Samuel Rea Kilgore III

We had a trust prepared in 2010 by a law firm in Virginia. When we recently moved to North Carolina, we knew we needed to update our trust to conform with North Carolina law. The trust that was originally prepared for us contained a great deal of boiler plate trust language and was nearly 100 pages.... While it achieved our basic requirements, it was confusing with some language that didn't really apply to us or fit our circumstances. After reviewing our trust and listening to how we wanted our estate handled, BJ suggested doing a restatement of trust rather than simply amending our existing trust, which would have made our original trust even more confusing. We took BJs advice and he produced a restatement of trust that achieved all of our goals and requirements and did that in a document that was clear and concise; with all of this accomplished in a document one third the length of our original trust. We are extremely pleased with the BJ's diligence and professionalism. He listened and understood what we wanted and our trust reflects that. We strong recommend retaining BJ for your estate planning. We are confident you will be as pleased as we are.

My wife and I engaged Mr. Kilgore to review our health care and estate planning documents (drafted several years ago by another attorney), make recommendations, and to amend one document in an unusual, difficult-to-draft way. All of this he did with great care and skill, raising questions we had...n’t thought about despite our having some experience in these things. A less thoughtful, perfunctory and more boiler-plate oriented adviser, for example, may well have let one of my suggestions slide through–a perfectly legal but potentially disastrous suggestion. Mr. Kilgore immediately recognized the problem and raised a cautionary flag. He’s personable and approachable. He listens carefully and explains clearly. My wife and I have great confidence in him not just as our estates and trusts lawyer, but as a dependable resource who will get us to the right person if a different kind of legal problem comes along. He cares.

I picked this law firm based on reviews on Avvo and boy did I make a terrible terrible mistake. After a 6 year amicable relationship my ex husband decided that he was going to keep my son (He lives in Raleigh and I live in Jamaica). He threatened me that if I take him I would be charged with kidnappi...ng. I had no idea of what the law is in regards to these things and was totally desperate as I had to return to Jamaica and my son had to start school. I picked this firm based on reviews and went in totally distraught. Mr. Kilgore seemed more than happy to assist and offer advice. Now here is the thing based on my initial consult fee (which I PAID for). He should have told me that North Carolina has NO jurisdiction and also that I could just go and pick up my son because when there is no custody agreement both parents have custody and it is impossible for one parent to legally 'kidnap' the child. Anyway based on Mr. Kilgore's advice I agreed to pay US$7500 (granted this did not include my costs associated with traveling back and forth from Jamaica, car rental, accommodation, missed work etc). it was not easy to get this money, but when it comes to my child I would have done whatever it took. I was told that this would cover the costs associated with everything from filing for emergency custody to getting a custody arrangement in place. Now Mr. Kilgore was VERY confident that I would be granted emergency custody (it was denied). Then when we went to court the judge says that she is sorry but there is no jurisdiction so she cannot rule in the case and THE JUDGE just said that basically I should do to him what he did to me (i.e. go get me son). Even after the trial when I asked Mr. Kilgore if that's what he thinks I should do and he told me he couldn't advise me to do that. So I had to go to the police (who let me know that I can go get my son). Then I got my son and went to my family in Miami and basically forced my ex-husband to agree to give me my son's passport back (with the help of HIS lawyer). When I tried to get Mr. Kilgore he was unavailable for THREE DAYS. At the end of it all I had written to Mr. Kilgore and explained that really I was mis informed and felt that I was taken advantage of. (really this firm did NOTHING for me). I didn't expect a full refund but I would I figured they would admit they were wrong and at least refunded me a part of the money (I would think at least US$5000 but was willing to accept US$2500). This cost me a FORTUNE and really they just mis informed me and ended up costing me MORE money. They REFUSED to give me anything back (I did sign a document agreeing to the charges but that was based on his advice that this would involve emergency custody, a hearing, mediation, custody 'battle' etc.). Basically this firm will live up to every stereotype of a lawyer you can imagine. They are money hungry greedy sharks, wolves in sheep clothing! They took advantage of me and I guess because I live in Jamaica and have a nice title at my job they assumed that I have money. I don't mind paying but I believe in fairness and value for money. The truth is my ex-husbands lawyer was much much more helpful in getting my son back in my care than my own lawyer!! (who cost more than double!!). So please if you actually care about your children, need a firm that understands the law and actually cares about you and not just your bankbook then I suggest you go to another firm.