MELANIE HAMMELMAN
Virginia Estate Planning, Business, and Marital Attorney
Owner & Principal
Licensed in Virginia and Maryland
Melanie Hammelman is the owner of Hammelman Law, PLLC. She previously worked in litigation which helped her see how estate planning and business planning can go wrong, if not done properly. She has now dedicated her practice to estate planning and business formation and planning. She is a resident of Northern Virginia and enjoys helping others with their legal planning.
Melanie Hammelman is the founding attorney of Hammelman Law, PLLC, a boutique practice in Ashburn, Virginia focused on estate planning and on business formation, planning, and succession. Since opening the firm in 2015, Melanie has built her practice around local families throughout Northern Virginia — from new parents putting their first plan in place to high net worth couples coordinating more sophisticated strategies for their families and assets.
Her current estate planning work spans wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, powers of attorney, advance medical directives, and guardianship designations for minor children. She regularly counsels clients on coordinating beneficiary designations, planning for blended families, and updating outdated documents to reflect current law and life circumstances. On the business side, Melanie advises entrepreneurs and established business owners through every stage of the company life cycle — entity selection and formation, operating agreements, bylaws, founder and partnership arrangements, the everyday contracts that keep a business running, and the succession planning that protects what owners have built and ensures a smooth transition to the next generation or a future buyer. She also drafts pre- and post-marital agreements for clients seeking clarity around their financial lives.
Melanie earned her J.D. from South Texas College of Law, with a concentration in transactional business practice, and is licensed to practice in both Virginia and Maryland. As the wife of a U.S. Army veteran and mother of two, she brings a personal understanding to the questions her clients wrestle with most — choosing guardians, protecting a growing business, and providing for the people they love. Her approach is practical, plainspoken, and built around long-term client relationships rather than one-off transactions.