Practice Areas

AREAS OF PRACTICE

Mr. Benson has years of experience assisting clients with organizing their Personal Affairs, Financial Affairs, Probate, Estate Inheritance Dispute and Litigation, Business Law, and Real Estate Transaction.

ESTATE PLANNING AND ASSET PROTECTION

—Wills and Trusts

  • Wills and Trusts
  • Powers of Attorney
  • Advanced Healthcare Planning
  • Asset Protection—Advanced Planning Techniques
  • Guardianships

Mr. Benson has years of experience assisting clients with organizing their personal and financial affairs to ensure a smooth transition of their assets to their beneficiaries upon death.  Many clients have complex estate planning needs due to factors such as second marriages, the size or nature of estate property, a desire for privacy, the presence of minor children in the home, the need to protect family assets from immature beneficiaries, or the need to protect immature beneficiaries from themselves.  Mr. Benson has the experience to craft a personalized estate plan that expresses your estate planning wishes and ensures an orderly transition of assets to your heirs and beneficiaries.  Mr. Benson routinely handles estate plans for clients having a net worth ranging from $100,000 to more than $10 million.

Clients with a high personal net worth or elevated liability concerns need additional protection to shelter their assets from potential creditors.  Individuals with large financial reserves or valuable real or personal property might need to take advantage of certain planning tools to begin the process of transitioning assets to their heirs during their lifetime in order to escape devastating federal estate taxes. Small business owners need to ensure the protection of their life’s work and the orderly transition of their legacy business to its rightful owners.  Advanced estate planning techniques are usually used in combination with more traditional estate planning techniques as part of a comprehensive estate plan designed to protect high value assets and preserve the family legacy.

Just as importantly, Mr. Benson assists clients with advance planning to protect individuals and their assets during their lifetime.  Mr. Benson routinely helps clients make a plan to handle their affairs in the event they later become incapacitated or have other special needs, and also helps clients whose loved ones have become incapacitated and need assistance managing their affairs.  If a guardianship proceeding is necessary, Mr. Benson has extensive experience in uncontested and contested guardianship matters.

Estate Planning is a deeply personal process, and Mr. Benson’s care for and interest in his clients’ needs is expressed through the personal attention given to each representation.  When you make an estate planning appointment with Benson Law, PLLC, you will meet directly with Mr. Benson and will discuss your personal estate planning needs with the attorney who will be responsible for creating your estate plan.

  • Comprehensive estate plans for clients with assets ranging from $100,000 to $10 million plus
  • Handled probate and estate matters for clients in Grayson, Collin, Cooke, Fannin, Dallas, Ellis and Tarrant Counties
  • Counseled numerous small business owners and high net worth clients through asset protection, business succession planning, and generational wealth transfer issues

PROBATE

The death of a loved one is typically a distressing and emotional time for families.  Whether your loved one died with or without a Will, something must be done to ensure that their property passes to their rightful heirs upon death and that assets are transferred according to the law.  Mr. Benson routinely assists families with handling the personal and financial affairs of their loved one after their passing.

A common misconception among clients is that the probate process is overly difficult, unnecessarily expensive, or excessively long.  To the contrary, the Texas probate process is relatively simple and inexpensive, particularly if the deceased had previously contacted Mr. Benson and had a properly-drafted Estate Plan in place. Nevertheless, the process of identifying the nature and bounds of a deceased person’s estate, and determining the appropriate method of transitioning ownership of that property to its rightful owners, requires Mr. Benson’s years of experience in probate law.  This process includes determining whether assets must pass according to a Will or other testamentary instrument, or whether they will pass outside of the terms of a Will.  In some cases, an estate can be handled by the attorney and family without the need for probate.

ESTATE AND INHERITANCE DISPUTES AND LITIGATION

  • Will Contests
  • Inheritance and Heirship Disputes
  • Fiduciary Litigation—Executor and Trustee Disputes
  • Wrongful Disinheritance—Surviving Spouses’ and Children’s Rights

Mr. Benson’s litigation practice is limited to representing clients in estate and inheritance disputes.  Mr. Benson has successfully represented those seeking to have a Will admitted to probate under adverse circumstances, as well as those seeking to contest a Will that may have been executed without the required mental capacity or intent, or under the effect of undue influence or fraud, or that may have technical flaws, or that may otherwise be invalid under Texas law.  At Benson Law, PLLC, we handle estate and inheritance disputes throughout the State of Texas, with an emphasis on Grayson, Fannin, Collin, Dallas, Tarrant, Cooke, and Denton Counties in North Central Texas.  Recognizing that an estate or inheritance dispute often involves a contest between individuals with limited resources against those with extensive resources, Mr. Benson offers flexible fee arrangements, including representing Will contestants and wrongfully disinherited heirs on a contingency fee basis, allowing the client to focus on the merits of their case instead of litigation costs and attorney’s fees during the course of ongoing litigation.

