Your estate is the product of everything you have built, every relationship you have cultivated, and every decision you have made about how you want your life’s work to continue after you are gone. Whether you are a business owner with holdings across multiple entities, a high-net-worth individual with a complex investment portfolio, or a family navigating the intersection of personal wealth and business succession, an estate plan is the legal framework that determines whether your intentions are carried out or left to chance.
At Quadros, Migl & Kilmer, our estate planning practice is led by attorney Jennifer Murray, whose background handling complex business interests, ownership transfers, and multigenerational wealth planning sets her apart from attorneys who limit their practice to personal estate planning alone. As a boutique Texas law firm with offices in Houston, The Woodlands, Dallas, and Austin, we bring over 60 years of combined legal experience to every client engagement, and our team’s depth across estate planning, business law, and commercial transactions means clients rarely need to look elsewhere for the complete picture. For Houstonians who want an estate planning attorney who can address every dimension of their estate without fragmented referrals, our firm is built for exactly that.
What Estate Planning Actually Covers
So what, exactly, does estate planning include? It is a coordinated set of legal instruments designed to protect your assets during your lifetime, direct their transfer at death, prepare for incapacity, and minimize unnecessary tax exposure. According to the National Institute on Aging, common estate planning documents include a will, durable power of attorney for finances, and a living trust, each serving a distinct purpose in ensuring your estate and finances are managed according to your wishes.
A complete estate plan for a Houston business owner or high-net-worth individual typically includes a will, one or more trusts, financial and medical powers of attorney, advance directives, beneficiary designation reviews, and coordination with entity-level documents such as operating agreements, shareholder agreements, and buy-sell provisions. Each of these instruments must be calibrated to the others and to the full scope of the client’s assets. A plan that addresses only some of these elements may accomplish very little when the time comes to put it into effect.
Who Do We Serve?
Jennifer Murray’s estate planning practice is structured around the clients whose situations demand the most from an estate planning attorney. Business owners who hold interests in closely held companies, LLCs, or partnerships need an estate planner who is equally comfortable in corporate law, not one who will retreat to simple document templates when the complexity of the business enters the picture. Jennifer brings that command directly to the client relationship.
Our ideal Houston estate planning clients include private equity investors and their families, real estate investors holding assets through multiple entities, oil and gas business owners managing both personal and operational wealth, mid-size company owners approaching succession or sale, and high-net-worth individuals seeking sophisticated trust structures for wealth preservation and transfer. We also serve clients who simply want a comprehensive, well-drafted foundational plan, because every individual and family deserves legal protection that actually works.
Core Estate Planning Services
Our estate planning practice covers a full range of services tailored to each client’s goals, asset composition, and family circumstances.
We regularly advise on and draft the following:
- Wills: Clearly direct the distribution of your probate estate, designate an independent executor, and name guardians for minor children
- Revocable Living Trusts: Transfer assets outside of probate, provide management continuity during incapacity, and serve as the central vehicle for a comprehensive estate plan
- Irrevocable Trusts: Accomplish advanced goals including estate tax reduction, asset protection, and structured wealth transfer across generations
- Powers of Attorney: Designate trusted agents for financial and healthcare decisions in the event of incapacity
- Advance Directives: Document your medical treatment preferences and healthcare wishes so they are known and enforceable when needed
- Business Succession Documents: Integrate buy-sell agreements, operating agreement amendments, and entity-level governance into a coherent succession framework
Clients who want to understand how these elements fit together before committing to a plan often find it helpful to begin by considering their estate planning options and understanding which instruments are most relevant to their specific situation.
Estate Planning for Business Owners
One of the most common mistakes business owners make is treating their personal estate plan and their business succession planning as separate exercises. They are not. The ownership interests you hold in your company, the governance documents that control it, and the agreements you have with co-owners all have direct implications for your estate, and an estate plan that ignores those dimensions is incomplete by definition.
Jennifer’s career has been defined by her willingness to work across the full spectrum of legal issues a business owner faces. She is comfortable navigating the corporate law dimensions of business organizations and mergers and acquisitions, which means she can draft estate planning documents that address your business interests with the specificity they require. For clients with commercial real estate holdings, she addresses each property’s ownership structure as part of the broader estate plan rather than leaving those assets as an afterthought.
Why Houston Clients Choose Quadros, Migl & Kilmer
Houston is home to one of the most financially diverse and sophisticated populations in the country. Executives in the energy sector, private equity investors, family enterprise owners, real estate developers, and high-net-worth individuals with complex personal and professional financial lives all call Houston home. They deserve an estate planning attorney who has genuinely encountered every dimension of that complexity, not one who has built a practice around straightforward personal estates and reads about business succession on the side.
Quadros, Migl & Kilmer is distinctively positioned to serve this community. Our firm’s broad practice across business law, commercial real estate, and estate planning creates genuine integration, not just the illusion of full-service capability. Clients describe working with us as having an extension of their own team, lawyers who invest time in understanding the full picture before recommending a strategy and who remain accessible and engaged throughout the process.
Contact Quadros, Migl & Kilmer for Estate Planning in Houston Today
An estate plan that is never built cannot protect your family, your business, or your legacy. The strategies that produce the greatest long-term benefit require time, deliberate design, and a legal team that understands everything your estate involves.
Quadros, Migl & Kilmer is ready to have that conversation with you. To connect with a member of our Houston estate planning team, contact us today.