Practice Areas
High Net Worth Estate Planning
When your estate involves significant assets, complex holdings, or multiple generations, standard planning tools often fall short. Showalter Colgin & Davis, PLLC has helped families across Greater Houston protect wealth and pass it on since 1977.
Your Estate Is Complex. Your Legal Team Should Be Too.
When significant assets, business interests, and family legacy are on the line, standard estate planning is not enough. The attorneys at Showalter Colgin & Davis, PLLC bring decades of experience helping high net worth clients in Fort Bend County and the greater Houston area protect what they have built.
What High Net Worth Estate Planning Actually Covers
High net worth estate planning is not simply writing a will. It is a structured legal process that protects large or complex estates from unnecessary taxes, legal disputes, and family conflict. If your estate includes investment portfolios, business interests, real property, retirement accounts, or assets held in multiple states, you need a plan built for that level of complexity.
The term 'high net worth' generally refers to individuals or families with estates valued above a threshold where federal estate taxes, gift taxes, and generation-skipping transfer taxes become real concerns. Texas has no state estate tax, but federal rules still apply, and a well-built plan addresses those rules directly.
At Showalter Colgin & Davis, PLLC, high net worth estate planning covers the full range of tools available under Texas and federal law: revocable and irrevocable trusts, family limited partnerships, charitable giving structures, business succession agreements, advanced directives, and coordinated beneficiary designations across all accounts and policies. Each element works together as part of one cohesive plan designed so your assets go where you intend, your heirs avoid unnecessary costs and delays, and your wishes are legally protected.
Why Complex Estates Require a Different Approach
A standard estate plan works well for many families. But when an estate includes a closely held business, multiple real estate holdings, significant retirement assets, or beneficiaries with special needs, a standard plan leaves major gaps that can cost heirs far more than the legal fees saved by keeping things simple.
Consider a business owner in Sugar Land who holds real estate in their personal name, a share of a family business, and a retirement account worth several hundred thousand dollars. Each of those assets follows different rules at death. Real property goes through probate unless titled in a trust. Retirement accounts pass by beneficiary designation, not by will. Business interests may require a buy-sell agreement or succession plan to transfer cleanly. Without coordination across all three, the estate can end up in a prolonged legal process that costs the family time, money, and relationships.
Federal estate tax exemptions are also not permanent. Congress has adjusted exemptions multiple times over the past two decades, and current law includes a scheduled reduction after 2025. Families with large estates who do nothing now may face a significantly larger tax bill later. Planning done today can lock in current exemption levels through specific trust structures, protecting your estate from future legislative changes.
Blended families, beneficiaries with creditor problems, heirs who are not financially responsible, and family members with disabilities all require planning tools that go beyond a basic will. The law provides options for all of these situations, and using them correctly takes experience with both the tools and the Texas courts that oversee them.
Planning Tools Built for Larger Estates
High net worth estate planning draws on a wider set of legal tools than a standard plan. Each one serves a specific purpose, and the right combination depends on what you own, who your beneficiaries are, and what outcomes matter most to you.
Revocable Living Trusts
A revocable trust holds your assets during your lifetime and transfers them to your heirs at death without going through probate. You remain in control and can change the trust at any time. For large estates with real property in multiple locations, a revocable trust avoids the cost and delay of probate in each state where property is held.
Irrevocable Trusts
An irrevocable trust removes assets from your taxable estate, which can reduce or eliminate federal estate taxes. Common types include Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs), Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs), and Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs). Because the terms generally cannot be changed once established, these require careful drafting from the start.
Family Limited Partnerships
A Family Limited Partnership (FLP) allows you to transfer business or investment assets to family members at a discounted value for gift and estate tax purposes while keeping management control in the hands of senior family members. FLPs work particularly well for families with significant investment portfolios or real estate holdings they want to keep within the family.
Charitable Planning Structures
Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Lead Trusts allow you to benefit a charity while also passing assets to heirs in a tax-efficient way. These tools are especially useful for families with highly appreciated assets, such as real estate or stock that has grown significantly in value, where an outright sale would trigger a large capital gains tax.
