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Most people searching for a Rockville estate planning lawyer are choosing among three kinds of firms: a large multi practice firm where one attorney sells the work and a junior associate drafts it, an online document service that emails a template, or a solo practice. We are deliberately none of the three.
Maryland has specific execution requirements for a valid will, and generic templates miss them regularly. A will names your personal representative, directs how property passes, and nominates a guardian for minor children. Without one, the Maryland intestacy statute decides who inherits and in what shares, and a court decides who raises your children.
Probate for Montgomery County residents runs through the Register of Wills at 50 Maryland Avenue in Rockville. An estate holding more than $50,000 in the decedent’s sole name, or more than $100,000 when a surviving spouse is the only heir, goes through regular administration: a petition, an inventory, an information report, a six month creditor claim window, and a public file anyone can look up. A properly funded revocable trust keeps most of that off the docket and out of public view.
If you become unable to manage your own affairs and no valid power of attorney exists, your family has to petition the Circuit Court in Rockville for guardianship. That process is public, slow, and expensive. A Maryland statutory form power of attorney and a properly drafted advance directive with a health care agent designation avoid it.
A direct inheritance can disqualify a beneficiary from Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. A third party special needs trust lets you provide for a child or sibling with a disability without costing them benefits they depend on.
Rockville is full of closely held businesses: medical and dental practices, contractors, restaurants, consultancies, and government contractors. Without a buy sell agreement and a written succession plan, the death or disability of an owner can force a sale at the worst possible moment. We coordinate the business documents with the estate plan so they do not contradict each other.
If a family member has already died, we handle regular and small estate administration through the Montgomery County Register of Wills, including the inventory, the information report, creditor notices, inheritance tax matters, and final distribution.
The federal estate tax exemption rose substantially for 2026 and now sits around $15 million per person. Maryland did not follow. The Maryland threshold remains $5 million and is not indexed to inflation, and the Maryland rate reaches 16 percent above it. A Rockville household with a longtime home, two retirement accounts, and a life insurance policy can cross the Maryland line while owing nothing federally, which is a surprise most families only discover after a death.
Maryland also imposes a 10 percent inheritance tax on property passing to beneficiaries who are not a spouse, child, parent, grandchild, or sibling. That reaches nieces, nephews, cousins, close friends, and unmarried partners. Planning around both taxes, through credit shelter provisions, a portability election, lifetime gifting, or trust structure, is routine work in this practice rather than exotic work.
It depends on what you own, where you own it, and how much privacy and control you want. A will alone still goes through the Register of Wills in Rockville. If you own real property in more than one state, have a blended family, want to control the timing of an inheritance, or want to keep your affairs off the public record, a trust usually earns its cost. We will tell you when it does not.
Often yes, but "valid" and "effective" are different questions. Out of state documents frequently fail to account for Maryland’s estate and inheritance taxes, and out of state powers of attorney are sometimes refused by Maryland financial institutions. We review what you have before recommending anything new.
For most families, four to six weeks from the first meeting to the signing appointment. Complex plans involving a business, a special needs beneficiary, or significant tax planning take longer.
We quote a fee before any work begins, after the initial consultation makes clear what you actually need. You will not receive an hourly surprise.
Yes. Our office is in Friendship Heights on Wisconsin Avenue, a straightforward drive down the Pike from Rockville, and we also meet by phone and video when that is easier.
© 2025 Law Offices of Clifford M. Cohen | Phone: 202-895-2799
5335 Wisconsin Ave NW #440, Washington, DC 20015