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Estate Planning Lawyer in Central Pennsylvania
Jameson Stone Law helps families set out what happens to their property, their savings and their medical care, and steps in for executors when an estate needs administering. Whether you need a first will or you are holding a folder of paperwork after a death, both partners work with clients directly, from the first conversation through to the signed documents.
Why Jameson Stone
Award-Winning Estate Planning Attorneys
Your estate plan is drafted by the attorney you hired, not passed to someone you have never met. Ethan Stone has been named Harrisburg Magazine’s Estate Planning Attorney four times, including each of the last three years.
Fees are discussed and agreed before the work begins, and the firm offers flat fee and fixed price arrangements rather than billing only by the hour. Daniel Jameson and Ethan Stone have run the practice together since 2018.
Estate work rarely sits on its own, so the firm works alongside the accountants, financial advisers and insurance agents you already use rather than around them. Clients can reach either attorney directly, without going through a gatekeeper.
Wills & Planning
When to Put Your Estate Plan in Place
Most people come to us at a turning point rather than out of the blue. Something in their life changes, and the plan they have, or the plan they never got round to making, no longer matches it.
These are the moments worth acting on:
- A new child or grandchild
- Buying or selling property
- Starting or selling a business
- A death in the family
An out of date plan can cause as much trouble as no plan at all, because a will that names a former spouse or leaves out a child born later still gets read exactly as written. A review takes far less time than the first draft did, and it is the cheapest part of the whole process.
Estate Administration
Estate Administration When You Are the Executor
Being named executor arrives at the worst possible time and carries real legal duties. Assets have to be gathered, creditors identified, debts and taxes paid, and the remainder distributed correctly.
The first step is a trip to the Register of Wills in the county where the person lived. That office issues the Letters giving you authority to act, along with the Short Certificates you will need to close accounts and transfer property, and the Letters then have to be advertised so creditors can come forward.
Pennsylvania inheritance tax alone runs from nothing for a spouse to 4.5% for children and grandchildren, 12% for siblings and 15% for everyone else, and the return still has to be filed on time.
Our office acts for the estate and the personal representative from start to finish, through to a formal accounting or, where the beneficiaries are in agreement, a Receipt and Release, which is usually quicker and costs less.
What We Offer
Estate Planning Services We Provide
Wills
Naming who inherits, who administers the estate, and who cares for your children
Trusts
For assets you want managed or released on your terms rather than all at once
Estate Administration and Probate
Full handling of the process for executors and administrators
Inheritance Tax Planning
Structuring the plan so the tax consequences are known in advance
Our Process
How Your Estate Plan Comes Together
01
Understand Your Goals
We go through what you own, who depends on you, and what you want your plan to achieve. Nothing gets drafted at this stage.
Develop Your Plan
We recommend the documents that fit your circumstances and draft them, explaining what each one does and what it does not do before you sign.
Prepare & Finalize
We handle signing and witnessing correctly, give you the originals, and make sure the people who will need them know where they are kept.
Frequently Asked Questions
These three come up in almost every first meeting. The answers below are general, because the right answer for you depends on what you own, who you want to provide for, and what is already in place. Anything specific to your situation is worth raising at the consultation.
When should I create a will?
Sooner than most people do. If you own property, have children, or would care who receives what, you have enough of an estate to need one. Pennsylvania does not require a lawyer to write a will, and plenty of people use an online form instead. The risk is that a document failing on a technicality is worse than no document at all, because the family only finds out when it is too late to fix. Having it drafted properly costs a fraction of what contesting it later would.
What happens if someone dies without a will?
Pennsylvania intestacy law decides. The statute sets who inherits and in what shares, which is often not what the person would have chosen, and it makes no allowance for a stepchild you raised or a partner you never married. The court appoints an administrator who may not be the family member best suited to the job, and custody of minor children is determined the same way. The estate still goes through the same process, only without the instructions that would have made it straightforward.
Does every asset go through probate?
No. Assets with a named beneficiary, such as life insurance and retirement accounts, pass directly to that person outside the estate. Jointly owned property may pass to the surviving co-owner, though the exact wording on the deed or account has to be checked, because not every form of joint ownership works that way. What remains is the probate estate, and that is what the personal representative administers. It is also why beneficiary designations are worth checking whenever a plan is reviewed, since an old form can quietly override a newer will.
Estate Planning Help Across Central Pennsylvania
Whether you are writing a first will, updating one that no longer fits, or administering a relative’s estate, the next step is a conversation rather than a form. Call 717-220-3529 or send a message and we will find a time that works. The office is open weekdays from 8am to 5pm.