Michael J. Howell

Biographical Information

Michael has been a member of the South Carolina Bar since 1977 and is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law. He became a member of the Florida Bar in 2009; although, he practices on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina where his office is located.

Michael has been a resident of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina since 1978 and is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Estate Planning and Probate Law.

Michael was born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1951 and is a 1974 graduate of the University of South Carolina with a BS Degree in Business Administration, majoring in accounting. He is also a 1977 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Michael served on the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Bar from 2006-2009. He is currently a Mentor for new lawyers under the South Carolina Supreme Court's mentoring program.

For the years 1993-1996, he was a member of the South Carolina Estate Planning and Probate Law Specialization Advisory Board and was Chairman of the Advisory Board in 1995. The Advisory Board interviews and tests attorneys wanting to become Certified Specialists in Estate Planning and Probate Law.

From 1998-2004, he was a member of the South Carolina Supreme Court's Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization. This Commission oversees required continuing legal education requirements for South Carolina attorneys. The Commission also oversees the specialization programs for attorneys in South Carolina in Estate Planning and Probate Law, Taxation Law, Labor Law and Bankruptcy Law. From 2002-2004, Michael was also the Secretary of the Commission.
He is a past member of the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee of the South Carolina Bar. Michael has also been a member of the Complaints Subcommittee.
In addition, Michael is a member and past chairman of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the South Carolina Bar. He has also chaired subcommittees on studying alternatives to multidisciplinary practices and changes to rules on what to do with a legal practice when an attorney dies, becomes incompetent, is suspended or disbarred. One of his subcommittees has also written a manual for South Carolina attorneys who are appointed by the South Carolina Supreme Court to take over such practices. Michael was also on a 2002 subcommittee studying and recommending changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers. He was also a member of the Bar's committee that worked with the South Carolina Supreme Court and its own commission on the new Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers, which became effective on October 1, 2005.

In 2010 and 2011 Michael was the Chairman of a newly created Client File Subcommittee that worked on and proposed on a new Rule of Professional Conduct defining what a client file consists of, who owns what portions of the file as between the attorney, the client and third parties and what must be turned over to the client upon the client's request, along with numerous other issues related to the ownership and control of the client file.

The Rule was approved by the Professional Responsibility Committee and the House of Delegates of the South Carolina Bar Association in 2011 and is under review by the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Michael has also been a member of the Hilton Head Island Bar Association since 1983. For the 2011 - 2012 year, Michael is on the Board of the Hilton Head Island Bar Association and serves as it Program Chairman. One of his primary functions is to provide continuing legal education programs and credits for lawyers in the Hilton Head Island area.

Michael has also authored several articles, including Disclaimer Trusts: a wait and see approach to estate planning in light of EGTRRA, published in the November 2002 issue of South Carolina Lawyer magazine and What's New and What's Left in Sophisticated Estate Planning published by National Business Institute, June of 2003, for it's manual Advanced Estate Planning Techniques in South Carolina, and also Ethical Considerations for Estate Planning Lawyers in South Carolina - A Study of Selected Provisions of the Rules of Professional Responsibility and a substantial update to What's New and What's Left in Sophisticated Estate Planning, - A Primer on Selected Estate Planning Techniques for South Carolina Attorneys, both published by National Business Institute for its April 2004 manual on How to Protect Assets During Life and Avoid Estate Tax at Death in South Carolina.<b 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: