Top Best Estate Lawyers | 18160 Available

As a former family law litigator, Haley’s experience with complex marital estates uniquely equips her to assist clients with estate planning, probate and trust administration, asset protection, and marital agreements. Haley understands the intricacies involved in safeguarding your family’s best interests and she takes a compassionate approach in providing detail-oriented legal advice to achieve her clients’ objectives.

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

I am Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law (BLS-State Bar of Texas) and a CPA, licensed to practice law in both Texas and Arizona.  I focus my practice almost exclusively on estate planning, probate, trusts, and charitable giving and organizations.

Mrs. Stanton is a partner of Osborne, Helman, Knebel & Scott, LLP.  Mrs. Stanton specializes in probate and estate planning law and she is board certified in these practice areas.  Her practice includes the representation of individuals  with respect to their estate planning needs and the representation of fiduciaries and beneficiaries with regard to the administration of trusts and estates.  She advises with regard to testamentary and lifetime gift and generation–skipping planning in addition to the use of family business entities, life insurance and life insurance trusts.  She also provides advice concerning post-mortem tax planning, prepares federal estate tax returns and handles state probate proceedings for fiduciaries of estates and guardianships.  In addition, Mrs. Stanton is a Certified Financial Planner® and has more than 14 years’ experience as a Director of Trust Services for a regional bank.

Ms. Jonas is an associate of Osborne, Helman, Knebel & Scott, LLP and practices primarily in the area of estate planning, including representation regarding complex testamentary dispositions, dynasty trusts, family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and related wealth planning strategies.  She advises clients with respect to their philanthropic objectives, including the creation of split-interest charitable trusts and private foundations.  Ms. Jonas also represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in connection with probate procedures, trust and estate administration, guardianship accountings and administration, and trust terminations and modifications.  In connection with this work, Ms. Jonas assists the firm’s litigators in controversies involving trust, estate, and guardianship matters.  Ms. Jonas also assists in the representation of the firm’s international clients, advising on international tax and compliance obligations, asset protection, and fiduciary litigation.

Mr. Ripp represents high net worth individuals and family offices in the design, implementation, and administration of domestic and international trust, investment, and life insurance structures, including the tax planning and compliance aspects of such structures. A significant portion of his practice involves advice regarding mechanisms for deploying leverage in the acquisition or monetization of assets, including real estate. In addition, he counsels major financial institutions and boutique financial service providers on matters of interest to the ultra high net worth marketplace, including advice to hedge fund and fund of funds managers regarding the establishment and operation of insurance dedicated funds (IDFs), including an IDF’s legal and business relationships with domestic and international insurance carriers. Mr. Ripp’s practice also includes counseling fiduciaries with respect to the administration of trusts and estates, and he is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Mr. Ripp is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. Mr. Ripp graduated from Washington University School of Law in 1997 after receiving his B.B.A. in Business Analysis (Management Information Systems) from Texas A&M University in 1994.

Mr. Osborne is a partner of Osborne, Helman, Knebel & Scott, LLP.  His core practice is domestic and international estate planning with an emphasis on asset protection planning. A former adjunct professor of law at The University of Texas School of Law, Mr. Osborne devotes significant energy to lecturing and writing in his practice areas as well as helping clients with regard to all aspects of their estate planning.  He is a frequent author and lecturer on estate planning topics and has made presentations and published articles both domestically and internationally on the subjects of offshore trusts and asset protection planning.  One of the pioneers in the field of asset protection, Mr. Osborne conceived and was the original editor and a contributing author of the four-volume treatise, Asset Protection:  Domestic and International Law and Tactics, published by West Group in 1995 (a loose leaf service updated quarterly).  He was also the founding chair of the American Bar Association’s Asset Protection Committee.  Mr. Osborne is retained by foreign governments and financial institutions to advise them on trust and tax issues.  He has also been called upon to serve as an expert witness on both sides of the docket in cases involving asset protection planning.