Estate planning is often postponed because it seems less urgent than the demands of everyday life. Yet a Springfield homeowner may need someone to manage bills during an unexpected illness, a parent may want to protect an inheritance for young children, and an older couple may worry about how long-term care could affect their savings. After a death, relatives can face a different set of problems: locating documents, identifying debts, transferring a house, and determining who is authorized to administer the estate. Clear planning can make those responsibilities easier to manage.
A complete estate plan is more than a will. It may involve trusts, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, a living will, beneficiary designations, and the way real estate is titled. Estate attorneys also advise families dealing with probate, guardianships, or disagreements among beneficiaries. Springfield has specialist estate practices and established firms that combine planning with property, business, and litigation experience. Now let’s check out the top 5 estate planning attorneys in Springfield in 2026.
1. Lovett & House Co., LPA
Lovett & House operates a Springfield office on North Limestone Street as part of its wider Miami Valley estate and elder-law practice. Its work includes wills, revocable and other trusts, financial and healthcare directives, probate administration, guardianships, and planning for Medicaid and nursing-home expenses. Unlike a general civil practice that handles occasional wills, estate planning and the legal needs of older adults are central to the firm’s published services.
Founding partner George H. Lovett is identified by the firm as an Ohio State Bar Association-certified specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law. Its services can be relevant to families who need to coordinate inheritance wishes with the possibility of significant care expenses. Those decisions require careful timing: creating a trust does not automatically qualify a person for Medicaid or shield every asset. Clients should ask how the proposed documents fit their existing property, beneficiaries, and long-term care goals.
- Estate Planning Focus: Integrated estate and elder-law guidance, especially when future nursing-home costs need to be considered.
- Office: 202 North Limestone Street, Suite 100, Springfield, OH 45503.
- Phone: (937) 377-5401.
2. Martin, Browne, Hull & Harper, PLL
Martin, Browne, Hull & Harper is a longstanding Springfield firm based on North Fountain Avenue. Its probate, trusts, and estate planning group prepares wills, living wills, powers of attorney, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and charitable arrangements. It also handles estate and trust administration, fiduciary litigation, estate-related tax work, and succession planning for closely held businesses.
The practice identifies Cynthia S. Barnett, Gregory R. Flax, Steven J. McCready, Randall M. Comer, and D. Alexander Niswonger among attorneys associated with estate planning or related matters. Its broader business, real estate, and litigation departments are relevant when a plan involves farmland, a family company, commercial property, or contested fiduciary decisions. For example, a business owner may need ownership documents and a succession arrangement to work with a trust rather than contradict it. Families administering an estate can also obtain assistance when beneficiaries disagree over accounting or distribution.
- Estate Planning Focus: Coordinating trusts and inheritance documents with business ownership, property, and complex estate administration.
- Office: 500 North Fountain Avenue, Springfield, OH 45504.
- Phone: (937) 324-5541.
3. Cole Acton Harmon Dunn
Cole Acton Harmon Dunn is an established full-service Springfield law firm with an office on North Limestone Street. Its estate work includes planning, probate administration, estate-related litigation, and associated real estate issues. Attorneys currently listed with relevant experience include Paul J. Kavanagh, Zachary S. Bayless, William C. Hicks, Eric A. Kephas, and Scott B. Beals.
Kavanagh identifies probate and trust litigation, estate administration, and estate planning among his practice areas. That combination can be important when the challenge is not simply drafting a document but responding to a contested will, questions about an executor’s actions, or a disagreement over property passing through an estate. Other attorneys bring real-estate and civil-litigation backgrounds, which may help when titles or transfers need review. The firm’s website separates its current attorneys from historical and retired members; prospective clients should confirm the attorney assigned to their matter.
- Estate Planning Focus: Estate and probate representation that can continue into litigation if an inheritance or fiduciary decision is challenged.
- Office: 333 North Limestone Street, Suite 102, Springfield, OH 45503.
- Phone: (937) 322-0891.
4. Harvey Legal Services
Harvey Legal Services is a Springfield practice established in 2023 and led by attorney Zachary M. Harvey. Its services concentrate on estate planning and probate administration, including wills, powers of attorney, healthcare powers of attorney, living wills, and assistance settling estates. The office operates by appointment on North Limestone Street.
The firm emphasizes one-to-one assistance rather than presenting itself as a large multipractice legal team. For someone preparing their first estate documents, the key questions may be who should act during incapacity, whether a will reflects current family relationships, and which assets will pass directly to named beneficiaries. Harvey Legal Services also helps families after a death, when court papers, estate assets, and communication with beneficiaries can be difficult to organize. Its current staff listing names paralegal Sydney Mollett alongside Harvey, giving prospective clients a clear picture of the small office team.
- Estate Planning Focus: A locally based, small-practice option for wills, advance directives, and probate administration.
- Office: 1804 North Limestone Street, Suite A, Springfield, OH 45503 (by appointment).
- Phone: (937) 244-2060.
5. Lantz Law LLC
Lantz Law operates from the Kissell Center on Warder Street and is led by attorney Amanda J. Lantz. The practice combines family law with estate planning and probate. Its published estate services include wills, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, living wills, trusts, beneficiary-designation reviews, and transfer-on-death arrangements. It also helps with probate when a person dies without an effective plan for transferring all assets.
Lantz has practiced in Ohio since 2013 and focuses her work primarily on Clark County and surrounding communities. Her combined family and estate practice may be especially relevant after marriage, divorce, remarriage, adoption, or the birth of a child. Each event can change the appropriate beneficiaries, decision-makers, and provisions for minor children. A divorce decree, for example, does not replace the need to review accounts, property documents, and existing estate instructions. Appointments are arranged in advance.
- Estate Planning Focus: Updating estate documents after major family changes, including marriage, divorce, and new parenting responsibilities.
- Office: 30 Warder Street, Suite 155, Springfield, OH 45504.
- Phone: (937) 203-8255.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Does signing a living trust automatically keep my house out of probate?
Not necessarily. A trust generally needs to be properly funded, which can involve changing the title to eligible assets. If the home remains outside the trust and has no other effective nonprobate transfer arrangement, probate may still be needed. A lawyer should review the deed and any mortgage or co-ownership issues before a transfer.
Q. Can an Ohio will be valid if it is handwritten?
A handwritten will is not automatically invalid, but Ohio Revised Code Section 2107.03 generally still requires the testator’s signature and attestation by at least two competent witnesses in the required manner. Simply writing and signing instructions without proper witnesses is risky. A notary alone does not substitute for those witnesses.
Q. Can I leave my Springfield home to someone without putting it in a trust?
Ohio permits a properly executed and recorded transfer-on-death designation affidavit for certain real estate. That may allow the property to pass outside probate. Ownership arrangements, especially where a spouse or co-owner is involved, affect the options. A beneficiary will still need to complete the required confirmation and recording steps after death.
Q. Are a living will and a healthcare power of attorney the same thing?
No. A living will gives instructions for specified end-of-life circumstances. A healthcare power of attorney appoints a person to make healthcare decisions when the individual cannot make those decisions personally. Many people use both documents, and a separate financial power of attorney may be needed for banking and property matters.