About The Law Office of James A. Hyatt

The Law Office of James A. Hyatt is dedicated to providing innovative and personalized estate planning counseling and advice to clients who are looking to protect what they value most – their family and their assets.

We believe that Estate Planning doesn’t have to be an unpleasant experience. Indeed, what greater satisfaction can there be than knowing that you have taken steps to protect your loved ones from unnecessary difficulties, including taxes, administrative expenses such as probate costs, delays and aggravation? We have many tools and strategies to help our clients accomplish their goals.

Our Clients

The Law Office of James A. Hyatt works with clients who are motivated by a desire to develop an estate plan, discuss probate matters, and set up wills and trusts that help them achieve their goals and dreams for themselves and their families. Our clients don’t shop around for the simplest, cheapest, “cookie cutter” will, trust, power of attorney or other documents. Rather, they are looking for experienced, caring counselors who will help them create comprehensive estate plans that will provide the very best results for them and their families.

We serve the entire state of Maryland, including Montgomery and Frederick County – Germantown, Gaithersburg, Rockville and more.

Our Hallmark

What Makes Us Different at the Law Office of James A. Hyatt:

• Our practice is limited to estate planning, probate matters, and Wills and Trusts. This allows us to devote considerable time keeping current in our field, and developing new and innovative approaches which can benefit our clients. Our techniques are constantly evolving and improving as we seek to add value to the services we provide to our clients.
• We take the time to educate our clients, so that they fully understand their estate planning options, Will options, Trust options, and options in probate matters.
• We engage in an extensive pro-active counseling process, which helps our clients identify their goals and objectives, and consider things that they might not have thought about before.
• The Law Office of James A. Hyatt is dedicated to preparing estate plans that work. This means that we work with our clients to help complete any re-titling of assets and beneficiary designation changes that may be necessary to ensure that the plan will function the way it is designed.
• Everything we do at the Law Office of James A. Hyatt is designed to create a long-term relationship with our clients and their families, so that they will keep their plans current with changes in the law, changes in their circumstances and changes in their families, and that they will benefit as we improve our knowledge and abilities.
• We at the Law Office of James A. Hyatt firmly believe in the team approach to estate planning, and we strive to involve the client’s trusted advisors in the estate planning process. We have found that the very best estate plans are those that result from the collaboration of the client’s accountant, financial advisor and estate planning attorney, so we will bring those advisors into the planning process where appropriate.

Our Staff

James A. Hyatt

A graduate of the University of Maryland and the University of Baltimore School of Law, Mr. Hyatt has been practicing law since 1980. He is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, and its Estates and Trust Section and Elder Law Section, and the Estates and Trusts Section of the Bar Association of Montgomery County. Mr. Hyatt has served in many local civic organizations. He is a Past President of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, and in 2006 was inducted into the Chamber’s Hall of Fame. He also served as Chairman of the Germantown Alliance.

Mr. Hyatt was selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in Maryland 2013-2019.

MaKayla Hanington

Ms. Hanington was admitted to the Maryland bar in 2016. She is a graduate of Dickinson College and the University of Baltimore School of Law. Her practice focuses on estate planning, estate and trust administration, and elder law. Ms. Hanington is a member of the Estates and Trusts Section of the Maryland State Bar Association, the Estates and Trusts Section and Elder Law Section of the Montgomery County Bar Association, and is a board member for the Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center. In 2019, she was a contributing writer for the publication, “Revocable Trusts: Maryland,” issued by Practical Law, a Thompson Reuters Company.

Amy E. Toole

A graduate of Boston College, is a legal assistant, and provides administrative support in all areas of the practice. She also serves as the firm’s Director of Client Services.