Estate planning in Tennessee operates inside a state-specific statutory frame that distinguishes the work from probate administration handled elsewhere. The Tennessee Uniform Trust Code at Tennessee Code Annotated 35-15 governs revocable and irrevocable trust drafting, trustee duties, and beneficiary rights, while the Tennessee Investment Services Act at Tennessee Code Annotated 35-16 authorizes self-settled asset protection trusts that few other jurisdictions recognize. Counsel structuring a Nashville plan today must also weigh the 2016 repeal of the Tennessee inheritance tax, the 2012 repeal of the Tennessee gift tax, and the federal estate tax exemption set at $15 million per individual for 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made the increased exemption permanent with annual inflation indexing.
Across wills, revocable living trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, special needs trusts, charitable remainder trusts, business succession agreements, durable powers of attorney, and advance directives for healthcare under Tennessee Code Annotated 68-11-1801, the three Nashville-area practices profiled below carry credentials that the Tennessee Bar Association Estates and Trusts Section, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and Best Lawyers in America track for sustained subject matter focus.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, PLC | Vanderbilt JD on the practice lead, ACTEC Fellow with Tennessee State Chair role, Chambers USA High Net Worth Band 1 ranking sustained 2022 through 2025, Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent. | Sophisticated estate and transfer tax planning, GRATs, charitable remainder and lead trusts, intentionally defective grantor trusts, Tennessee Investment Services Trusts under TCA 35-16, special needs trusts coordinated with ABLE accounts. |
| Music City Estate Law | Tennessee bar admission with multi-state license including California, Florida, and the District of Columbia on the principal, WealthCounsel member, Super Lawyers selection for Estate Planning and Probate. | Living trusts, last wills and testaments, advance healthcare directives, durable financial powers of attorney, business succession, probate administration, Tennessee Investment Services Trusts under TCA 35-16, decanting under TCA 35-15-816, Tennessee dynasty trusts. |
| The Law Office of Martin Sir & Associates | Tennessee bar admission with more than 40 years of Middle Tennessee practice, full arc of Tennessee Uniform Trust Code and Tennessee Investment Services Act statutory development. | Last wills and testaments, revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts coordinated with Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income eligibility under 42 U.S.C. 1396p, business succession, charitable giving instruments, durable powers of attorney, blended-family planning. |
1. Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, PLC #
Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison was founded in 1981 and operates from 1600 West End Avenue, Suite 1750, Nashville, TN 37203, reachable at (615) 742-4200. The Trusts, Estates and Private Wealth practice at this firm is anchored by Carla L. Lovell, who joined the office in 1995, became a Member in 2005, and now sits on the firm’s Management Committee. Lovell earned her Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School and her undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with highest honors.
ACTEC Fellowship and Tennessee State Chair role #
Lovell is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and currently serves as the Tennessee State Chair for ACTEC. Fellowship in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel requires nomination by a sitting Fellow, a minimum of ten years of trust and estate practice, peer review of published or presented work in the field, and a record of contribution to the development of trust and estate law. The Tennessee State Chair coordinates ACTEC programming and member admissions within the state, a role that signals sustained standing among Tennessee trust and estate counsel.
Chambers High Net Worth Band 1 and Best Lawyers continuity #
Lovell holds a Band 1 ranking in the Chambers USA High Net Worth Guide for Private Wealth Law, the highest tier within that publication’s methodology, sustained from 2022 through 2025. She has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates continuously from 2012 through 2026, and in Mid-South Super Lawyers for Estate Planning and Probate since 2016. The practice also holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating.
Sophisticated tax, charitable, and business succession planning #
The group handles sophisticated estate planning and transfer tax planning, including grantor retained annuity trusts, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and intentionally defective grantor trusts structured to apply the federal estate tax exemption. Domestic asset protection work runs through Tennessee Investment Services Trusts under Tennessee Code Annotated 35-16, and the office drafts special needs trusts coordinated with ABLE account planning under 26 U.S.C. 529A. Business succession engagements pair estate planning instruments with operating agreement and shareholder agreement drafting on the firm’s Corporate side, and the practice has represented some families for more than 20 years across multiple generational transfers.
2. Music City Estate Law #
Music City Estate Law operates as a dedicated estate planning and asset protection practice with offices at 1650 Murfreesboro Road, Suite 208, Franklin, TN 37067, and a Nashville location at 4525 Harding Pike, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37205, reachable at (615) 628-7775. Principal attorney Justin M. Gilbert earned a Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from George Mason University. Gilbert holds Tennessee Bar admission number 035535 and is also licensed in California, Florida, and the District of Columbia.
Dedicated estate planning and asset protection scope #
The Franklin office focuses on living trusts, last wills and testaments, advance healthcare directives, durable financial powers of attorney, business succession planning, and probate administration. The practice does not carry the broad civil-litigation or transactional caseload typical of full-service firms, and intake routes through the principal attorney for design and execution of each engagement. Associate attorney Madelyn Stampley, admitted to the Tennessee Bar under number 039665 with a Juris Doctor from Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law, supports the practice on drafting and administration matters.
Tennessee Investment Services Trusts and dynasty trust planning #
Tennessee Investment Services Trusts under Tennessee Code Annotated 35-16, decanting under Tennessee Code Annotated 35-15-816, spendthrift trust structures, and Tennessee dynasty trusts running for the duration permitted under Tennessee Code Annotated 66-1-202 form a recurring portion of the office’s asset protection caseload. The dynasty trust framework allows wealth to remain in trust for successive generations without the periodic generation-skipping transfer tax exposure that would otherwise apply to outright distributions, and Tennessee statutory law permits trust terms extending up to 360 years for trusts established after July 1, 2007.
