Heritage
The Lone Star Counsel
Attorney · CPA · Business Advisor

Business, Wealth & Legacy
Lifecycle.

The distinctive framework by which we serve you — delivered through Six Strategic Service Pillars. One firm, end to end.

Signed by the PartnerBy Darryl V. PrattManaging Partner
12 min read
Reviewed February 2026
Practice Continuum
Core Practice Areas

Five disciplines.
One integrated counsel.

The plain-language listing of what we do — drawn from a single firm that combines attorney, CPA, and business-advisor credentials under one roof.

I

Business Law & Strategic Counsel

Counsel to the closely held enterprise.
  • Business formation and entity structuring
  • LLCs, corporations, partnerships, and Series LLCs
  • Nonprofit organizations and 501(c) formation
  • Buy-sell agreements
  • Business succession planning
  • Franchise structuring
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Corporate governance and compliance
  • Registered agent services
  • Outside general counsel services
II

Bankruptcy Restructuring

When the balance sheet must be rewritten.
  • Chapter 11 business reorganizations
  • Chapter 11 Subchapter V proceedings
  • Chapter 7 bankruptcy representation
  • Business debt restructuring
  • Creditor negotiations and workouts
  • Asset protection and restructuring strategies
  • Bankruptcy planning for business owners and professionals
III

Professional Practices

For medical, financial, and other licensed professionals — practices, partners, and the next generation.
  • Practice formation (medical, dental, veterinary, optometric, financial, and other professional entities)
  • Professional entity structuring — PA, PLLC, PC, and hybrid arrangements
  • Partnership, shareholder, and operating agreements between licensed professionals
  • Buy-in, buy-out, and practice succession planning
  • Asset protection planning tailored to professional liability exposure
  • Practice acquisition, merger, and sale transactions
  • Estate and trust planning for professional practitioners
  • Compensation, deferred compensation, and retirement planning coordination
IV

Trust Planning & Asset Protection

Structures built to outlast their author.
  • Revocable Living Trusts
  • Irrevocable Trusts
  • Asset Protection Trusts
  • Dynasty and Family Trusts
  • Special Needs Trusts
  • Charitable Trusts
  • Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs)
  • Trust administration and fiduciary guidance
V

Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law

The careful instruments of legacy.
  • Wills and trusts
  • Powers of attorney and medical directives
  • Probate and estate administration
  • Trust administration
  • Guardianship planning and proceedings
  • Medicaid planning
  • Qualified Income Trusts (Miller Trusts)
  • Long-term care planning
How We Deliver The Lifecycle

Six Strategic
Service Pillars.

The Business, Wealth & Legacy Lifecycle is delivered through six strategic pillars — seventy-two representative services. Click a pillar below to jump to its full editorial treatment.

