to your concerns and answer any questions you may have. As a result, she has a better understanding of your situation and can respond effectively with practical and sensible solutions. Nicole's unique assisted reproduction/surrogacy program is designed to give both Intended Parents and Surrogate Mothers support and peace of mind from the moment they contact her office...

As a member of the firm’s Tax, Retirement Plans, Employee Benefits, Estate Planning, Estate & Trust Administration, and Corporate practice groups, Arnold Sherman focuses his practice on the areas of tax and business planning, and estate planning and probate administration matters. He has extensive experience in negotiating, structuring and documenting business contracts, tax-deferred exchanges and wealth preservation structures.
Arnie’s knowledge and familiarity with how businesses work make him especially adept at understanding and responding to the needs of his business clients. He is diligent in keeping himself apprised of current tax laws and continually works to provide his clients with the...

Mark W. Oakley is an established litigation attorney concentrating on civil litigation, personal injury, construction law, and criminal and traffic defense. He also advises business clients, negotiates and drafts contracts, and handles a variety of litigation matters at all levels of the state and federal court systems. Mr. Oakley is trained and certified in the collaborative practice of law. Mr. Oakley is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law (J.D. 1987), and the University of Maryland, College Park (B.A. 1984). He is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, the District of...

Craig E. Berman, Esq, CPA, is an attorney licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Maryland. He is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association serving as a member of the estate planning and elder law committee sections. Craig Berman is a certified public accountant licensed in the State of Maryland who has been active on the young members committees of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants and the Alumni Association of the University of Baltimore School of Law. Craig Berman is also a member of the Maryland Senior Resources Network and engages in various...

Mr. Gross began his legal career at civil litigation firm dedicated to helping the victims of juvenile lead poisoning, before becoming an Assistant State’s Attorney in Baltimore City. From there, he joined the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and was assigned to various locations around the United States, where he advised military leaders at all levels. He also had the opportunity to represent Soldiers in front of numerous Courts-Martial and Administrative Proceedings. Upon leaving the Army, Mr. Gross joined a medium-sized civil litigation firm in Towson before taking the opportunity to return to where he started as a law...

Paula Calimafde chairs the firm’s Retirement Plans, Employee Benefits and Government Relations practice groups and is also a senior member of the Estate Planning, Tax and Nonprofit groups. She has more than 35 years of experience advising companies and tax-exempt organizations on qualified and non-qualified retirement plans and employee benefits, including non-qualified deferred compensation, welfare benefit and cafeteria plans. She is a nationally recognized leader in the field of creative retirement plan designs for businesses and works closely with management and owners to prepare retirement plans, which suit the particular corporate needs.
Paula’s practice encompasses sophisticated estate planning and advising individuals...

Jessica Zadjura has firsthand knowledge of the hurdles divorced families face - she is the child of divorce, one of five siblings in a blended family, a wife, a mother, and a stepmother. Jessica's life experience helps guide her clients through every step of the family law process, whether in or out of court. As a seasoned litigator, mediator, and child attorney, Jessica uses her personal experiences and years of legal knowledge to help you determine the ideal process for your family. Jessica received her Bachelor of Arts in criminal justice from the University of Maryland. She earned her Juris...

Ashley Wilburn was born and raised in Hagerstown, Maryland and is a North Hagerstown High School alumnus. Ashley’s current practice emphasizes family law, including divorce, alimony, marital property distribution, child custody, child support, prenuptial and postnuptial (separation) agreements, enforcement and post-divorce matters, step-parent and private party adoptions, and child welfare. Her practice also includes estate planning, wills and trust, probate and estate administration, and commercial, contract and civil litigation. Ashley is also court-appointed to represent children in contested custody cases, and she has recently become a certified mediator. She looks forward to expanding her practice to...

