McLean Thompson Kerver is a shareholder in the Business and Estate Planning Practice Group and serves on the firm’s Board of Managers. McLean practices in the areas of estate planning, wealth transfer planning, estate administration (probate) and trust administration, and guardianship and conservatorship.

McLean creates and implements plans that transfer wealth in a manner that meets the client’s objectives, is tax efficient, and that assists clients with the management and protection of their assets. She has extensive experience utilizing sophisticated estate planning strategies and structures for these purposes. McLean’s practice also includes advising fiduciaries with regard to the administration of complex and extensive estates and trusts. McLean also assists clients through the guardianship and conservatorship process.

McLean’s commitment to excellence extends beyond her legal practice. She currently serves as a Commissioner for the State Bar of South Dakota, while serving on the Executive Board of the West River Estate and Financial Planning Council, and as a member of the South Dakota Trust Association.

McLean is a lifelong rancher and licensed pilot.

Education

  • University of South Dakota Law School J.D., 2010
  • Cornell Law School – Paris Summer Institute, University of Paris, Sorbonne, 2008
  • University of South Dakota MBA, 2004
  • University of Kansas B.S., Business Administration, 2003

Memberships

  • South Dakota Trust Association
  • WealthCounsel
  • State Bar of SD (Real Property and Probate Committee, Elder Law Committee, Women In Law Committee)
  • West River Estate and Financial Planners
  • Pennington County Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Fellows of the American Bar Foundation

Honors & Awards

  • AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubble® since 2015
  • Recognized as a “Best Lawyer” by Best Lawyers since 2018
    • Business Organizations (Including LLCs and Partnerships)
    • Commercial Transactions/UCC Law
  • Honored as a “Great Plains Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers since 2015

Published Works

  • Co-Author, “Proposed Changes to South Dakota’s Uniform Probate Code Guardianship Forms” – State Bar of South Dakota Elder Law Committee
  • Co-Author, Trusts 101 – “Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts” National Business Institute

Presentations

  • Trusts Formation and Drafting, Rural Attorney Recruitment Program Conference, Unified Judicial System, 2018
  • To Trust or not to Trust? That is the Question, South Dakota State University Foundation workshop, 2017
  • The Gift that Keeps on Giving – Charitable Planning and the Charitable Deduction, State Bar of South Dakota Tax Update, 2015
  • Wills and Probate, SDSU Extension, 2015
  • Succession Planning, South Dakota Banker’s Association Ag Credit Conference, 2014
  • Wills and Trusts, SDSU Extension, 2014
  • Estate Planning, Black Hills Legal Professionals Association, 2013
  • Trusts 101, National Business Institute, 2012

Reported Cases / Representative Clients

  • Provided legal counsel to hundreds of individual and trust clients with assets ranging from a few thousand dollars to multi-million dollars.
  • Assisted agricultural clients in transitioning family businesses from one generation to the next.
  • Worked with hundreds of trust company clients and individual fiduciary clients to efficiently administer both simple and complex estates and trusts

Admissions

  • 2010, South Dakota
  • South Dakota Supreme Court
  • U.S. District Court