01
Build
Inception
  • Entity selection & formation (LLC, LP, LLP, S-Corp, C-Corp)
  • Series LLC authorization & sub-series
  • Operating & partnership agreements
  • Founder & co-founder equity agreements
  • Capitalization tables & equity allocation
  • Section 83(b) elections
  • Initial governance bylaws & board resolutions
  • Shareholder & voting agreements
  • Trademark & trade-name registration
  • Employment, contractor & NDA agreements
  • Vendor onboarding & master contracts
  • U.S. entity setup for foreign nationals (India)
02
Grow
Stewardship
  • Mergers & acquisitions (buy-side and sell-side)
  • Equity & debt capital raises
  • Private placements (Reg D, 506(b)/506(c))
  • Joint ventures & strategic partnerships
  • Commercial real estate acquisition & disposition
  • Bank & private credit financing
  • Lease negotiation (commercial, ground, build-to-suit)
  • Licensing & IP commercialization
  • Franchise & multi-unit expansion
  • Cross-border U.S.–India transactions
  • Real estate roll-ups & 1031 exchanges
  • Master vendor & customer agreements
03
Protect
Fortification
  • Domestic asset protection trusts (DAPTs)
  • Self-settled spendthrift trusts
  • Multi-entity holding company structures
  • LLC charging-order protection & piercing defense
  • Pre-marital & post-marital agreements
  • Insurance architecture review (umbrella, D&O, E&O)
  • Cybersecurity & data-privacy compliance
  • Trademark & IP defensive filings
  • Director & officer indemnification
  • Pre-litigation positioning
  • Confidentiality & non-circumvention agreements
  • Risk-shifting contract drafting
04
Restructure
Renewal
  • Out-of-court workouts & creditor negotiations
  • Recapitalizations & equity restructuring
  • Partner exits, buyouts & business divorce
  • Distressed asset acquisitions
  • Debt restructuring & forbearance agreements
  • Subchapter V small-business reorganization
  • Chapter 11 strategic counsel
  • Receivership & orderly wind-down
  • Deadlock resolution & shotgun provisions
  • Tax-efficient restructuring (F-reorganizations)
  • Spin-offs, split-offs & carve-outs
  • Refinancing & debt covenant renegotiation
05
Transition
Devise
  • Buy-sell agreements (cross-purchase, redemption, hybrid)
  • Family business succession plans
  • ESOP feasibility & implementation
  • Voting trusts & non-voting common structures
  • Family councils, charters & constitutions
  • Internal vs. third-party sale strategy
  • Earn-out & seller-financing structures
  • Stock-vs-asset sale tax planning
  • Estate tax mitigation on intergenerational transfer
  • Liquidity events & sale processes
  • Key-person & retention agreements
  • Heir & next-generation education programs
06
Preserve
Preservation
  • Revocable & irrevocable trusts
  • Texas dynasty trusts (perpetual)
  • GRATs, IDGTs, SLATs & ILITs
  • Private family foundations
  • Donor-advised funds (DAFs)
  • Charitable remainder & lead trusts (CRT, CLT)
  • Conservation easements
  • Generation-skipping transfer (GST) planning
  • International estate planning (multi-jurisdictional)
  • Pre-immigration tax planning (U.S.–India)
  • Probate & estate administration
  • Trust modification, decanting & reformation
In Depth

Each chapter,
in full.

01
Build

Inception

Choose the right entity. Draft the right documents. Build for the next generation, not the next quarter.

We structure LLCs, partnerships, holding companies, and founder agreements with the long view — so the paperwork still works when the business doubles, when a partner exits, when an heir steps in.

Representative Services
  • Entity selection & formation (LLC, LP, LLP, S-Corp, C-Corp)
  • Series LLC authorization & sub-series
  • Operating & partnership agreements
  • Founder & co-founder equity agreements
  • Capitalization tables & equity allocation
  • Section 83(b) elections
  • Initial governance bylaws & board resolutions
  • Shareholder & voting agreements
  • Trademark & trade-name registration
  • Employment, contractor & NDA agreements
  • Vendor onboarding & master contracts
  • U.S. entity setup for foreign nationals (India)
02
Grow

Stewardship

Capital raises, acquisitions, and real estate moves — closed quietly, documented carefully.

From a first equity round to a roll-up of a competitor, we move with the discretion of a private banker and the precision of trial counsel. Most matters never become public. That is the work.

Representative Services
  • Mergers & acquisitions (buy-side and sell-side)
  • Equity & debt capital raises
  • Private placements (Reg D, 506(b)/506(c))
  • Joint ventures & strategic partnerships
  • Commercial real estate acquisition & disposition
  • Bank & private credit financing
  • Lease negotiation (commercial, ground, build-to-suit)
  • Licensing & IP commercialization
  • Franchise & multi-unit expansion
  • Cross-border U.S.–India transactions
  • Real estate roll-ups & 1031 exchanges
  • Master vendor & customer agreements
03
Protect

Fortification

Asset protection trusts, liability segregation, and the quiet structures that hold up to scrutiny.

We design durable defenses around a lifetime of work — not theater, not gimmicks. The structures we put in place are built to survive litigation, divorce, and time.

Representative Services
  • Domestic asset protection trusts (DAPTs)
  • Self-settled spendthrift trusts
  • Multi-entity holding company structures
  • LLC charging-order protection & piercing defense
  • Pre-marital & post-marital agreements
  • Insurance architecture review (umbrella, D&O, E&O)
  • Cybersecurity & data-privacy compliance
  • Trademark & IP defensive filings
  • Director & officer indemnification
  • Pre-litigation positioning
  • Confidentiality & non-circumvention agreements
  • Risk-shifting contract drafting
04
Restructure

Renewal

Workouts, recapitalizations, partner exits — without burning the relationships that built the enterprise.

Markets turn. Partnerships diverge. We help business owners reset terms, refinance capital, and separate cleanly when the time comes — with the dignity the work deserves.