Ms. McCann earned her B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 1979. She graduated the University of Baltimore School of Law Magna Cum Laude in December of 1996 and was admitted to the Maryland Bar in June of 1997. She was a member of the University of Baltimore Law Review and the Heuisler Honor Society. After earning her law degree, Ms. McCann became associated with the Baltimore firm of Ober, Kaler, Grimes and Shriver. From there, she entered solo practice in Annapolis, Maryland. In 2001, she joined the...

In 2014, solo practitioners James V. Anthenelli and John K. Phoebus joined with former State’s Attorney Kristy M. Hickman to create Anthenelli, Phoebus & Hickman, LLC. James V. Anthenelli was a former assistant state’s attorney with over 38 years’ experience. His practice has concentrated in the area of criminal defense. John K. Phoebus has been in private practice for more than 18 years and has focused on litigation including high-profile criminal defense cases and civil litigation. Joining the merger of these two firms is former State’s Attorney Kristy M. Hickman who brings with her the experience of having won all...

Mr. Ealley's practice focuses primarily on Consumer Bankruptcy and Estate Planning. In representing clients in bankruptcy, James understands the financial stress people are experiencing. He understands their concerns to protect their assets, rebuild their financial lives and create a better future for their families. James counsels clients to alleviate their worries and concerns and develop a plan to address their financial problems, whether it be stopping a foreclosure, repossession or garnishment, or erasing credit card, medical or tax debt. Doing so requires a thorough understanding of the Federal Bankruptcy laws. Since beginning his practice in bankruptcy in 2001, James has...

Britt is a dynamic and energetic Attorney who has dedicated her career to advancing the field of Estate Planning and Elder Law. She is a staunch advocate for the protection and privacy of her clients and has made great advances in Maryland with the Stouffer Legal NFA Trust and Family Gun Trusts. These are wealth preservation and privacy strategies that were previously only available to the wealthy and well connected, now tailors to protect firearm owners and their families. She has also pioneered the Maryland Asset Protection Trust designed for protection from the growing costs Nursing Homes and unexpected predators,rather...

Nicole M. Whitaker, owner of Whitaker Legal, LLC, is also an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law where she teaches Legal Analysis, Research and Writing. After living in Madrid, Spain, Ms. Whitaker speaks Spanish fluently. In her free time, she teaches English as a Second Language for the Community College of Baltimore County.

Choosing a family lawyer is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Nothing matters more than family matters. Your Family Lawyer must have character, emotional range and most important of all, the right temperament. You are looking for an attorney who has the litigation, mediation and accounting skills to win, but you also need an ally you can trust. When you have both, you can feel confident at every turn and every step of the way.

As an adoptive mother of 5, Sheri A. Mullikin represents expectant mothers and fathers, adoptive parents, and children in private or independent, agency, and international adoptions throughout central Maryland, including newborn, stepparent and other relative/kinship adoptions. Ms. Mullikin also helps individuals and families protect their loved ones through estate planning and administration legal services, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance health care directives.

Michael F. Callahan practices family law, estate planning and elder law in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Mr. Callahan is the partner in charge of the firm’s estate planning and elder law practice.
He received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University in 1987, and is a member of the Georgetown Chapter of Order of the Coif. He has practiced law for over thirty years.
He has been named among the top lawyers by Washingtonian Magazine and Maryland Super Lawyers
He lives with his wife, their children from time to time, and their cat in Arlington, Virginia.

Sheereen E. Middleton, Esq. is from Silver Spring, MD, and moved to Florida to attend the University of Miami in Coral Gables in 2002. While attending UM, Sheereen was a member of the cheerleading squad and cheered for the football team, volleyball team, and basketball team. After graduating from UM, she attended law school at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens. Sheereen is a licensed Attorney and Realtor® in both Maryland and Florida. Today, she practices Bankruptcy, Real Estate, and Estate Planning. When Sheereen is not in the office, she enjoys spending time at the beach, and being amongst friends...

