Estate Planning Lawyers for South Dakota
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August 23, 2025
Alexander C.
I am a solo practitioner that runs my own legal practice. I am currently licensed in 16 states and I'm working to expand that reach.
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John M.
John Mercer is a distinguished corporate counsel who is well-known for turning legal challenges into strategic assets. He possesses a deep understanding and expertise in intellectual property (IP), compliance, and corporate law, particularly in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. His proficiency lies in transforming legal complexities into strategic advantages, ensuring operational excellence, and driving innovation forward. John excels at safeguarding an organization's legal interests and integrity, ensuring operations adhere to the law. As a strategic leader, John excels at safeguarding an organization’s legal interests and integrity, ensuring operations adhere to the law. He also brings immense value to his profession through his skills in drafting, negotiating, and managing significant agreements that secure organizational interests with widespread industry impact. His unparalleled expertise in legal advisories significantly enhances compliance and develops risk management frameworks that protect and advance company ambitions. Moreover, John's command over patent and trademark portfolios, alongside his ability to drive innovation initiatives and design incentive schemes, substantially bolsters intellectual property prowess. John's areas of expertise are extensive, covering skills vital to corporate law, legal contract negotiations, material transfer agreements, and more. He is particularly adept in regulatory compliance, legal consulting, clinical trials, biotechnology, patents, and patent portfolio analysis, to name a few. His leadership is complemented by active listening, analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and other soft skills that make him a leader and visionary.
"Thank you John, I appreciate your very personal effort with quality and practicality in mind."
Jorge R.
**Bio:** My name is Jorge Ramos, and I am an experienced family law attorney practicing since 2011. Over the years, I have honed my skills and knowledge in family law, having worked with prestigious law firms before establishing my own solo practice. My expertise spans a wide range of family law matters, including divorce, child custody, spousal support, and property division. I am dedicated to providing personalized and compassionate legal representation, ensuring that my clients receive the support and guidance they need during challenging times. My commitment to excellence and client-focused approach have earned me a reputation as a trusted advocate in the field of family law.
"Jorge is a very professional and efficient attorney! It was a really good experience working with Jorge!"
Emmanuel A.
Results-driven young lawyer with over 2 years of combined legal experience. Adept at legal research, contract drafting, reviewing policies, client relations, and case management. Possess a J.D. from Elon Law School and am a member of the Minnesota State Bar in good standing.
"Emmanuel is fantastic and very easy to work with! We are so pleased with his quality of work, responsiveness, and attention to detail, and look forward to working with him again on future projects."
Beth M.
Highly skilled attorney with more than 12 years of experience in delivering ongoing support to an international organization, government organizations, law firms, and long-term healthcare facilities. Eager to leverage experience in negotiations, contracts, and strategic planning into a corporate attorney role with room for growth in the organization.
June 3, 2024
Colin M.
Experienced attorney with a substantial history of crafting, evaluating, and bargaining multimillion-dollar commercial and government contracts across diverse sectors, encompassing the US Army, DoD contractors, employee benefits, NASDAQ, Pharmaceuticals, and Finance.
June 1, 2024
Angela B.
Angela is a business and transactional lawyer counseling clients in multiple facets of their business. Her practice includes commercial contracts, SaaS and technology licensing, intellectual property licensing, real estate contracts, and general business counseling.
Mark L.
I worked in the Intellectual Property Group at Fidelity Investments for almost 25 years, including managing the group from 2017-2021. I managed and developed the same high-performing group of three legal professionals from 2007-2021. Early in my career at Fidelity, I focused primarily on trademark matters, including trademark searching and clearance, as well as enforcement of trademark rights. In fact, I created Fidelity's trademark and brand protection programs and advanced them over more than two decades, eventually bringing the domestic trademark portfolio in-house and realizing savings of well over $2 million in outside counsel expenses for searching, prosecution and maintenance of US registrations from 2008-2021. Fidelity put me through law school, and I continued working full time while attending law school at night over four years. Upon graduation and passing the bar in 2006, I was promoted to an attorney position effective 1/1/2007. My practice broadened, and I began working on more transactional matters. I became a key transactional attorney for major technology groups and businesses within Fidelity, and negotiated numerous mission critical tech deals, transforming Fidelity's business. I provided transactional and IP support for Fidelity's software development and services affiliate in Ireland, and worked extensively with many of Fidelity's other foreign affiliates. Fidelity's General Counsel handpicked me to provide transactional and IP support to a new business initiative in 2017. That initiative became fintech startup Akoya, LLC, a paradigm-shifting business that enables secure, customer-controlled sharing of personal financial information between financial institutions and service providers. I developed template agreements between Akoya and data providers (financial institutions) and also between Akoya and data recipients (e.g. tax preparation services and financial advisors). Akoya had matured enough to be spun out by Fidelity in early 2020 to a consortium of financial services companies. In 2021, Fidelity offered a voluntary buyout to long-tenured associates, and following the pandemic, coupled with the financial and health benefits included in the package, it was an offer I could not refuse. Days later, my elderly father-in-law broke his hip, and my wife and I became his primary caregivers. It's been a blessing that I was able to contribute to his care and alleviate some of the burden on my wife. He is now in a long-term care facility, and I am eager to return to work as in-house counsel, whether on a contract basis, part time or full time. I did work briefly as a sole practitioner in 2021 and 2022, primarily helping friends, family and pro bono clients with NDAs, business formation issues, consulting agreements and license agreements. From August 2022 - July 2023, I was on the staff of Flex by Fenwick, an in-house counsel on demand business that is a subsidiary of the IP firm Fenwick & West, but did not get any engagements. My wife and I have volunteered for over a year with a dog rescue, Last Hope K9 Rescue, and have fostered several dogs, and adopted two of them!
