Stephen M. Asbel

Stephen M. Asbel, Partner in the Firm’s Philadelphia, PA office, focuses his practice in the areas of estates & trusts, corporate, and real estate law. 

Mr. Asbel has extensive experience offering estate planning and estate & trust administration services, including estate taxation, choosing fiduciaries, drafting wills, powers of attorney, medical directives and living wills, and all other personal decisions that go into planning an estate. A significant portion of this practice focuses on assisting clients in preserving and passing on wealth, as well as business ownership, from one generation to the next. In this capacity, Mr. Asbel works closely with clients to develop family business succession plans, employment agreements, non-compete agreements, revocable and irrevocable trusts, Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts (CRAT), Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (CRUT), and regularly serves as liaison for his clients with various consultants, including accountants, investment advisors and insurance agents.

Mr. Asbel also represents numerous companies through his corporate and real estate practices. He assists clients in the formation of corporations, LLCs and partnerships. He drafts shareholder and entity member operating agreements, buy-sell agreements, licensing agreements, sales of assets, transfer of territorial rights and inventories, sale of goods contracts, and business purchase agreements of closely held corporations, LLCs and partnerships. Mr. Asbel is also well-versed in the myriad of legal issues affecting businesses with regard to real estate matters, including real estate purchase agreements (both commercial and residential), notes and mortgages for seller-financed transactions, and lease-purchase agreements. 

Additionally, years before same-sex marriage recognition became a reality in the United States, Mr. Asbel was already serving the planning needs of the LGBT+ community and continues that service now that same-sex marriage is recognized throughout the US. Mr. Asbel is well-versed in LGBT+ Law, planning second-parent and intra-family adoptions, and gestational carrier and assisted reproduction technology agreements.

Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Asbel was a partner in a law firm in Media, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Asbel majored in International Relations and graduated cum laude and as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar. He earned his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law in 1989. During his time at Villanova, he was a member of the Jewish Law Students’ Association and the Corporate Law Society, as well as a participant in The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, where he prepared tax returns for low-income individuals.