Chatham Estate Planning Lawyers

The Law Office of John F. Aplin is mainly focused on providing quality experienced legal representation in the areas of criminal defense law and personal injury law. We also provide general civil litigation services.

As a sole practitioner, our firm's founder, Carl Henry Franklin, dedicates his practice to working one-on-one with each client. Although there are thousands of lawyers and law firms throughout Louisiana, few can match the personalized attention, access to resources, wealth of local knowledge and decades of experience our firm offers.

I am a CPA and attorney. I have been a CPA since 1994 and an Louisiana attorney since 2000. The Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization has designated me as a Board Certified Estate Planning and Administration Specialist (since 2008), as well as a Board Certified Tax Law Specialist (also since 2008). My practice focuses strongly on the needs and issues particular to farmers, middle income clients and small business owners. These include issues such as estate tax reduction, medicaid long-term care planning, special needs planning, asset protection planning, and small business protection planning. Plans I regularly recommend and personally draft for...

Jimmy D. Long, Jr. specializes in protecting assets and minimizing taxes for his clients. Through careful planning and trust drafting, Jimmy can shelter assets from creditors, nursing home spend-down, or children who are not well suited to manage an inheritance. His plans defer, reduce, or eliminate capital gains taxes on the sale of highly appreciated land and businesses, reduce income taxes for high earners, and reduce or eliminate estate taxes at death. Jimmy has an active state-wide practice throughout Louisiana, and occassionally consults on asset protection, estate planning, and tax matters in other states in conjunction with...

Rich is a shareholder with Wiener, Weiss & Madison. He joined the firm in 2013 and advises businesses, families and individuals in the areas of Taxation, Corporate Law, Securities Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Real Estate Law, Estate Planning, Successions/Probate, Title Insurance and Nonprofit Law.

Allen P. Jones is a shareholder in Wiener, Weiss & Madison, A Professional Corporation. He practices in the areas of estate planning, tax law, succession and probate law, business and corporate law, and real estate. Allen represents individuals and families in all aspects of estate planning, including the preparation of wills, trusts, partnerships and limited liability companies. His work in the area of business and corporate law includes business succession planning, corporate reorganizations, and business sale transactions. He is Board Certified by the Louisiana State Bar in Estate Planning, and is licensed as a title insurance agent in the state...

Attorney Doug Bryan has been serving the local community since 1991 with individualized, experienced legal counsel. As a lifelong resident of Louisiana, he understands the needs of clients and their families. You can rely on his knowledge and compassion throughout your case, whether you were in a car accident, injured at work, want to adopt a child or were charged with a traffic offense. The Bryan Law Firm L.L.C. provides representation in a range of areas of law with a focus on personal injury and work injuries. Doug Bryan began his legal career with a personal injury law firm and...

Armand Roos is Of Counsel for the firm of Wiener, Weiss & Madison, A Professional Corporation. He has been in private practice for more than 40 years. Armand is certified as a specialist in estate planning and estate administration by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).

John has been repeatedly recognized as a Louisiana “Super Lawyer” by SuperLawyers.com and as a “Top Attorney” by SB Magazine. He is a former member of the Shreveport City Council and served as Chairman of the City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Bar Foundation, a master of the bench of the Harry V. Booth and Judge Henry A. Politz Inn of Court, a past governor-at-large for Louisiana of the Bar Association of the Federal Fifth Circuit, and a past president of the Shreveport Bar...

Adam Young grew up in Abbeville, Louisiana and attended Tulane University School of Law, earning his Juris Doctor degree in 2005. Following graduation, Adam worked for law firms and companies in the Oil & Gas industry in Louisiana, gaining business law experience that he has transferred to his own practice. He has experience in bankruptcy law, in which he focuses on complex bankruptcy situations. Adam is a member of the Bankruptcy Section of the Louisiana Bar Association, as well as the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. Additionally, he has extensive experience representing clients in divorce and family law cases,...

Jeffrey W. Weiss attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from which he graduated with honors, and college at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, from which he received a B.A. degree in 1983, graduating magna cum laude, with honors in economics. Upon graduation from Claremont McKenna College, Jeff was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa.

Jeff obtained his Juris Doctorate degree from Tulane School of Law in 1986, from which he graduated summa cum laude. At Tulane, Jeff served as a member of the Tulane Law Review, and was admitted to the Order of the Coif honor society.

Jeff has...

Joe has been practicing law for 40 years. His practice emphasizes estate planning, trusts, successions (probate), Medicaid, VA benefits, Social Security disability appeals, asset protection planning, and general family counseling in these areas. He realizes that each client has individual circumstances that require a unique plan. He plans with the overarching goal of protecting the client’s well-being and secondarily preserving the client’s assets over the long term. Joe has given frequent seminars for the public, financial planners, and other professional groups. He has been honored to present at attorney continuing-education seminars sponsored by LSU Law Center, Tulane Law School, and...

Cliffe Laborde is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and Texas, and has more than 24 years of experience in a wide variety of business and commercial real estate transactions, and estate planning and administration matters, including:

Asset and stock purchase transactions, and other agreements (employment, non-competition, etc.) arising in connection with business acquisitions and divestitures.
Formation of corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships, including the drafting of complex shareholder, operating and partnership agreements, and the purchase and sale of ownership interests in such entities.
Negotiation and documentation of purchase, sale, financing, development and leasing transactions related to all types of commercial real...

J. Graves Theus, Jr. is a fourth-generation Louisiana lawyer with deep roots in this community. He received an LL.M. in Tax Law from Boston University School of Law in 1997, after graduating, cum laude, from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1996. He practiced in Seattle, Washington until 1999, when he joined a prestigious law firm in Alexandria, Louisiana. He was a shareholder there until 2013, when he began his private practice. Graves is certified by the Louisiana State Board of Legal Specialization as a Specialist in Tax Law, as well as Estate Planning and Administration, and is an approved title...