BUSINESS LAW

Mr. Benson’s extensive business law practice includes business formation, business operations, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, contracts, and business succession planning.  Mr. Benson offers comprehensive legal services for business owners who have a need for general corporate legal advice, and Benson Law, PLLC serves as de facto outside general counsel to numerous small and mid-sized businesses.

Whether you are starting a new business, buying or selling a piece of property, entering into a new partnership, hiring a new contract employee or service provider, or considering a new employment agreement, your new business relationship should be governed by a written agreement.  Mr. Benson has vast experience negotiating and drafting various contractual agreements, including but not limited to: physician employment agreements; real estate agreements involving both large rural tracts of land and commercial facilities; oil and gas/mineral interests and land use issues; hunting lease agreements; franchisor/franchisee agreements; partnership agreements and LLC operating agreements; partnership dissolution agreements and non-competes; and asset purchase/sale agreements.

Mr. Benson provides legal services in the following areas:

  • Business Formation
  • Business Operations
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Business Succession Planning
  • Partnership Agreements and
  • Company Agreements
  • Partnership Disputes
  • Employer/Employee Relations
  • Contract Drafting and Negotiation
  • Business Purchase Agreements/Asset Purchase Agreements
  • Commercial Real Estate Transactions

Mr. Benson’s business law practice includes corporate clients in the following representative industries:

  • Sole Proprietors, Start-Ups, and Entrepreneurs
  • Farm and Ranch
  • Physicians—Private Practice, Employed Physicians, and Partnerships
  • Home Health, Assisted Living, Advanced/End-of-Life Care
  • Automobile Sales and Service
  • Private Equity
  • Manufacturing and Equipment
  • Real Estate Brokers and Agents—Commercial and Residential
  • Commercial and Residential Real Estate Developers
  • Commercial and Residential Real Estate Builders
  • Real Estate Investors
  • Contractors and Subcontractors
  • Media—Video Production and Graphic Arts
  • Retail and Service-Related Businesses
  • Entertainment-Related Venues

REAL ESTATE

Mr. Benson routinely counsels buyers and sellers of real property, whether commercial, rural or residential, regarding the purchase or sale of real property.  Mr. Benson has handled a number of seven-figure commercial and rural real property transactions from beginning to end, including drafting real estate sales contracts, reviewing abstracts and title work, and reviewing and preparing closing documents.  In addition, Mr. Benson represents clients in matters relating to real estate transactions, such as oil and gas leases and mineral rights, easements, restrictive covenants, and homeowners associations.  Mr. Benson has a particular interest in shepherding clients through the acquisition of their dream commercial or recreational property.

  • Negotiated and closed several seven-figure rural farm and ranch transactions, representing both buyers and sellers, throughout the State of Texas
  • Negotiated and closed numerous six- and seven-figure commercial real estate transactions
  • Negotiated, drafted, and closed owner-finance transaction involving Central Texas winery and luxury housing development
  • Counseled numerous clients in matters relating to oil, gas and mineral rights issues
  • Routinely assists clients with the process of effectively transferring family real estate upon the death of a loved one Litigation
  • Won jury verdict in favor of pit bull attack victim after four day jury trial in Collin County, Texas
  • Negotiated Family Settlement Agreement involving $8 million + estate having properties in Texas and Oklahoma
  • Negotiated favorable settlement in claim for Family Allowance rights in estate dispute involving second marriage and children of deceased spouse
  • Negotiated favorable settlement in disputed estate involving client’s deceased father and live-in girlfriend claiming common-law wife status and handwritten Will
  • Negotiated buyout of fraudulently-induced personal guaranty upon terms favorable to client and avoided costly and time-consuming litigation

Business Transactions

  • Assisted in the turnkey formation of numerous business entities, including personal services companies, real estate holding companies, parent/subsidiary corporate arrangements, and charitable nonprofit organizations
  • Negotiated numerous seven-figure employment agreements
  • Closed six-figure asset sale of medical service company
  • Negotiated six-figure interstate franchise agreement
  • Closed membership interest purchase of Texas pawn shop
  • Negotiated and closed stock and real estate purchase unifying ownership of family-owned nursing home
  • Negotiated asset purchase and acquisition of video/media company
  • Closed membership interest purchase and asset transfer of Texas car dealership
  • Successfully negotiated renewal of seven-figure employment agreement after threatened termination
  • Drafted numerous sale/lease contracts, employment contracts, residential and commercial lease agreements, advertising/licensing agreements, hunting lease agreements, and other business and commercial contracts