Brittany M. Payne

Brittany Payne is a member of the firm’s Trusts and Estates practice group. With over a decade of experience in the legal field, she focuses her practice on the areas of trust and estate administration and estate planning.

Brittany enjoys working with individuals and families on all aspects of estate planning, including the use of estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions. Her estate and trust administration experience gives her the ability to provide guidance to individuals and families in the planning process to help prevent potential issues in a future administration. One of Brittany’s strengths is her ability to truly listen to a client’s needs and help them formulate a plan that will allow them to achieve their intended wishes, while minimizing income and transfer taxes.

Brittany’s estate and trust administration experience includes court-supervised and private estate and trust administration matters. She has also assisted clients with estate matters occurring as a result of wrongful death, and guardianship matters occurring as a result of personal injury.

She is the chair of the firm's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee and is also a 2022 graduate of the Cleveland chapter of the FDCC Ladder Down program, a year-long program committed to the leadership, empowerment, business development, and mentorship of female legal professionals. Brittany enjoys speaking, writing, and community engagement, and speaks each year for the Ohio State Bar Association on the Basics of Estate Administration.

Brittany received her J.D. from Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, in 2019. During her time at Cleveland Marshall, Brittany spent time volunteering and was a recipient of the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for her efforts in the school’s Community Advocacy Clinic.

Areas of Practice

• Trusts & Estates
• Estate Planning
• Trusts and Trust Administration
• Probate and Estate Administration
• Business Succession Planning

Licensed to Practice

• Ohio

Education

• Cleveland State University College of Law, J.D., 2023
• Case Western Reserve University, M.S.S.A., Nonprofit Management/Community Development, 2003
• University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, B.S., Psychology, 2000

Admissions & Associations

• State of Ohio
• Ohio State Bar Association, Member
• Estate Planning Council of Cleveland, Member

Awards & Honors

• Selected to the Ohio Rising Stars list: 2024-present

Community Activities

• FDCC Ladder Down Cleveland Class of 2022, Participant

Articles and Presentations

• Automating Legacy: AI’s Applications In Estate Planning, Probate Law Journal of Ohio, September/October 2024
• Automating Legacy: AI's Impact on Estate Planning, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal, December 2023
• Automating Legacy: AI's Impact on Estate Planning, Crain's Cleveland Business, November 2023