Thomas Joseph Barnes

I am an estate planning and business lawyer. As an estate planner, I help people and their families plan for incapacity, the distribution of their assets to those they want to get them, and the minimization of death taxes. As a business lawyer, I counsel business owners on matters like setting up the business and choosing the right form of entity, contracts, financing, regulatory compliance, taxes and dissolution. I also have expertise in commercial real estate and in federal securities laws.

Estate Planning

As a Montgomery County estate planning attorney, I prepare wills and trusts, and lifetime planning documents for clients. Lifetime planning documents include financial powers of attorney and health care powers of attorney or advance directives. If appropriate for a client’s needs and wishes, I prepare living trusts and provide advice on what a living trust can accomplish, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, the administration of the trust during the life of the grantor, and the Pennsylvania inheritance taxation of trusts. Also as an estate planning lawyer, I counsel clients on non-tax planning issues relating to spouses, such as post-nuptial and pre-nuptial agreements, and a surviving spouse’s elective share.

Business Law

As a business attorney, I provide general corporate and strategic business counseling to executives and owners of private companies. I am experienced with a range of issues, including business formation, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing and succession planning. As a corporate law attorney, I work extensively with both early-stage and mature businesses in several industries, including technology, publishing, retail, commercial real estate, and manufacturing. I counsel clients on contract matters with customers and suppliers, landlords and tenants, employee liability matters and the rights and obligations of company owners. I am also experienced in securities and corporate financing laws and transactions. 

In my business law practice, I represent real estate investors, developers and owners in the purchase and sale of real estate and in a wide range of commercial and residential real estate matters. I have experience in negotiating and documenting commercial mortgage loans for both lenders and borrowers, including traditional term loans, lines of credit and construction loans.