About Richard Barnes - BarnesLaw LLC

Meet Our Team

Richard Barnes

Richard Barnes is the founder of BarnesLaw, LLC. An attorney with over 30 years’ experience with professionals, executives and family owned businesses, Richard is an author and regular speaker on business and estate planning and fiduciary litigation. Richard is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a Past Chair of the Fiduciary Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia, and has served on its Executive, Trust Code Revision and Long-Range Planning Committees.

Richard is a past President of the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers, a Past President of the Valdosta Rotary Club, a past member of the Atlanta Estate Planning Council, a member of the State Bar of Georgia (Business Law, Fiduciary Law and Real Property Law Sections) and Florida Bar (Real Property, Probate Law Section),and was a 2014-2015 member of the Philanthropic Advisors Leadership Institute sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. In Fall 2008, Richard served as an Adjunct Instructor at Valdosta State University, where he taught a course on Business Associations. Since 2010, Richard has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® and as a Georgia Super Lawyer. Richard is ranked in Chambers and Partners High New Worth guide.

In May 2009, Richard's book, Estate Planning for Blended Families: Providing for Your Spouse & Children in a Second Marriage, was published as the first book to focus on the particular needs of spouses in second marriages in providing for one another as well as children from the current relationship or previous relationships.

Richard is licensed to practice law in the States of Georgia and Florida.

Richard is a graduate of Rhodes College and Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he was the Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. Prior to founding BarnesLaw, LLC in January 2010, Richard was a partner in the Valdosta firm Elliott, Blackburn, Barnes & Gooding, P.C. Before moving to Valdosta in 1999, Richard was the General Counsel for the Transmission Network Systems Division of Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. Before practicing in-house, Richard was an associate at Troutman Pepper LLP and King & Spalding LLP in Atlanta.

Richard is a member of Valdosta First Methodist Church. Richard has served on the Board of Directors of Lowndes Education Improvement Foundation, Inc., the Lowndes County School Superintendent's Advisory Council and the Planned Gifts Committee of the South Georgia Medical Center Foundation.

Richard is married to Bridgett Moore, M.D., a Valdosta plastic surgeon. They have one son, Tucker, a proud graduate of Lowndes High School who recently graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Kathleen Collins

Legal Assistant

Kathleen Collins is the firm’s Legal Assistant . A veteran of the United States Air Force, Kathleen recently received her Bachelor of Science in Legal Support and Studies from Purdue University Global. Kathleen provides enthusiastic assistance and support to clients and their legal needs. Kathleen and her husband, George, are the proud parents of four boys and live in Valdosta, GA.

News

Richard Barnes writes and speaks frequently on business, tax and estate issues. Recent articles and speaking engagements include:

July 2022
Choosing NOT to Play Family Feud: Helping Families Avoid Conflict Through Effective Meetings
(co-presenting with Rebecca Cummings), Fiduciary Law Institute, Amelia Island, FL

July 2019
Top 10 Screw Ups We Regularly See/Reminders Because We All Forget
(co-presented with Hillary Stringfellow), Fiduciary Law Institute, Amelia Island, FL

July 2018
The Planner as Litigator: Blazing your Trail Confidently to the Courthouse, Fiduciary Law
Institute, St. Simons Island, GA

March 2017
Second Marriage Estate Planning, Basic Fiduciary Practice, Atlanta, GA

July 2016
Trust Directors, Protectors and Later Objectors, Fiduciary Law Institute, St. Simons Island, GA

March 2016
Planning for Blended Families, Basic Fiduciary Practice, Atlanta, GA

October 2015
Sweeter the Second Time Around? Estate Planning for Blended Families, Basic Fiduciary
Practice, Macon, GA

March 2015
Trustee Material Participation in Businesses: A Surprising Way to Overcome TAM and Avoid the NIIT, ABA Probate Property Journal (co-authored with Steve Gorin)

Planning that Overrides the Will, Basic Fiduciary Practice, Atlanta, GA

November 2014
Repairing Broken Trusts and other Fallen Estate Plans, Thomson Reuters Estate Planning Journal

October 2014
Fixing Broken Estate Plans, ABA RPTE Business Planning Group

September 2014
Recent Developments and Planning Ideas, Georgia Society of CPAs (GSCPA) Valdosta Chapter

July 2014
Fixing Broken Estate Plans, Fiduciary Law Institute, St. Simons Island, GA

May 2014
Silver Lining of ATRA, ABA RPTE Spring Symposium, Chicago, IL

November 2013
Using Limited Partnerships, LLCs and S Corps to Minimize Taxes, ABA Business Law Section

September 2013
The Intersection of Financial and Estate Planning, GSCPA Valdosta Chapter

May 2013
Special Issues in Business Succession Planning, ABA RPTE Spring Symposium, Washington,
DC

June 2012
Recent Developments in Business and Estate Planning, GSCPA Valdosta Chapter

May 2012
Business Entities Owning Investment Portfolios, ABA RPTE Spring Symposium, New York

October 2011
Uplifting Gifting: Using Additional Exemption to Maximize Business Succession Planning, Fall
Symposium for the Joint ABA Taxation and Real Property Trust and Estate Sections in Denver,
CO

April 2011
Counseling Business Owners about Compensation Planning, ABA RPTE Spring Symposium,
Washington, DC

October 2010
Top 10 Planning Tips, GSCPA Valdosta Chapter

May 2010
Lifecycle of a Family Business, ABA RPTE Spring Symposium, Philadelphia, PA

May 2009
Anatomy of an LLC Operating Agreement, ABA RPTE Spring Symposium, Washington, DC

February 2009
Reimagining Business Succession Planning, Estate Planning Institute, Athens, GA