Legal Services & Lawyers

Firm works with Asset Protection, Foreclosure Defense, Estate Planning, Wills, & Trusts, Probate, Employment, Criminal Law, DUI, Elder Law Guardianship, Gun Trust, NFA Firearms, Gun rights, Probate, Probate Litigation, Trusts, Trust Litigation.

Susan M. Charles, J.D., LL.M. (Elder Law)

Attorney Susan Marie Charles is an attorney practicing in Clearwater, Largo, St. Petersburg, and Tampa, Florida. She provides comprehensive legal services to people in the Tampa Bay area who need assistance with estate planning, Medicaid planning, guardianship, and trust and estate administration.

A native of Rockville, Maryland, Susan enjoyed a 10-year career as an international travel consultant in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Tampa. A King-O'Neal Scholar, she graduated first in her undergraduate class, receiving her Bachelor's Degree Summa Cum Laude from the University of South Florida Honors College in 2002. She received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Stetson University College of Law in 2004, and attained her Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Elder Law from Stetson University College of Law in 2008. Susan Charles is one of only a handful of attorneys in the United States to have earned the prestigious LL.M. in Elder Law. She is licensed to practice law in Florida and in the District of Columbia.

Professional and Community Involvement

Susan is a member of several professional associations, including the Florida Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys, the American Bar Association, the St. Petersburg Bar Association, the St. Petersburg Bar Foundation, the Clearwater Bar Association, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, the Pinellas County Estate Planning Council, and Wealth Counsel.

She is active in the community, serving as an advisor to the board of Suncoast Voices for Children Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting abused and neglected children through the Guardian Ad Litem Program in Pinellas and Pasco counties. She is also an active member of the Professional Advisors Committee of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Tampa Bay.

Committed to Educating Others

Susan's primary practice areas are estate planning, probate, Medicaid nursing home planning, guardianship, and other elder law issues. She provides free seminars to educate the public about the estate planning options available in Florida, explaining the pros and cons of each estate planning strategy, as well as the associated costs and tax ramifications. Her seminars also include discussion of estate taxes and asset protection methods, as well as the most common mistakes the elder community makes when planning asset protection and probate avoidance without the professional oversight of competent legal counsel.

Susan Charles is the host of "Florida Law Live," a call-in radio program during which attorneys discuss legal issues and answer legal questions live on the air. "Florida Law Live" is broadcast throughout Florida on Sunday mornings from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on WWBA News Talk 820 AM. "Florida Law Live" can also be heard around the world by visiting www.wwba820.com and then clicking "Listen Live" on the WWBA homepage.

Offices in Clearwater - Largo - St. Petersburg - Tampa

I am an attorney in my 25th year of law practice in the Tampa Bay area. My practice concentrates in the areas of marital and family law, personal injury and wrongful death, estate planning, probate and elder law.

Steve Fahlgren is a general practioner in Hilliard, Florida. He handles most types of civil litigation but does not take cases against consumers and does not practice criminal law. For a listing of practice areas, please see them below.

Mr. Fahlgren also practices debt collection defense and credit litigation throughout Florida. He is AV rates (the highest) by Martindale-Hubbell, the oldest and most widely used lawyer rating service. Mr. Fahlgren recognizes that credit reputation is becoming even more important every day. For over four years, Mr. Fahlgren has represented consumers exclusively in consumer litigation matters. During his more than eleven years of experience, Mr. Fahlgren has represented consumers in litigation relating to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Florida's Consumer Collection Practices Act, Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Consumer Leasing Act, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Retail Sales Finance Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Repair Act, Florida's Title Loan Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Lease Disclosure Act, Florida's False Advertising law, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Housing Act, and has also handled claims involving fraud, negligent misrepresentation, conversion, civil theft, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and restitution. Mr. Fahlgren has litigated credit report errors and is very experienced in all facets of Fair Credit Report Litigation from the credit dispute letters to the requirement that credit bureaus maintain reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy.

Mr. Fahlgren handles cases in the following Florida counties and occasionally handles cases outside of those counties when the circumstances merit: Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Hamilton, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, Union, Citrus, Lake, Marion, Sumter, Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry and Lee. Mr. Fahlgren handles cases in the following Florida cities, among others: Jacksonville, Bryceville, Hilliard, Orlando, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Daytona Beach, Deland, Haines City, Altamonte Springs, Apopka, Bartow, Casselberry, Cocoa, Edgewood, Fort Meade, Atlantic Beach, Celebration, Deltona, Eustis, Eagle Lake, Fort Myers, Hawthorne, Holly Hill, Lady Lake, Lake Wales, Maitland, Neptune Beach, Palm Bay, Lake alfred, Lake Mary, Melbourne Beach, Mount Dora, Ocoee, Orange Park, Keystone Heights, Oviedo, Ponce Inlet, Indialantic, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Leesburg, Longwood, Minneola, Clermont, New Smyrna, Palatka, Port Orange, Brevard, St. Cloud, Tavares, Winter Garden, Winter Springs, Sanford, Tampa, Winter Haven, and Winter Park. Many of Mr. Fahlgren's clients cannot afford to pay on an hourly basis, so Mr. Fahlgren often takes cases on a contingency fee basis if the client's expectations are reasonable.

After graduating with Honors from the University of Florida College of Law, Mr. Fahlgren began his legal career practicing commercial litigation and collection law at Foster & Kelly, P.A. He then joined Fisher, Rushmer, et al and expanded his practice to the areas of consumer litigation and employment litigation. Mr. Fahlgren left Fisher, Rushmer et al. to form his own firm, Law Offices of Steven M. Fahlgren, P.A., to focus on consumer litigation. Mr. Fahlgren, who formerly served as a Counterintelligence Agent in the U.S. Army, is a member of the Florida Bar, the State Bar of Georgia, all state and federal courts in Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Fahlgren is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers, and is a graduate of Leadership Orlando Class 48.

Mr. Fahlgren has published various articles on Consumer Law. Over the years, Mr. Fahlgren has lectured on computer law and internet related issues and has provided information in in numerous stories for television, radio and newspapers. For over a year, Mr. Fahlgren hosted a popular radio show entitled "For the Consumer" on AM 950 WTLN in Orlando.

Mr. Fahlgren also handles a very select few cases involving employment law matters. He has filed claims for age discrimination, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation, unpaid wages, Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act. Mr. Fahlgren's jury trial experience includes a patent infringement trial lasting in excess of five weeks and a ground breaking same-sex sexual harassment trial in which Mr. Fahlgren's client obtained a jury verdict for an amount in excess of one million dollars.

In November 2007, Mr. Fahlgren and his co-counsel obtained a record $2.9 million dollar verdict against Equifax for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Mr. Fahlgren is also a Certified Circuit Civil Mediator and has fulfilled the arbitrator training required by the Supreme Court of Florida for court appointed arbitrators. Having represented both sides in his career, Mr. Fahlgren is a successful mediator.

For more information, please feel free to contact Mr. Fahlgren's office by contacting me at (904) 845-2255 or my cell (407) 852-1711. My email for potential clients is stevefahlgren@gmail.com

Serving Belleview, Summerfield, Lady Lake, Oxford and The Villages since 1997. Handling estate planning including Wills, Trusts, Living Wills, Powers of Attorney and Health Care Proxies. Handling Probate matters including Will Contests.