Estate and Business Succession Planning

Houston and San Antonio Estate and Business Succession Planning Attorneys

Murphy & Vickers provides a full range of estate and business succession planning for closely held companies as well as asset protection vehicles for individuals.

Estate Planning and Probate Services

Comprehensive estate planning is essential in the preservation, accumulation and transfer of personal assets. Murphy & Vickers offers a vast array of estate planning tools and techniques tailored to the specific needs of our clients. Our main goal in this area is to minimize the burden of estate, gift, income and generation-skipping transfer taxes to the fullest extent under the law while providing the simplest means by which to carry out the client’s wishes regarding the disposition of their property both before and after death. This goal is achieved by implementing wills, trusts, and other estate planning and asset protection vehicles.

• Wills (both simple and tax planned)
• Powers of Attorney
• Physician’s Directives (Living Wills)
• Bypass and Marital Trusts
• Generation-Skipping Trusts
• Charitable Remainder Trusts
• Life Insurance Trusts
• Other types of Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts
• Estate Administration

Asset Protection Planning

Murphy & Vickers provides many options to its clients on how to best preserve wealth for future generations and shield it from third party claims. The firm utilizes the following and other such asset protection tools to achieve these goals:

• Irrevocable Trusts
• Family Limited Partnerships
• Limited Liability Companies
• Partition/Prenuptial Agreements

Probate/Estate Administration

Murphy & Vickers represents clients in all types of probate and estate administration matters. Probate is the legal process by which an individual’s assets are distributed upon death and estate administration is assisting and supervising the probate of such assets, including those assets distributed outside of the probate process. The firm counsels and assists in the orchestration and administration in all types of inter vivos (lifetime) trusts, testamentary trusts (those established pursuant to a will) and the probating and administrating of all types of wills.

Business Succession Planning

Business succession planning is something that should be done early in the life of any business. Our lawyers advise clients on how to shield their businesses from events such events as divorce, remarriage, death of an owner, or withdrawal of an owner.

When a business owner dies or withdraws from a business entity, Murphy & Vickers will help plan for the succession or disposition of the business. We represent corporate management as well as individual owners in the disposition and transfer of ownership interests in the business.

Our attorneys have considerable experience in the negotiation of business succession planning. We are often called to represent both sided and will take a neutral approach to assist all parties in making business decisions.

In any business succession, our lawyers first analyze the succession goals. If the business does not have the right business structure to permit the succession, we would help the business reorganize to a more appropriate corporate entity. For example, if business assets are being sold, the buyer and seller might both benefit by changing a limited liability company to a partnership before selling it. A business succession without the appropriate business entity in place could result in negative tax consequences and increased expensed (i.e. CPA’s, etc.). Our attorneys will advise clients on the best way to make the succession from both a business and a cost perspective.

Contact our Houston and San Antonio estate and business succession planning attorneys