Clarity Law Group

Click ‘Save My Seat’ Below to register for the Clarity With Your Coffee event that you would like to attend!

Each event will include a brief overview of the day’s topic followed by a question and answer session with our attorneys!

• Using “Medicaid Five-Year Look-back Rule” in Estate Planning
• Planning for the Possibility of Spousal Remarriage After Your Death

Mark Costley

Mark Costley has more than 30 years of legal experience, including twenty years in the Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill areas. After helping hundreds of North Carolinians with estate planning, elder law, asset protection, trust and estate administration and planning for children and adults with special needs, Mark established Clarity Legal Group with a legal team and firm structure designed specifically to support the needs of clients seeking these kinds of services. The firm is organized around the belief that estate planning is part of a life well lived and that helping people fulfill their goals and protect their families is a privilege. Mark graduated from Duke University and Duke University School of Law. He volunteers extensively in the nonprofit community and has served as a Trustee of Duke University, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Humanities Council, Chairman of the Board of the Servant Center, Inc., Member of the Board of Directors of Carrboro Arts Center and Board Member and President of the Durham Orange Estate Planning Council. In addition to his busy practice, Mark has been a prolific speaker on a variety of legal issues, including estate planning, Living Trusts, estate and trust administration, planning for people with disabilities, Medicaid planning, for IRA distributions, legal ethics and asset protection. He is an avid sports fan, has taught Sunday School, served as a high school swimming official and enjoys reading, travel, tennis, music and politics. He is married to Margaret Costley and has two daughters.

Jonathan Williams

As an elder law and estate planning attorney, Jonathan D. Williams enjoys educating his clients about the law so that they can have the peace of mind of knowing that the planning they undertake now will reduce the burdens of time, effort, and expense that often fall upon family members when proper planning is left incomplete or inadequate. Jonathan has worked with hundreds of North Carolinians and their families, helping his clients manage their legacies through estate planning, long-term care planning (including Medicaid and Veterans’ benefits), estate and trust administration, special needs planning, tax planning, guardianships, and other related areas.

Jonathan is a proud “triple Deacon” with three degrees from Wake Forest University: an undergraduate degree in Math and Physics, a master’s degree in Religion, and a juris doctorate from the Wake Forest University School of Law. During law school, Jonathan worked as a student attorney at the Elder Law Clinic, served on the editorial staff of the Wake Forest Law Review, and was awarded the distinguished E. McGruder Faris Award for Character, Leadership, and Scholarship. He graduated near the top of his class and was consequently named to the Order of the Coif.

Jonathan lives in the Chapel Hill area deliberately off the beaten path, near cows and countryside with his wife and two young children. In addition to his roles as husband, father, and attorney, Jonathan is an avid cyclist and hiker, a voracious reader, a compulsive music collector and novice guitar player (from his bygone summer camp days), and is happiest when he’s with his family, anywhere near a river, or in the woods—or preferably all three. He looks forward to getting to know you and your family and how he can best help you.