Brian Schaefer assists clients with elder and special needs law, estate planning, and estate administration. The common thread in Brian’s practice is that he helps clients and their families to navigate situations in which they face a time of vulnerability, or else are planning to face that possibility in the future. Brian’s practice focuses on Medicaid planning, special needs trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney, wills, revocable trusts, and estate administrations. Having had a brother with special needs, Brian has a passion for helping others with special needs planning and he also regularly serves as a guardian ad litem for the court on incompetency and guardianship matters. Brian is also an experienced estate planner, and he has helped clients to administer many estates over the years after the death of a loved one.
Brian’s legal work follows naturally from his educational background. He earned his undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in 1994 and later moved to Scotland to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in 2002, completing a dissertation on human rights. After teaching philosophy for several years back in Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina, Brian decided to apply his analytical skills to the law and earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2009. He then practiced as an attorney with firms in Morehead City and Charlotte before coming to Waynesville. Brian’s wife Joslyn serves as the Rector of Grace Church in the Mountains, and Brian takes an active role in the life of the church. Brian and Joslyn like to read, play guitar and piano, entertain friends, enjoy the western North Carolina mountains, and spend time with their twelve-year-old son Elias and their five-year-old daughter Susannah. Brian regularly practices mindfulness meditation and still occasionally even finds a little time to read philosophy.
Brian Schaefer is licensed to practice law in the state of North Carolina and is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association as well as the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA).