Master Lawyer Stephen M. ASBEL

Stephen M. Asbel is a Partner at the Firm’s Philadelphia office and is an active member of the Wills, Trusts & Trusts Group and Corporate & Business Services Group. Stephen has extensive experience offering estate planning and estate and trust administration services, including estate taxation, choosing fiduciaries, drafting wills, powers of attorney, medical directives and living wills, special needs trusts, and estate planning.Stephen helps families plan for special needs children and manage the needs of aging parents. He also assists in planning for estate taxation, preserving and passing on wealth, and business ownership from one generation to the next. His services include developing trusts and business succession plans that address tax concerns and creating structures that accommodate clients and their families. Stephen is also experienced in obtaining court-decreed guardianships for family members of clients seeking protection. Stephen advises clients who are building their families, offering guidance on prenuptial agreements and contracts concerning assisted reproductive technology.Stephen has been at the forefront of the LGBTQ+ community’s needs for many years before legal recognition of same-sex marriage was achieved nationally. Having friends and family in the LGBTQ+ community, Stephen was determined to use his skills and experience as an attorney to provide LGBTQ+ clients with as much legal protection as possible under the law as it then existed. While much progress has occurred in the law, much still needs to be addressed, and he remains committed to helping those clients in need of that planning and protection. He has experience working with LGBTQ+ couples and their families to ensure both partners have the strongest protections for parental rights, including by parentage confirmation/second-parent adoption proceedings, which are crucial in an environment where parentage laws are not uniform in all jurisdictions. As an active member of the Corporate & Business Services Group, Stephen has experience in contract preparation and review, reviewing merger and acquisition transactions and various aspects of due diligence, and drafting resolutions to facilitate transactions for clients of the firm.Outside the office, Stephen enjoys gardening, researching, building family trees, traveling, listening to history podcasts, being active in his synagogue, reading, and spending time with his family and friends.