Vantage Point South -
The Skinner Law Firm, LLC
Dedicated to Estate & Trust Services
A Trusted Advisor
At Vantage Point South - The Skinner Law Firm, the focus is on providing comprehensive planning and on-going advice surrounding Estates and Trusts. Whether you are planning your own Estate or already serving as an Executor/Trustee, we are here to guide you through the process. And just as your needs and goals are unique, our services are tailored to each client.
In addition to helping with the planning needs for yourself and your loved ones, we also routinely represent clients with Estate/Trust disputes and offer fiduciary services when a third party is needed.
Representative clients and cases include: removal of a bank trustee on a multi-million dollar charitable trust, serving as trustee for large real-estate holding trusts, representing executors on breach of fiduciary claims, special needs trusts, creating family limited partnerships with multiple LLCs and holding companies, and representing estates in wrongful-death litigations.
Our Practice
How We Can Help You
Advanced planning is more than just having in place a Will or Trust. It's providing you with the best possible vantage point from which to anticipate what's on your horizon. Even the best plans can go awry when circumstances change, and having dedicated legal advice throughout the process is the best strategy to ensure your loved ones are taken care of and goals achieved.
We strive to bring focus to our client's individual and family goals. Working with your investment advisors, tax planners, and even other existing advisors, it's our goal to ensure that each client has a comprehensive strategy tailored to their unique situation. When a component is missing, we work with you to find the right advisors and best solutions.
LEGAL ADVICE & ESTATE PLANNING
ESTATE & PROBATE LITIGATION
We offer legal advice from basic planning documents (such as a Will, Durable Power of Attorney, and a Healthcare Directive), to providing comprehensive plans for unique family structures and tax-efficient wealth transfers.
Services Include
Wills - Living Trusts - Education Trusts - Special Needs Trusts
Life Insurance Trusts - Generation-Skipping Trusts
Advance Medical Directives - Durable Power of Attorney
Creditor protection planning - Family Limited Partnerships
SERVING AS EXECUTOR & TRUSTEE
If you've been named as Executor/Trustee and believe a claim against a third party may exist, or believe an Executor/Trustee may be in breach of their fiduciary duties, we can represent and advise you on the litigation process.
Services Include
Removal or Substitute an Executor/Trustee
Will Contests - Year's Support for Spouse
Objection to Accountings - Trust Modification & Termination
Wrongful Death Claims Related to Accident
NON-PROFIT FIDUCIARY SERVICES
Choosing an Executor and/or Trustee is one of the most important decisions a client makes. Often, a family member may be an appropriate choice. In other instances, family/friends may not be available or the best option.
For those who prefer an independent fiduciary, we can provide fiduciary services serving as Executor/Trustee. When there are unique asset concentrations or litigation settlement's involved, a third party fiduciary may be helpful. Much like a multi-family office, we can work with your other advisors - or help you to find the best advisor. We can assist with asset management, tax planning, court filings, and even provide assistance with day-to-day matters like paying bills, hiring nurses and managing household staff.
With a background in serving as General Counsel and Chief-Operating Officer of a medium sized 501(c)3, our practice can offer legal advice to boards and officers of non-profits that seek guidance on fiduciary standards.
Serving on a board or working for a non-profit can be one of the most rewarding ways to give back to your community, but can also be fraught with risk when an organization fails to have appropriate policies & procedures, or worse, fails to follow the ones they have in place. Directors and Officers can even be personally liable in some instances; having sound legal advice along the way helps to ensure the organization and its mission are protected.
CLAYTON SKINNER
Managing Attorney
As Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Vantage Point South – The Skinner Law Firm, Clayton Skinner focuses his practice on estate/trust planning and fiduciary services, in addition to business planning for closely held companies. He is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Boston University School of Law.
With prior experience managing several hundred trust accounts and nearly a quarter billion dollars in assets at U.S. Trust, Bank of America N.A., Clayton brings with him the knowledge of how your estate and trust planning will play-out over time, not just at drafting. Having also worked with small businesses and co-founded a technology start-up in the software industry, he understands both the struggles of building a new business and the desire to protect what you’ve built.
Clayton is an active member of the Atlanta Bar Association (Estate Planning & Probate Section), the Georgia Bar (Fiduciary Law Section) and the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia. Clayton formerly served as General Counsel for the Polish American Chamber of Commerce Atlanta, and General Counsel & Chief Operating Officer of Lost-n-Found Youth.
Get in Touch
Physical Address:
820 Piedmont Ave., NE, Suite 5
Atlanta, GA 30308, USA
Mailing Address:
Vantage Point South - The Skinner Law Firm
P.O. Box 77005
Atlanta, GA 30357, USA
(706) 215-5006