Business Succession Planning
If you own a business, your estate plan must address what happens to it when you retire, become incapacitated, or die. A buy-sell agreement funded by life insurance, a management succession plan, or a trust designed to hold the business are all options. Without a plan, a business that took a lifetime to build can be forced into a distressed sale or a partnership dispute that destroys its value.
Generation-Skipping Trusts
A generation-skipping trust, sometimes called a dynasty trust, allows assets to pass to grandchildren or great-grandchildren while skipping the estate of the middle generation, so the same assets are not taxed twice as they move down the family line. Texas law allows trusts to run for several generations, making this a powerful tool for families who want to preserve wealth over time.
How the Planning Process Works
Every estate plan starts with understanding what you have and what you want. The process at Showalter Colgin & Davis, PLLC follows a clear sequence so nothing is missed and every decision is intentional.
1Review Your Current Holdings
Before any documents are drafted, your attorney needs a complete picture of your assets, including real property, business interests, investment and retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and any existing estate planning documents. This review also looks at how each asset is titled and who is listed as the beneficiary, because those details often override what a will says.
2Identify Your Goals and Concerns
No two estates are alike, and no two families have the same priorities. Some clients want to minimize estate taxes above all else. Others are focused on protecting a business, providing for a child with special needs, or ensuring a second spouse is cared for without disinheriting children from a first marriage. Your attorney will ask detailed questions to understand what outcomes matter most before recommending any structure.
3Design a Coordinated Plan
Based on your assets and goals, your attorney will design a plan using the right combination of tools. A single estate may require a revocable trust as the foundation, an irrevocable trust for tax planning, updated beneficiary designations on all retirement accounts and life insurance, a buy-sell agreement for a business interest, and durable powers of attorney for health care and finances. Each piece is drafted to work with the others.
4Draft and Review the Documents
Your attorney drafts all required documents and reviews them with you in detail. For complex estates, this may include multiple trust agreements, deeds to transfer property into trust, assignment documents for business interests, and a pour-over will that acts as a safety net for any assets not already in the trust. You should understand every document before you sign it.
5Execute and Fund the Plan
Signing the documents is only part of the process. Trusts only work if they are funded, meaning assets are actually transferred into them. Real property must be re-deeded, investment accounts must be retitled, and beneficiary designations must be updated on life insurance policies and retirement accounts. An unfunded trust is one of the most common and costly mistakes in estate planning, and it is entirely preventable.
6Review and Update as Life Changes
A plan built today should be revisited when your life changes. Marriage, divorce, the birth of a grandchild, the sale of a business, a significant change in asset value, or a new federal tax law can all affect whether your current plan still does what you intend. Your attorney can review your documents and recommend updates when those changes occur.
What Sets Showalter Colgin & Davis Apart
Families across the Greater Houston area have turned to Showalter Colgin & Davis, PLLC for complex estate matters since 1977. There are specific reasons why clients with significant estates choose this firm.
Nearly Five Decades of Practice
The firm has been serving clients since 1977. That longevity reflects something that matters in estate planning: continuity. Attorneys who have seen multiple changes in federal tax law, shifts in the Texas probate courts, and evolving trust structures bring a depth of perspective that newer practices simply have not had time to develop.
Integrated Practice Areas
High net worth estate planning rarely involves only estate planning. Business succession questions intersect with business law. Real property transfers require real estate expertise. Disputes that arise after a death may become probate litigation. Because Showalter Colgin & Davis also handles business law, real estate law, probate, litigation, and mediation, your estate plan is built with a clear understanding of how each area of law connects to the others.
Broad Regional Coverage
The firm serves clients across Greater Houston and Fort Bend County, including Houston, Sugar Land, Richmond, Katy, Missouri City, Pearland, Pasadena, Fulshear, and dozens of other communities. The firm is familiar with both Fort Bend County and Harris County courts, which matters when plans involve property in multiple jurisdictions or when documents must be recorded locally.
