Top best Estate Lawyers in Austin | 417 available

Andréa Villarreal joined Barnes Lipscomb & Stewart PLLC in November 2021 after over a decade of practice in the areas of estate planning, probate, fiduciary litigation and entertainment law. Her practice includes the assistance of families through the probate process, the preparation of wills, trusts, estate and gift tax returns, and other estate planning, asset protection, charitable gift planning and business succession documents. Andréa is uniquely skilled to assist musicians and artists with tax and estate planning given her background in music and the complex considerations of administering copyrights after death.. Recognitions2024 & 2023 Texas Rising Star, Super Lawyers2023 & 2021 Austin Under 40 top 5 Legal Finalist2020-2021 Leadership Academy for the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law (REPTL) Section of the State Bar of Texas

Amanda Bergstrom was born in Austin and is a fifth-generation Texan. She provides general business representation, litigation, wills and probate law services for Kiester, Lockwood & Ciccone LLP. Prior to joining KLC, she was an Associate at the Law Offices of Kenton D. Johnson, where she developed her focus in business, wills and probate law. Amanda also formed her own practice where she met a variety of legal needs for Spanish-speaking clients.. Prior to returning to Austin, Amanda lived in California where she clerked at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento. At that office, she worked in the Appeals, Writs and Trials section on criminal appeals. During law school, she spent a summer in Bulgaria working at a non-governmental agency in the capital city of Sofia.. Amanda has lived in Central America, South America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Before law school Amanda taught Spanish and history to high school students in northern California. She has also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras and Liberia. As a result of her life experience, Amanda is approachable and is able to meet the legal need of clients from any background.. Amanda enjoys taking several Volunteer Legal Services cases every year. In her spare time, she trains for road and trail running and has completed three Boston marathons.

After spending many years representing large companies in litigation matters, I decided to turn my focus to individuals, families and small to mid-sized businesses.  In 2011, I opened my firm in central Austin and began advising clients in the areas of estate planning/Wills, probate and business law matters.. On the estate planning side, I help clients navigate through the sometimes emotional process of determining how they want their property to pass at their death, who will take care of their minor children in the event of their untimely death, appointing agents to act on their behalf during life in the event of incapacity and generational wealth planning.  I represent traditional families, blended families, single individuals and LGBT families.  Each of these groups have their own individual set of considerations that must be fully thought through before an adequate plan can be put in place.. On the probate side, I assist clients in the entire probate process.  This includes advising Executors and Administrators before the application to probate the Will or determine who the heirs are is filed, preparing them for the hearing and handling the post-hearing matters.  I also assist clients in preparing the transfer documents that are necessary to effectuate their loved one's wishes.   I assist Executors and Administrators in handling debt issues and distributing the estate to the beneficiaries or heirs.  In the probate context, I also handle non-administration matters as well, including: small estate affidavits, affidavits of heirship, determinations of heirship without an administration, and probating will as a muniment of title.  Finally, I advise clients in the area of guardianship.. My business clients range from small start up companies to mid-sized companies. Typical matters include: advising on entity formation, drafting and advising on formation documents and implementation of the same, advising on implementation of probate matters as it relates to employees, review/drafting of contracts and other general business matters.