Attorney Profiles

M. Eldridge Blanton, III focuses his practice in the areas of estate planning and retirement planning, including wealth preservation--or asset protection--in all its facets.  His special niche is the preparation of comprehensive estate and/or retirement plans for clients interested in asset protection, charitable giving, and other specialized goals, such as the transfer family assets in a manner which is sensitive to income, estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes. His retirement planning services focus on optimum use of qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts.

Eldridge also practices in the field of elder law, advising clients of options for their senior years, including the purchase of long term care insurance with Medicaid as an ultimate safety net.

Eldridge was born in Richmond and raised in Cumberland County, Virginia. He is a civil engineering graduate of VMI and a former officer in the U.S. Army (artillery). He worked 29 years for C & P telephone Co. and Bell Atlantic (now Verizon), retiring as the Assistant to the President for Virginia operations. Embarking on a second career, Eldridge entered the University of Richmond's law school, where he served as Editor-in Chief of the University of Richmond Law Review.

Upon graduating from law school in 1994, Eldridge worked in the Richmond office of the District Counsel for the IRS and earned a Master of Laws degree in taxation from the College of William and Mary's School of Law.

He began his estate planning practice in 1995 and helped found Legacy Law Group (formerly Blanton Kirk Lumpkins PLC) in 2006.    The author and co-author of several published articles in the field of tax and estate planning, his objective is to assist families with their tax and estate planning as part of their overall financial planning.

Eldridge is a member of Wealth Counsel, a national organization of estate planning attorneys with members in all fifty states. Membership in Wealth Counsel permits Legacy Law Group to offer legal services nationwide, as part of a virtual law firm of over 1500 attorneys.

Eldridge is a member of numerous other groups or organizations including the Financial Planning Association (past board member), the Society of Financial Service Professionals (past board member), the Virginia Gift Planning Council, the Estate Planning Council of Richmond, the Kiwanis Club of Downtown Richmond and is a past board member of Windsor Farms, Inc.