High Net Worth Business, Trust & Estate Planning Attorneys
Abilene, Texas
Continuum Counsel serves high net worth and ultra-high-net-worth families in Abilene with dedicated high net worth estate planning attorney, high net worth business attorney, and high net worth trust attorney counsel — led by a dual-licensed Attorney and CPA.
Abilene and the surrounding Big Country region anchor one of West Texas's most established HNW corridors — built on multigenerational ranching, agricultural land, energy-sector residual wealth, regional banking and medical-services ownership, and Hardin-Simmons / ACU-affiliated faculty and donor families. Wealth here is land-and-mineral heavy, often spanning multiple counties with complex co-tenancy structures. Continuum Counsel's Abilene practice is tuned for legacy ranching families needing estate plans that respect basis, agricultural exemptions, and multi-county property management.
HNW Estate Planning · Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families
Built for Abilene Families at $7M, $30M, and Beyond
Whether your household is navigating its first major liquidity event at $7M–$15M, managing a closely-held business at $15M–$50M, or stewarding multigenerational wealth at $50M+, your estate plan needs to do three things simultaneously: minimize transfer tax, preserve family governance, and withstand future creditors and divorce. Continuum Counsel designs each one as a single integrated engagement.
SLAT + ILIT + revocable trust core. Pre-sunset exemption maximization. Business succession alignment.
IDGT + GRAT ladder + FLP valuation discounts. Pre-liquidity-event planning. Dynasty trust funding.
Directed trusts, multi-generational governance, private family office structure, charitable lead trusts, cross-border coordination.
Local Coverage
Serving Abilene and Surrounding HNW Communities
“Three generations of our family ran cattle and held mineral interests across Taylor and Jones County. We needed someone who could draft a dynasty trust that worked with the way ranching families actually transfer wealth — not just metro liquid wealth. Continuum Counsel did exactly that.”
Abilene · Common Questions
High Net Worth & Ultra-High-Net-Worth FAQs — Abilene
What does a high net worth estate planning attorney in Abilene do?
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A high net worth estate planning attorney in Abilene, Texas designs and implements estate plans for families whose net worth approaches or exceeds the federal estate tax exemption (~$13.99M per person in 2025, scheduled to sunset in 2026). Continuum Counsel's Abilene practice includes dynasty trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), GRATs, intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs), spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), charitable remainder trusts, family limited partnerships, and pre-liquidity-event planning. Led by Darryl V. Pratt — dual-licensed Texas Attorney + CPA — the firm coordinates legal structure with tax strategy in a single engagement rather than handing work off to a separate tax advisor.
What does a high net worth business attorney in Abilene do?
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A high net worth business attorney in Abilene advises founders, business owners, and executives with significant equity or closely-held business interests on entity structuring, buy-sell agreements, pre-exit planning, M&A, and succession. Continuum Counsel serves Abilene business owners approaching a major liquidity event — sale, recapitalization, IPO, RSU vest — as well as physicians with multi-location practices, franchisees with multi-unit portfolios, and family-owned enterprises planning generational transition. Every engagement is coordinated with the client's estate plan and asset-protection structure through the Pinnacle Protection Plan™.
What does a high net worth trust attorney in Abilene do?
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A high net worth trust attorney in Abilene drafts and administers advanced trust structures designed to preserve wealth across generations, minimize estate and transfer tax exposure, and protect assets from future creditors and divorce. Continuum Counsel's Abilene trust practice drafts and funds Texas dynasty trusts (up to 300 years), irrevocable trusts (ILIT, GRAT, IDGT, CRT/CLT, SLAT), directed trusts, and multi-generational family trusts, coordinating with institutional trustees, CPAs, and financial advisors as a unified fiduciary team.
What does Continuum Counsel do for ultra-high-net-worth families in Abilene?
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Continuum Counsel's ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) practice serves Abilene-area families with $30M+ in total assets who require the most sophisticated legal architecture available under Texas and federal law. UHNW engagements typically include layered dynasty trusts (often domiciled in Texas or South Dakota), family limited partnerships with valuation discounts, grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) rolled in a laddered sequence, intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs) funded with installment sales, spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs) used before the 2026 exemption sunset, charitable lead trusts (CLTs) and charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), private family offices, directed trust governance, and pre-immigration and pre-liquidity-event planning. Every UHNW plan is designed as one integrated strategy alongside the client's CPAs, wealth managers, trustees, and insurance advisors.
Why Abilene families choose Continuum Counsel over a downtown wealth firm
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Three reasons Abilene high net worth and ultra-high-net-worth families consistently choose Continuum Counsel: (1) Dual-licensure — Darryl V. Pratt is both a licensed Texas Attorney and a Certified Public Accountant, so estate, business, and trust strategies are designed with simultaneous legal and tax optimization rather than handed off between two firms; (2) Direct attorney access — Private Client Services clients work directly with the attorney, not through paralegals or a staff gatekeeping queue common at large downtown firms; (3) Integrated Pinnacle Protection Plan™ — business succession, estate plan, asset protection, and trust structures are coordinated in a single engagement so they reinforce rather than contradict each other.