June 5, 2024
Robert C.
A highly motivated, dedicated attorney (and military veteran) with proven experience in executive corporate leadership, legal risk mitigation, litigation, and legal department management. Skilled in collaborating with all members of the organization to achieve business and financial objectives with high-profile corporations. Instrumental in streamlining and improving processes, enhancing productivity, and implementing sound legal and business solutions.
June 5, 2024
Robert C.
I have been a lawyer for over 30 years practicing insurance defense, personal injury, commercial litigation and commercial transactions
June 6, 2024
Liliette A.
I have been in the legal field since 2015 starting as an intern, moving my way up to paralegal to making my final way to Attorney. As an attorney I worked in civil litigation for a brief period of time and then I got into the the immigration field.
June 6, 2024
Michael P.
I have been licensed since 2006 and have extensive experience in family law, personal injury, criminal law, and general litigation. I have a solo practice and I am seeking new opportunities.
Estate Planning Legal Questions and Answers
Estate Planning
Last Will and Testament
California
What happens if I die without a will?
As I have gotten older and accumulated assets, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of having a will in place. However, I have not yet taken the steps to create one, and I am curious about the potential consequences of dying without a will. Therefore, I would like to seek the advice of a lawyer to understand what would happen to my estate and how my assets would be distributed in the event of my death without a will.
Matthew S.
If you die without a will your assets will be distributed to your heirs pursuant to the intestacy statute for your state. However, if you use a will, you can control who gets your assets and can give assets to non-blood related persons who wouldn't otherwise be an heir.
Estate Planning
Living Trust
Illinois
Need Will or Trust
Married must include both have children from previous marriage.
T. Phillip B.
Hi. I'm not sure I understand your question. Everyone should have a will regardless of whether you have a trust. The question is whether you need a trust. A lot of that has to do with avoiding probate or some other potential uses depending on the goals and needs. But a typical family would use a trust to better organize everything and control distribution while avoiding going through the court process called probate.
Estate Planning
Last Will and Testament
Florida
Can I make changes to my will after it has been created?
I recently created a will, and my family and financial situation has since changed. I'm wondering if I can make changes to my will to reflect these new changes, or if the will I created is now set in stone. I'm looking for guidance on how to proceed and make sure my wishes are accurately reflected.
Diane D.
yes.
Estate Planning
Last Will and Testament
California
Can I create an estate plan without the help of a lawyer?
I am in my mid-fifties and have recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. I have a large estate that I would like to be distributed to my family and friends when I pass away. I have done some research and understand the importance of having an estate plan, but I am not sure if I am able to create one without the help of a lawyer. I am looking for more information that will help me make the best decision for my family and myself.
Philip M.
You can certainly go ahead and fill out simple forms to complete some easy estate planning documents like wills, but for more complicated documents like a trust (which is required if you want to avoid probate) it can get a little trickier. Further, anyone can fill in the blanks, but an experienced attorney will be able to explain what the document does and how it meets your wishes best. Hope this helps.
Estate Planning
Durable Power of Attorney
Colorado
How does a durable power of attorney work when the person dies?
If you have a durable power of attorney and the person dies, do you still have the authority or does it go to the spouse. I have a durable power of attorney for my aunt, she just died and I'm trying to take care of her funeral and things. Does her husband now have the right to make decisions or myself with the durable power of attorney?
Sarah D.
A Durable Power of attorney for finances (and healthcare) expires once your aunt dies. It is the executor of her will who now acts in that stead related to her finances. If the executor is the spouse, it will be his right to make the decisions. However, if all property was jointly owned between spouses, there is no need to probate the will under Colorado law.
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