Current Employment Position(s)

Principal

Lawyer Overview

Tom Kennedy has practiced law in the Houston area for over twenty years. For ten of those years, he served as the managing partner of a law firm which had offices in Houston and Austin, Texas, and Paris, France. He is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is a graduate of LaSalle University, with a degree in Psychology, and the University of Houston Law Center, where he was a Law Review Student. While he was in law school, he was published twice and won the American Jurisprudence award as the top student in Wills, Estates and Administration.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Kennedy worked as a life insurance agent primarily in the business insurance area.

Mr. Kennedy has founded a title company, built and merged a law practice, assisted in various political campaigns and coordinated transportation and security for the Economic Summit of Industrial Nations held in Houston, in 1990.

He is a frequent lecturer and speaker on various legal topics, including the analysis of Wills, estate planning, trust law, an overview of estate taxation, the use of the revocable living trust in estate planning, family limited partnerships, charitable remainder trusts, special needs trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, buy-sell agreements, asset protection planning and dynasty trusts.

He has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal on Asset Protection in Texas and by KHOU TV (CBS) on Estate Planning after 9/11 and by KTRK TV(ABC) about Advanced Directives and Living Wills in Texas. He teaches Estate Planning to Certified Financial Planning Candidates and graduate students at the University of Saint Thomas.

He is the father of four children and currently lives in Cypress, Texas.

Areas of Practice

• Business and Estate Planning
• Probate Law

West Practice Categories

Business & Commercial Law, Estate Planning

Certification/Specialties

• Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Professional Associations and Memberships

• State Bar of Texas (Member)
• Metropolitan Breakfast Club and the Champions Breakfast Club (Founder)
• Houston Business and Estate Planning Council (Member)
• Society of Financial Services Professionals (Board of Directors)
• Woodway Financial Advisors, a Trust Company (Former Advisory Board of Directors)
• Charter Title Company (Founder, Chairman of the Board)
• U.S./China Joint Session on Trade, Investment and Economic Law, 1987 (Participant)
• Comparative Law Conference, Moscow and Leningrad, U.S.S.R, 1988 (Participant)
• International Society of Business Fellows, 1988 (Member)
• Capital Formation Committee for the Houston Economic Development Council, 1988 - 1989 (Chair)
• The Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations, 1990 (Critical Path Coordinator)

Classes and Seminars

• Taught Estate Planning to Certified Financial Planning Candidates and Graduate Students, University of Saint Thomas & Rice University
• Guest Speaker on Asset Protection, The Society of Financial Services Professionals
• Guest Speaker on Estate Law Changes, The Society of Certified Financial Planners
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning, Houston Association of Life Underwriters
• Guest Speaker on Charitable Planning, Southwestern Regional Meeting for New York Life
• Taught Continuation Education for CPAs, Merrill Lynch
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, American General Life Insurance Company
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Guardian Life Insurance Company
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, New England Financial Group
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Connecticut Mutual
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Union Central Life Insurance Company
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Phoenix Home Life
• Guest Speaker on Estate Planning and Asset Protection, New York Life Insurance Company

Education

• University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas
  Honors: American Jurisprudence Award *
  Honors: * Top student in Wills, Estates, and Administration
  
  Law Journal: Houston Law Review, Associate Editor
• La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  Honors: Athletic Scholarship for Baseball; Honors Program
  Major: Psychology

Offers Free Initial Consultation

Accepts Credit Cards

Published Works

• "Constitutional Trends of Systematic Exclusion in Grand and Petit Juries", 3 National Journal of Criminal Defense 277, 1977
• "The Act of State Doctrine Refined", 14 Houston Law Review 945, 1977

Address

5851 San Felipe Street
Suite 925
Houston, TX 77057-8024

Phones

(713) 783-7444

Faxes

(713) 783-6601

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.houstonestateplanning.com