Practice Areas · Trust Planning

Texas Trust Planning Attorney

Continuum Counsel by Pratt Law Group, PLLC designs and drafts the full range of Texas trusts — revocable living trusts to keep families out of probate, and irrevocable trusts to remove appreciation from taxable estates, protect assets from creditors, provide for children with special needs, and pass wealth intentionally across generations. Every trust is drafted personally by Darryl V. Pratt, Esq., CPA, so the legal structure and the tax posture arrive together.

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We serveIndividuals, couples, business owners, and multi-generational families

ServingFrisco · Prosper · Plano · McKinney · Dallas · all of Texas

Trusts are tools. The right one depends on the job.

There is no single 'best' trust. A revocable living trust keeps assets out of probate but does not remove them from the taxable estate. An irrevocable trust can remove assets from the estate and protect them from creditors — but only if you give up control. A dynasty trust extends benefits across multiple generations but must be drafted with generation-skipping tax rules in mind. Choosing the right structure is a question of what you are trying to accomplish and what trade-offs you are willing to accept.

Trust structures we draft.

Continuum Counsel drafts the following Texas trust structures. Each entry links to the primary purpose — the recommendation for your situation depends on your assets, family, tax posture, and creditor exposure.

›Revocable Living Trust — probate avoidance, privacy, incapacity management, multi-state real estate coordination
›Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) — remove life insurance proceeds from the taxable estate
›Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) — use lifetime gift-tax exemption while preserving spouse's indirect access
›Dynasty Trust — multi-generational planning that removes trust assets from beneficiaries' taxable estates
›Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) — freeze technique for appreciating assets
›Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) — transfer a residence at a discounted gift value
›Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) and Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) — split-interest structures for tax-efficient charitable giving
›Special Needs Trust — provide for a beneficiary with a disability without disrupting government benefits
›Domestic Asset Protection Trust — reduce creditor exposure for high-liability professionals and business owners
›Beneficiary-Controlled Trust — pass wealth to adult children while preserving creditor and divorce protection

How we recommend the right structure.

Trust planning is a conversation before it is a document. We begin with a discovery meeting: what assets do you own and how are they titled, what does your family look like, what is your current estate tax exposure, what liability profile does your profession carry, and what outcomes do you want across the next generation. From there we present a written recommendation — often one primary trust plus one or two coordinated instruments — with a plain-English explanation of what each does, why we're recommending it, and what the trade-offs are. Only after you approve the recommendation do we draft.

Funding is where most trust plans fail.

A trust is only useful for the assets that are actually retitled into it. It is common to see clients who signed a revocable living trust years ago but never retitled their home, brokerage account, or business interest — so at death, most of the estate goes through probate anyway. Every Continuum Counsel trust engagement includes a written funding checklist and hands-on coordination with your custodian, title company, and CPA to complete the retitling. A trust that isn't funded is not a plan; it is paper.

Why an Attorney + CPA matters for trusts.

Every irrevocable trust has an income-tax character (grantor trust vs. non-grantor trust), a gift-tax character (completed gift vs. incomplete gift), an estate-tax character (included in the estate vs. excluded), and, if drafted correctly, a generation-skipping-tax character. Getting one wrong can nullify the reason the trust was created. Darryl V. Pratt drafts every trust with each of those tax characters explicitly designed in — not left for a separate CPA to interpret after the fact.

Frequently Asked

Direct answers.

What is the difference between a revocable and an irrevocable trust?

A revocable trust can be amended or revoked by the grantor at any time. It provides probate avoidance and incapacity management but the assets remain part of the grantor's taxable estate and remain reachable by the grantor's creditors. An irrevocable trust generally cannot be amended or revoked once created — the grantor has permanently given up ownership of the assets. In exchange, the assets can be removed from the taxable estate, protected from creditors, and passed to future generations more efficiently. Different jobs, different tools.

Does a Texas revocable living trust avoid all probate?

Only for assets that have been retitled into the trust before death. Anything left in the grantor's individual name at death still requires probate (a pour-over will directs those assets into the trust after probate, but they still go through the probate process). This is why our trust engagements always include a written funding checklist and coordination with your custodians.

What is a SLAT and when should I consider one?

A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) is an irrevocable trust one spouse creates for the benefit of the other spouse and, typically, their descendants. The gift into the SLAT uses lifetime gift-tax exemption, so future appreciation is removed from the taxable estate. Because the beneficiary spouse can receive distributions during their lifetime, the grantor spouse retains indirect access to the funds through the marital household. SLATs are typically considered by married couples with combined estates approaching or above the federal estate-tax exemption, particularly ahead of any anticipated reduction in that exemption.

What is a dynasty trust and why is Texas a good state for one?

A dynasty trust is a long-duration irrevocable trust designed to pass wealth across multiple generations without incurring estate tax at each generation. Texas has abolished the traditional rule against perpetuities for trusts holding personal property, meaning a properly drafted Texas dynasty trust can last essentially in perpetuity. Combined with allocation of generation-skipping tax exemption, a dynasty trust can shield assets and their future appreciation from transfer tax for decades or centuries.

Can a Texas trust protect my assets from creditors and lawsuits?

It depends on the trust type and who the trust is for. A revocable trust provides no meaningful creditor protection during the grantor's lifetime. An irrevocable trust properly structured for a third-party beneficiary (a spouse, child, or grandchild) can provide strong creditor protection for that beneficiary. Self-settled asset-protection trusts (where the grantor is also a beneficiary) require specific state jurisdictions and careful design. We evaluate the specific structure and jurisdiction that fits your profession, assets, and risk profile.

How much does trust planning cost in Texas?

A revocable living trust package for an individual or couple, including pour-over will, powers of attorney, medical directives, HIPAA authorization, and a funding checklist, is typically a fixed fee in the low-to-mid four figures. Irrevocable trusts (ILIT, SLAT, dynasty trust, QPRT, CRT) are quoted individually based on complexity and the coordination required with existing structures. Every engagement is scoped and priced in writing before you engage.

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