Representative Services
  • Out-of-court workouts & creditor negotiations
  • Recapitalizations & equity restructuring
  • Partner exits, buyouts & business divorce
  • Distressed asset acquisitions
  • Debt restructuring & forbearance agreements
  • Subchapter V small-business reorganization
  • Chapter 11 strategic counsel
  • Receivership & orderly wind-down
  • Deadlock resolution & shotgun provisions
  • Tax-efficient restructuring (F-reorganizations)
  • Spin-offs, split-offs & carve-outs
  • Refinancing & debt covenant renegotiation
05
Transition

Devise

Generational transfers, buy-sell agreements, and the careful handover of the reins.

We draft the documents that let business owners rest and the next generation build — voting trusts, family councils, liquidity events. The instruments that matter most are the ones that survive their author.

Representative Services
  • Buy-sell agreements (cross-purchase, redemption, hybrid)
  • Family business succession plans
  • ESOP feasibility & implementation
  • Voting trusts & non-voting common structures
  • Family councils, charters & constitutions
  • Internal vs. third-party sale strategy
  • Earn-out & seller-financing structures
  • Stock-vs-asset sale tax planning
  • Estate tax mitigation on intergenerational transfer
  • Liquidity events & sale processes
  • Key-person & retention agreements
  • Heir & next-generation education programs
06
Preserve

Preservation

Dynasty trusts, private foundations, and philanthropic vehicles built to last a century.

For the families whose names are meant to be remembered. We draft instruments that carry forward — across generations, across markets, across the inevitable rewrites of the tax code.

Representative Services
  • Revocable & irrevocable trusts
  • Texas dynasty trusts (perpetual)
  • GRATs, IDGTs, SLATs & ILITs
  • Private family foundations
  • Donor-advised funds (DAFs)
  • Charitable remainder & lead trusts (CRT, CLT)
  • Conservation easements
  • Generation-skipping transfer (GST) planning
  • International estate planning (multi-jurisdictional)
  • Pre-immigration tax planning (U.S.–India)
  • Probate & estate administration
  • Trust modification, decanting & reformation
Private Client Services

For the quietly consequential.

A private tier of engagement for families and principals whose affairs require singular discretion, coordination, and continuity.

Retained on annual engagement, our Private Client relationships extend beyond discrete matters. We serve as the standing legal seat at the family table — coordinating with your accountants, wealth advisors, trustees, and family office to ensure every decision is deliberate, documented, and durable.

  • I

    Family Office Coordination

    Standing counsel to single-family offices — governance documents, investment entity structuring, and coordination with in-house CFOs and external fiduciaries.

  • II

    Multi-Generational Wealth

    Dynasty trusts, GST-exempt planning, and generation-skipping structures designed to endure across three generations without reformation.

  • III

    Concierge Legal Counsel

    Direct-line access to counsel for matters personal, familial, and enterprise — from a discreet real-estate closing to a delicate family conversation.

  • IV

    Fiduciary Oversight

    Independent review of trustees, executors, and investment advisors. We audit fiduciary conduct, verify accountings, and — when necessary — remove and replace.

  • V

    Legacy Governance

    Family constitutions, heir councils, and succession charters that transmit not merely assets, but the judgment and values that produced them.

  • VI

    Cross-Border Coordination

    For families holding interests in India, the U.K., or the E.U. — coordinated planning across jurisdictions, with local counsel of record engaged as needed.

Private Client engagement is offered by referral and mutual acceptance. New relationships are limited each year to preserve the standard of service. Terms and annual retainer are furnished on request.

Clients Served

Who we
advise.

A deliberate clientele — Texas entrepreneurs, professionals, and families whose matters require both legal precision and accounting fluency.

  • 01Entrepreneurs and business owners
  • 02Physicians, dentists, veterinarians, optometrists, chiropractors, and other medical professionals
  • 03CPAs, financial planners, wealth advisors, bankers, and insurance professionals
  • 04Architects, engineers, and other licensed professionals
  • 05Franchise owners and investors
  • 06Families seeking wealth preservation and succession planning
  • 07Trustees, executors, and beneficiaries
  • 08Business owners preparing for ownership transitions
  • 09Indian and South Asian families and business owners

“If the matter is private, particular, and patient — we are likely the right firm.”

Request a Conference →