Has the thought of putting together an estate plan, trust , will, living will or power of attorney drain you? Do you need a guardianship for a loved one and don't know where to turn? Is the estate you need to administer or are about to probate making your life hectic? Has your family put you in charge of sorting a difficult family situation and you don't know where to turn or even the questions to ask? Do you need a plan for the future for yourself or a loved one that you have been putting off until now? Have you lost money due...

For two decades, Mr. Antonoplos has represented individuals, families, and business leaders with real estate, litigation, and estate planning and probate matters. Mr. Antonoplos has been selected as a SuperLawyers Rising Star three years consecutively. Mr. Antonoplos’ practice covers a wide range of topics from real estate, estate planning, and probate, to commercial litigation, asset protection, and preservation, and business law issues. A classic generalist, Mr. Antonoplos counsels clients on business transactions and routinely litigates real estate; construction and probate matter is the Courts of the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland on behalf of individual and corporate...

I am client focused and results driven. My goal is that each client will feel that they are my only client. I deeply care about people and their welfare. Many clients come to me quite broken, feeling as though they have no hope or solution to their problems. It is important to me that during my representation they be compassionately restored and made whole through my efforts as a lawyer. As I pursue legal results my clients become like family and are treated as such. Although I am a legal counselor to my clients I also find...

Jeff graduated from Boston University School of Law’s Tax LLM program and practice as a tax, business, and estate planning attorney.

Jeff advises clients on legal and tax issues relating to business transactions, start-ups, corporate mergers & acquisitions, business successions, estate planning, and real estate. Jeff practices both federal and state tax law, and he assists individuals and businesses with tax audit defense and tax planning in the areas of income, corporate, partnership, franchise, sales and use, property, and estate taxes. Jeff's background allows him to consider clients' personal, business, and tax needs. Jeff was the 2013 president...

As the founder and managing partner at Francois Legal Group, LLC, E. Regine Francois applies diverse legal and life experience to effectively represent individuals and businesses across a range of practice areas that include: estate planning, civil litigation, personal injury law, protective orders, and consumer matters.
With over a decade of legal experience, Regine understands the value of meticulous preparation to anticipate and avoid potential problems, while asserting her clients’ rights to the fullest extent. She truly cares about each client and views her role as effectively representing and counseling her clients about their options and the potential realities they face...

Meredith Hill Law is a women run law firm that serves as legal concierge and general counsel for small businesses, as well as, assists individual clients with their estate plans. From the start of her legal career, Meredith knew that she wanted to start her own law firm. She wanted to create a business and brand of her own that would be a positive impact to others in her community. When she first began her firm, Meredith fell in love with running her businesses and it sparked a desire for her to help other business owners with their legal needs.

As...

Lynn attended Law School in Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated in December 2015. While in school, Lynn served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Albert Diaz in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the Honorable Wanda G. Bryant in the North Carolina State Court of Appeals, and the Honorable Robert C. Conrad in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to her judicial internships, Lynn interned with the Senior Vice President and Regional Legal Counsel for Balfour Beatty Construction-the 3rd largest builder in the country. Lynn also took...

Mark Binstock is a member of the firm’s Litigation practice group who concentrates a significant portion of his practice in litigation involving estates, trusts, guardianships and other fiduciary matters. He has experience in commercial litigation, a substantial portion of which involves commercial contracts, construction litigation, domestic relations and personal injury, while appearing regularly before the federal and state courts in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Every client has their own unique and individual needs and goals in pursuing matters in court. Mark strives to identify those needs during the course of representation. He is sensitive to his clients’ personalities...

Steve Thienel is an attorney and managing member of Thienel Law Firm, a Maryland law firm dedicated to servicing the needs of professionals and business owners. In his law practice, Steve focuses his practice on a full spectrum of legal services in the areas of tax, business, estate planning, and family law matters to maximize client opportunities while preserving wealth. He represents entrepreneurs, investors, business owners, executives, and professionals in both litigation and transactional matters. Steve is an entrepreneur and business owner himself having been a business consultant, academic, and corporate executive prior to starting his own law practice.

