Probate fights, trust disputes, will contests, fiduciary claims, and select civil matters — handled by a lawyer who spent eight years prosecuting felony cases and served as Chief of Military Justice for the Army's largest jurisdiction. Each stage is a flat fee, quoted in writing before it begins.
Contested estates: an executor or administrator who won't account, assets that moved before or after a death, disputed settlements, removal actions. Kentucky probate runs through the district and circuit courts under KRS Chapter 395, and the paper record usually decides it, so the work is building that record.
Beneficiary claims against trustees and trustee defense: accountings, distributions withheld or misdirected, trustee removal, breach-of-trust claims, and trust modification or termination fights under the Kentucky Uniform Trust Code.
Capacity, undue influence, defective execution, and the circuit-court contest actions that carry a fight out of district court. These cases turn on evidence gathered early — medical records, drafting-file history, witness memory — before it goes stale.
Who should make decisions for a person who can't, and what happens when the person appointed shouldn't have been. Guardianship disputes under KRS Chapter 387, including accountings and removal.
Contract claims, partnership and LLC member disputes, and commercial collection matters for Kentucky small businesses: the litigation side of the transactional work the firm already does.
What happened, what you have on paper, and what you actually want at the end. I'll tell you whether the claim is worth investigating, what the road looks like, and what the first stage costs.
Litigation is priced by stage in the engagement letter: investigation and demand; filing and discovery; motion practice and mediation. Each stage is a defined scope with a flat number. Everything short of trial lives inside the staged flat.
Most probate, trust, and will disputes resolve before a judge hears witnesses. If yours doesn't, the trial stage is quoted separately in writing and begins only on your written yes.
Two decades as a U.S. Army Judge Advocate. Eight years prosecuting felony cases — murder, sexual assault, complex litigation — and three years training the Army's prosecutors nationwide. Chief of Military Justice for the Army's largest jurisdiction. Now that courtroom discipline works for Kentucky families and businesses: flat fees, a defined road, and no hourly meter.
Prosecution teaches a particular discipline: you build the record first, you know your file cold, and you never ask a question in a courtroom you haven't already answered from the evidence. That is how I prepare a civil case too.
Litigation is a tool for recovering or protecting something that matters, not a way to keep a grievance alive. When the math doesn't work, or when a letter and a negotiation will get you most of what a lawsuit would, that is what I'll recommend. The scoping call costs nothing, and neither does hearing “you don't need me for this.”