WealthCounsel methodology and bar association ties #
Gilbert is a member of WealthCounsel LLC, a national network of estate planning attorneys that maintains shared drafting systems and continuing education programming on trust law developments across jurisdictions. The practice also maintains active membership in the Nashville Bar Association and the Williamson County Bar Association, with Super Lawyers recognition for Estate Planning and Probate listed for Gilbert in the Tennessee directory.
https://musiccityestatelaw.com/
3. The Law Office of Martin Sir & Associates #
Martin Sir & Associates maintains an office at 3200 West End Avenue, Suite 500, Nashville, TN 37203, reachable at (615) 229-7235. Martin Sir has practiced law in Middle Tennessee for more than 40 years, and the wills and trusts group draws on that span of experience for plans that pair estate documents with related family and business planning needs.
Four-decade Middle Tennessee practice record #
The 40-plus year practice record covers the full arc of Tennessee estate planning statutory development, from the pre-2004 Tennessee Trust Code, through the 2004 adoption of the Tennessee Uniform Trust Code at Tennessee Code Annotated 35-15, the 2007 enactment of the Tennessee Investment Services Act at Tennessee Code Annotated 35-16, the 2012 repeal of the Tennessee gift tax, and the 2016 phase-out completion of the Tennessee inheritance tax. That continuity matters when reviewing instruments drafted decades earlier under prior statutory schemes for compliance with current law and for opportunities to decant older irrevocable trusts into modern structures.
Blended family and special needs planning scope #
The wills and trusts practice handles last wills and testaments, revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts coordinated with Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income eligibility rules under 42 U.S.C. 1396p, business succession agreements for closely held companies, charitable giving instruments, and durable powers of attorney. Blended family planning, where second-marriage spouses, stepchildren, and prior-marriage children require carefully sequenced beneficiary designations and qualified terminable interest property trust drafting, is a documented focus of the office.
Coordinated family law and business advisory work #
The broader practice across the office spans family law, business law, and civil litigation alongside estate planning, which positions the group to coordinate prenuptial agreement drafting, divorce-related property settlement, and closely held entity governance with the estate plan documents at the same address. That coordination reduces the handoff friction that often arises when estate counsel sits at a separate firm from family law or transactional counsel handling concurrent matters for the same client family.
Selection Methodology #
Estate planning in Tennessee runs against TCA 32 (wills), TCA 35 (trusts under the Tennessee Uniform Trust Code, including the Tennessee Investment Services Trust and Community Property Trust statutes), and TCA 30 (probate), so the filter for the three practices above started with which statute books each attorney works in daily. Each lead attorney holds Tennessee Supreme Court bar admission with BPR profile clean of discipline, lists Tennessee Bar Association Estate Planning and Probate Section participation, holds an LL.M. in Taxation or ACTEC fellowship where claimed, publishes scope at the planning level (revocable and irrevocable trust drafting, TCA 35-16 asset protection trusts, dynasty and GRAT structures, charitable remainder trusts, special needs trusts under SSI rules), and ties the practice to a Davidson or Williamson County office address. Document-mill template factories routing to non-attorneys and offices unverifiable on the BPR register were excluded.
How to Choose Among These Three Nashville Estate Planning Practices #
Plan complexity, asset profile, and family circumstances should drive selection. A high-net-worth plan involving federal estate tax exposure above the $15 million 2026 exemption, charitable lead or charitable remainder trust structuring, or generation-skipping transfer tax planning fits the ACTEC-credentialed depth at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison. A plan oriented around Tennessee Investment Services Trust asset protection, dynasty trust drafting, or boutique dedicated-attorney access fits the focused scope at Music City Estate Law. A plan that benefits from coordinated estate, family law, and business advisory work at one address fits the four-decade general practice at Martin Sir & Associates.
Bar credential verification proceeds through the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility license-status lookup. ACTEC Fellow status can be confirmed through the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel public Fellow directory. Best Lawyers in America and Chambers High Net Worth listings are verifiable through each publication’s online directory.
Initial consultations at estate planning offices typically address conflict-check clearance under Tennessee Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7, scope-of-representation definition under Rule 1.2, fee structure under Rule 1.5, and confidentiality obligations under Rule 1.6. Engagement on a Tennessee plan usually involves a fact-gathering questionnaire covering asset inventory, beneficiary structure, fiduciary nominations, healthcare directive preferences under Tennessee Code Annotated 68-11-1801, and any prior planning instruments that warrant review for revocation, amendment, or restatement under current law.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: Who at the firm will be my day-to-day point of contact?
A: Some firms staff a matter with a lead attorney plus associates and paralegals; others keep the named attorney as the primary contact throughout. Ask in writing who will sign correspondence, who returns client calls, the typical response window for messages, and the escalation path if you cannot reach the assigned attorney.
Q: How does the firm handle conflicts of interest before taking the matter?
A: Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct require a conflict check before representation begins. Ask the firm to confirm in writing that a conflict check has been run against all parties and that no current or former representation creates a disqualifying conflict. Disclose all opposing parties, witnesses, and related entities at intake so the check is accurate.
Q: Are any of the three firms paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: What expenses pass through to the client beyond legal fees?
A: Common pass-through expenses include filing fees, deposition court reporter charges, expert witness fees, mediation costs, postage, courier, and copying. Ask for the firm’s written expense policy, any markup over actual cost, billing frequency for expenses, and whether expenses are advanced by the firm or billed as incurred.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.