About Law Office of Sand Gibbs

Margery S. Preddy is a partner whose primary areas of practice are estate planning, estate administration, and elder law. Ms. Preddy has been practicing law in Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Bucks, and Philadelphia Counties for over 30 years. She is a member of the Delaware County Bar Association, the Delaware County Elder Law Committee, the Delaware County Orphans’ Court Committee, and the Delaware County Estate Planning Council. She is now “of counsel” to the firm.

Margery graduated Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976 with a BA degree in Sociology and Spanish. She received her Juris Doctorate from Temple Law School, graduating in 1979. After graduation, she joined the Corporate Law Department of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) where she handled various corporate contract, and employment litigation matters.

In 1988, she joined the Law Office of Sand Gibbs, adding her own unique skill set to that of one of the most well-established and well-regarded firms in the region. Over the course of her subsequent professional career, Margery gained prominence as an exceptionally qualified estate planning and administration attorney.

Margery remains dedicated to counseling clients on difficult and complex family inheritance matters including issues involving elder law and real estate.

She has lectured and conducted seminars in her field of expertise. She emphasizes the importance of having wills and powers of attorney for financial matters and health care issues. She feels very strongly that clients should be educated regarding the law as it deals with Pennsylvania inheritance taxes, federal estate taxes, guardianships, Pennsylvania probate procedures, trusts, wills, powers of attorney, and other estate planning documents. Therefore, she takes the time necessary to discuss with clients the intricate web of issues relating to family and inheritance matters.

Sometimes, the various estate and family inheritance matters result in an inherent conflict of issues for the family to resolve. Margery assists families in focusing in on the most important goals since, frequently, solving one problem inevitably creates another. There are always tradeoffs in estate planning and inheritance matters and Margery will help clients and their families wade through the somewhat complex and confusing issues related to taxes, trusts, nursing home concerns, probate costs, difficult family members, and the like.

Margery Preddy is a compassionate and caring attorney with unparalleled knowledge of the law and of both the broad and the intricate strategies that may be employed in estate planning and administration.

Let her put her skills and her insights to work for you to create an estate plan or to administer an estate in a manner that is perfectly tailored to meet your desires and your needs. Regardless of the size of the estate or the extent or nature of assets to be considered, and no matter how sophisticated or simple the estate plan, Margery will efficiently assist you in effecting the best possible solutions. 

David M. Smilk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School with a B.S. Degree in Finance. He continued to pursue his career at Temple Law School and has specialized in estate administration and estate planning since graduation. He is now “of counsel” to the firm.

During his early law practice, he was elected President of the Young Lawyers section of the Delaware County Bar Association and served on the Board of Directors of the County Bar Association.

David Smilk was a frequent guest on the Russ Miller Saturday morning radio show, "Real Estate and Your Estate" which aired on WWDB-FM for 23 years.

David's years of experience at the top of his field have allowed him to develop highly effective strategies for serving his client's needs efficiently. His experience and insights have allowed him to develop and employ very valuable shortcuts to solve estate issues, often allowing clients to avoid more costly full "probate" administration. Such shortcut methods have saved many clients fees and time expended.

David's career has been devoted to always identifying and employing the best possible ways of getting the results his clients need and expect, to best serve his client's needs with efficiency and at the minimum possible expense. It is this ethic that has so consistently caused clients and the families and friends of clients to return to him again and again as a competent and capable attorney in whom they have absolute trust.

Persons planning their estate may prefer to "avoid probate," and Mr. Smilk is proficient in drafting documents to do so. He was one of the first attorneys in Pennsylvania to draft and execute the "Real Estate Deed of Trust". Subsequently, he testified at legislative hearings to repeal and clarify the real estate transfer tax that may have previously applied to such deeds.

David has lectured and conducted seminars on the impact of federal estate tax, Pennsylvania inheritance tax, revocable living trust, and powers of attorney, all of which affect individuals' future planning.

Interestingly, David Smilk was requested to serve on the Delaware County Medical Society Public Health Fund as its secretary, and has done so since 1990.

Mr. Smilk's years of experience, and his truly first-rate standing in the local and regional legal communities, make him a truly venerable voice in his area of legal specialty.