Estate Planning
Maryland Personal Representative: Duties, Deadlines, and What to Do First
A practical guide for newly appointed personal representatives and for anyone deciding whether to accept the role.
August 16, 2026Read more
Attorney-written guides on estate planning, probate, and business law in Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia from the attorneys at C&O Law Group.
Estate Planning
A practical guide for newly appointed personal representatives and for anyone deciding whether to accept the role.
Estate Planning
What Maryland families need to know about first-party, third-party, and pooled special needs trusts, and the state-specific rules that change the math.
Estate Planning
Families dealing with a recent loss often want a number. The answer Maryland law gives them is a range: a small estate can close in two to four months; a contested regular estate can stretch past two years.
Estate Planning
Most people assume trusts are only for the wealthy. They're not. A trust is a legal arrangement that allows a trustee to hold and manage assets for the benefit of others.
Estate Planning
If you die in Maryland without a valid will, Maryland law determines who inherits your property. This is called dying “intestate.” Rather than following your wishes, your estate is distributed according to Maryland’s intestacy laws.
Estate Planning
A plain-English guide to Maryland's 2020 elective share reform and what it means for estate plans written before and after it took effect.
Estate Planning
Many married couples want to ensure that after both spouses have passed away, their assets ultimately go to their children or other chosen beneficiaries. A common concern is whether the surviving spouse should have the ability to change those beneficiaries after the first spouse dies.
Estate Planning
One of the most common questions we receive at C&O Law Group is whether a person needs a will or a trust.
Estate Planning
One of the biggest misconceptions in estate planning is that everyone needs a trust.
Estate Planning
When we think about estate planning, we usually think about tangible things: the family home, bank accounts, jewelry, and physical photo albums. But in today’s world, so much of our lives lives online.
Estate Planning
For decades, real estate has been one of the trickiest assets to manage in Maryland estate planning.
Estate Planning
A trust only works if your assets are actually in it. Most people don't find that out until it's too late.
Estate Planning
Eleanor Price had always been meticulous. A retired teacher in Montgomery County, she kept labeled binders for everything—taxes, insurance, even recipes.
Estate Planning
After twenty years together, Mike thought they had it figured out. The law disagreed. Mike and Alisha met in their mid-forties at a Northern Virginia neighborhood block party. Within a year they were inseparable.