High Net Worth Business, Trust & Estate Planning Attorneys
Houston, Texas
Continuum Counsel serves high net worth and ultra-high-net-worth families in Houston 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.
Houston's HNW and UHNW household base is the largest in Texas by absolute count — anchored by energy-sector founders and executives, Medical Center physicians and specialists, private-equity principals, and multigenerational families across River Oaks, Memorial, Tanglewood, Bunker Hill, and Hunters Creek. Many face concentrated-equity positions from long-tenured operator roles, complex partnership interests, and international tax exposure. Continuum Counsel serves Houston clients virtual-first with in-person meetings at the client's preferred venue.
HNW Estate Planning · Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families
Built for Houston 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 Houston and Surrounding HNW Communities
“As a Texas Medical Center physician group partner with a sizable ownership stake, I needed estate planning that understood both the malpractice exposure and the partnership economics. Continuum Counsel's dual Attorney + CPA licensure made the engagement 40% faster than working with separate advisors.”
Houston · Common Questions
High Net Worth & Ultra-High-Net-Worth FAQs — Houston
What does a high net worth estate planning attorney in Houston do?
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A high net worth estate planning attorney in Houston, 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 Houston 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 Houston do?
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A high net worth business attorney in Houston 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 Houston 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 Houston do?
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A high net worth trust attorney in Houston 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 Houston 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 Houston?
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Continuum Counsel's ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) practice serves Houston-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 Houston families choose Continuum Counsel over a downtown wealth firm
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Three reasons Houston 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.