Consultations With Real Legal Analysis
Showalter Colgin & Davis does not offer free consultations. That policy reflects respect for the work involved and the seriousness of the subject. When you sit down with an attorney at this firm, you receive real legal analysis of your situation, not a sales meeting. Sound legal counsel has value from the first conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions About High Net Worth Estate Planning
What is the federal estate tax exemption, and does it affect me?
As of 2024, the federal estate tax exemption is approximately $13.61 million per individual, or roughly $27.22 million for a married couple using portability. Estates above those thresholds are subject to a 40 percent federal estate tax on the excess. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which raised these exemptions, is scheduled to sunset after December 31, 2025. If Congress does not act, the exemption could fall to roughly half its current level. If your estate is above the post-sunset threshold, planning now using irrevocable trusts or other structures can lock in the current higher exemption before it expires.
Does Texas have an estate tax or inheritance tax?
No. Texas does not impose a state estate tax or an inheritance tax. Your heirs will not owe Texas state taxes simply because they inherit from you. They may still owe federal estate taxes if your estate exceeds the federal exemption, and they may owe capital gains taxes if they later sell appreciated assets. The stepped-up basis rules that apply at death affect how those capital gains are calculated, and your estate plan can be structured to maximize that advantage.
If I already have a will and a revocable trust, do I still need to do anything?
Possibly. Several things can make an existing plan less effective or even counterproductive. If you have acquired new assets, your trust may not be fully funded. If you have remarried or had grandchildren, your beneficiary designations may reflect an outdated family structure. If the federal estate tax exemption changes, a formula clause in your trust documents may produce an unintended result. If you have started or purchased a business since your last plan was done, that business interest likely is not covered by your existing documents. A review by an experienced attorney can identify those gaps without requiring you to start over completely.
What is a dynasty trust, and is it right for my family?
A dynasty trust, also called a generation-skipping trust, is designed to hold assets across multiple generations without those assets being subject to estate tax each time they pass from one generation to the next. Texas law allows trusts to last for an extended period, and under certain conditions, assets can remain in trust and grow outside of any individual beneficiary's taxable estate. This structure works best for families with significant wealth who want to preserve it over the long term, especially where beneficiaries may face creditor claims, divorce, or other financial risks that could otherwise erode inherited assets.
How do retirement accounts factor into a high net worth estate plan?
Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s are among the most tax-sensitive assets in any large estate. They pass by beneficiary designation, not by will or trust, so the beneficiary named on the account controls who receives the funds. If a trust is named as beneficiary, specific language is required to preserve the tax advantages available to individual heirs. The SECURE Act of 2019 also changed the rules for how non-spouse beneficiaries must withdraw inherited retirement funds, which can have significant income tax consequences. Coordinating your retirement accounts with the rest of your estate plan is not optional at the high net worth level.
Can estate planning help protect assets from creditors or lawsuits?
Certain planning structures offer some degree of asset protection, but there are important limits. Assets transferred to an irrevocable trust are generally no longer part of your estate and may be protected from future creditors, depending on the trust's terms and when the transfer occurred. However, transfers made to avoid existing creditors can be challenged as fraudulent conveyances under Texas law. A Family Limited Partnership can also limit a creditor's ability to reach assets inside the partnership. Asset protection planning works best when done proactively, before any claim or dispute arises.
What happens to a closely held business if I die without a succession plan?
Without a plan, a closely held business interest becomes part of your probate estate, which means it passes under the terms of your will and can take months or years to resolve in court. During that time, business operations may suffer, co-owners may be forced into a business relationship with your heirs, and lenders or clients may lose confidence in the company's stability. If there is no will, the business interest passes under Texas intestacy laws, which may not reflect your wishes or the practical realities of the business at all. A buy-sell agreement, a business succession trust, or a combination of both can prevent that outcome and keep the business operating through the transition.
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