Wade T. Markham II

Partner

A solid estate plan can bring a client peace of mind, and can drastically improve a family’s quality of life, says Wade Markham. With good preparation and planning, a family can make the most of hard-earned assets, and save money on taxes.

For Wade, estate planning work is also a way to improve the community. He works with clients who want to give to non-profit organizations, and he can help them develop plans that allow them to retain assets and benefit causes they love. Charitable lead trusts and charitable remainder trusts are just two methods he recommends, sometimes in conjunction with the creation of charitable private foundations. One of his job’s best joys is helping distribute money to non-profit organizations that benefit greatly from the generosity of his clients. “In one instance, an elderly couple with no children gave all of their property to a charitable private foundation they created to last in perpetuity,” Wade says. “Recently, the foundation gave quite a bit of money to schools, cemeteries, and cancer research. These gifts really benefit the non-profits, the public at large, and the charitable private foundation will continue to make annual gifts to charities.”

Wade was trained as a certified public accountant, and while living in Nashville decided to pursue law school. He moved to Memphis to attend University of Memphis law school and during law school worked for a law firm that specialized in estate planning, and enjoyed helping clients preserve assets and plan for the future. It has been his focus almost exclusively since then.

In Wade’s planning with clients, he handles everything from a simple will to complex estate plans. He also handles probate, charitable private foundations and public charities, and develops long-term plans for the continuation of family-owned businesses. He also prepares living will directives, powers of attorney, and many other documents related to estate matters, including many different types of trust.

Wade has a son who has cerebral palsy; therefore, very dear to Wade are persons with special needs. Given Wade’s personal experiences, he empathizes with the clients and their concerns for their special needs children. Planning for families who have special needs children requires specially tailored trust agreements that give the parents peace of mind knowing that their special needs children will have their needs met.

Wade starts his client relations with an interview, asking questions about their lives, needs, health and family to find ways to help them plan for the future. “A good estate attorney works not only to solve the problems that the client has already identified, but also to find things that they may not know will create issues later on,” Wade says. “Our work can save people time and money, and make a huge difference in their ability to truly enjoy their retirement and later years. Great planning takes stress away and may even extend lives.”