Long before I entered law school, I knew that I wanted to focus my career on the practice areas of estate planning, elder law and real estate matters. I experienced, first-hand, the family dynamics that can arise during a crisis. My tenacious approach to representing my clients has founded my reputation as a fierce advocate in litigated matters. I have always had a passion for helping people. I found that sense of purpose fulfilled when assisting clients with some of the most important decisions of their lives, namely estate planning and estate litigation, guardianship matters, elder law, and...

Paul Capriolo has been practicing law for over 30 years. He resides in Carroll County Maryland and practices primarily in his home County of Carroll and also in the neighboring Counties of Howard and Baltimore. In addition to being a lawyer, Paul is a Family Law mediator and conducts both private mediation and Court ordered mediation in his role as a mediator appointed by the Judges of the Circuit Court for Carroll County Maryland. In 2014, Paul Capriolo merged his practice with Cynthia Hatten Unglesbee and we now provide more comprehensive services for the benefit of our clients.

As a native of Baltimore, Maryland, Attorney Cohen has been practicing here for over 20 years. She established the Law Offices of Kerri Cohen after working for 11 years for the State of Maryland in Baltimore City at the Office of the Public Defender as an experienced criminal defense trial attorney. She represented clients charged with serious felonies such as homicide, rape, robbery and drug charges among other crimes. Attorney Cohen has tried hundreds of cases before Judges and Juries in the Circuit Court, District Court and Juvenile Courts. Attorney Cohen graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of...

Ricky is an attorney with Frame & Frame, LLC, focusing his practice in the areas of Estate Planning, Elder Law, Medicaid Planning, Estate, Probate & Trust Administration, Adult Guardianship, and Special Needs Planning. Ricky’s practice includes assisting with the legal needs of same-sex couples and other members of the LGBTQ community. Ricky has significant experience in his practice areas, having worked for almost twenty years in the legal field, ten of those years as a paralegal. Prior to becoming an attorney, Ricky would work hand-in-hand with clients and other professionals to achieve results and meet objectives. Thus, Ricky is able to...

When you need your estate plan to work, it’s already too late. That is not a position you want to find yourself in – as Greg Jimeno knows all too well. Greg’s grandparents crafted their estate plan with two main concerns: protecting the assets they had spent their lives accumulating, and the high cost of nursing home care. They thought they had a plan that helped them to balance these two competing concerns but, when the time came, Greg watched as they realized that the estate planning tools they had relied upon did not protect them as well as they could...

Founding partner Li Weng works in Rockville Law Group LLC’s practice areas of estate planning, family law, and immigration. Li brings a background of over 6 years in estate planning, anticorruption, and trade matters, as well as transnational practice experience. Over several years, Li advised multinational companies undergoing internal and SEC investigations on potential violations by the companies’ subsidiaries of anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In addition, she represented companies during ITC investigations of antidumping and countervailing duty matters. Most recently, Li was employed with the Rockville, MD firm of Altman and Associates, where she helped the...

Kerri Castellini is primarily a DC-based attorney with a focus on estate and trust administration, guardianship for incapacitated adults and minors, and estate planning. She brings her legal experience to the Trusts and Estates Practice Group and is currently admitted to practice law in Washington DC, Maryland, and before the supreme court. She is passionate about providing a high level of attention to her clients to come up with a plan that is best for their unique circumstances.

My philosophy is a guiding principle in my law practice and I apply it in every facet of serving my clients. My practice is an extension of that philosophy as I help clients problem solve when they are in the throes of a crisis. My philosophy also guides me when I am helping clients to avoid a future crisis through strategic planning and when I help them set priorities to mitigate the impact of a future problem.

Attorney Robin Rucker Gaillard is adept at the law and her ability to listen closely and to provide strong counsel along with a solid...