Estate Planning
Decide what happens to everything you’ve built — instead of leaving those decisions to a court.
Estate planning is the process of putting your wishes into legally binding documents — who inherits your property, who manages your finances if you can’t, and who makes medical decisions on your behalf. Without a plan, Virginia law decides for you: the state’s intestacy rules determine who inherits, and a court chooses who is in charge. A complete estate plan typically includes a will, often a trust, a durable power of attorney, and an advance medical directive. Together, these documents spare your family delay, expense, and uncertainty at the hardest possible time. Fairchild & Dalrymple helps individuals, families, and business owners across Lynchburg and Central Virginia put those protections in place.
Schedule a ConsultationFive parts of an estate plan
Asset Protection
A revocable or irrevocable trust can hold your property outside the probate process, shelter certain assets from creditor claims, and keep the details of your estate out of the public record — advantages a will alone cannot offer. But not every trust structure protects every kind of asset, and the wrong structure can create tax and control problems of its own. The right answer depends on what you own, how it’s titled, and what you’re protecting it from — whether that’s a family home, a retirement account, or a growing portfolio.
Read more about Asset ProtectionWealth Transfer
A will is the foundation of every estate plan, and for many families it’s the only document they’ll ever need updated as life changes. But how you transfer what you have matters as much as whether you have a will at all. The right combination of a will, trust provisions, and beneficiary designations determines whether your heirs receive their inheritance smoothly — or face delay, disputes, and unnecessary cost. Getting the sequencing right is where estate plans of any size succeed or fail.
Read more about Wealth TransferIncapacity Planning
Without a durable power of attorney and an advance medical directive, no one — not even a spouse — has automatic legal authority to manage your finances or direct your care if you’re incapacitated. Accounts can freeze, decisions can stall, and a court-appointed guardian may end up managing your affairs instead of the person you’d choose. The right documents name your decision-makers in advance, on your terms — no matter the size of your estate.
Read more about Incapacity PlanningEstate Settlement
When an estate moves through probate, its size and complexity determine how long settlement takes and how exposed it is to disputes, creditor claims, and public scrutiny. Executors and administrators carry real legal and fiduciary duties during that process, often while grieving. Some assets can bypass probate entirely with the right advance planning — others cannot. Which category yours falls into changes the entire settlement timeline for your family.
Read more about Estate SettlementBusiness Succession Planning
If you own a business — whether it’s a growing practice, a family shop, or a larger company — your estate plan and your business plan are the same plan. This is about what happens to your ownership stake specifically: how it transfers through your will, your trust, and your power of attorney if you retire, become incapacitated, or pass away. Without it, your share of the business can stall in probate or pass to heirs who never intended to run it. Coordinating your business ownership with the rest of your estate plan is what keeps one from working against the other.
Read more about Business Succession PlanningHandled at the partner level
Fairchild & Dalrymple was founded by two Central Virginia attorneys with decades of combined experience across estate planning, business law, and elder law. Every estate plan is handled at the partner level — you work directly with your attorney from the first conversation to the final signing. And because our practice spans business, tax-sensitive, and elder-law matters, your plan is built to work with the rest of your life, not in isolation.
Frequently asked questions
When do I actually need an estate plan?
Sooner than most people think. If you own property, have children, run a business, or simply want a say in your own medical care, you need at least the basic documents. Estate planning is not about age or wealth — it’s about who decides, you or the state.
What happens if I die without a will in Virginia?
Your property passes under Virginia’s intestacy laws, which follow a fixed family formula regardless of your wishes. A court appoints an administrator to settle your estate, and unmarried partners, stepchildren, and friends receive nothing. The process is often slower and more expensive for your family.
Do I need a lawyer for estate planning, or can I use an online template?
A template can create a document, but it can’t tell you whether that document actually fits your family, your assets, or Virginia law — gaps that often surface only when the document is needed most. An attorney reviews your specific situation and coordinates every document so they work together, not just individually.
How often should I update my estate plan?
Review it after any major life change — marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a move to another state, or buying a business or property. Even without big changes, a review every three to five years keeps your documents aligned with current law and your current wishes.
Not sure where to start? That’s normal.
Most estate plans begin with a single conversation about what matters to you.
Schedule a Consultation