If you need help with a difficult conversation, you may want to meet with me as you consider your options moving forward. Being adept at difficult conversations is not a gift I sought out. It is a gift I learned I had through a variety of opportunities and life experiences, many of which I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I helped my grandparents through the aging process, and I lost my mother to cancer much too young.
In law school, I was trained as mediator by Kimberlee Kovach--my favorite professor and the person who literally wrote the book on Mediation. That training proved instrumental in my path towards my first job in family law as a Friend of the Court for Travis County enforcing child support and visitation orders.
Five years later, I was blessed to be a stay-at-home mother for a bit as I began raising three children. While my children were in preschool, I worked part-time alongside an estate planning attorney and dealt with mineral interests and mineral leases. I homeschooled our oldest daughter for a couple of years, then had our children in private school, then public school. When it came time for me to go back to full-time work in 2006, I was trained in the collaborative divorce process and decided I would focus my practice on helping families through a variety of difficult conversations. I always thought I’d focus on one or two areas of the law, but apparently God had a different plan, as I continued to find the overlap between estate planning, family law, and oil and gas law.
I believe that when we are given a blessing whether it is a wonderful child or an inheritance or mineral interest from a grandparent, God expects us to be a good steward of that blessing. Yes, stewardship requires a little work, but when we do our best to raise our children, they will hopefully do their best when they raise our grandchildren. Likewise, if we receive a mineral lease offer in the mail, we should do our homework and make sure we get the best deal possible since the lease may outlast us all. Estate planning allows us to leave a legacy. By planning, we set the example for the next generation. We also make it easier for those who will help us as we age or those we may leave behind.
Conversations are sometimes hard, but they are critical. If you can find the blessing in the bad things that happen in life, you can turn them from a negative into a positive. As I was losing my mother to cancer, I decided to be thankful for what I could. I am still thankful that I had such a wonderful mother and that since she had a terminal illness, nothing between us was left unsaid.
If you need help figuring out how to begin a difficult conversation, I would be honored to meet you and be considered as a member of your team.
Education
B.B.A. in Marketing and International Business - University of Texas at Austin 1989
J.D. - South Texas College of Law, Houston, Texas 1992
Professional Affiliations
Member, State Bar of Texas
Member, Texas Bar College
Member, Austin Bar Association
Member, Collaborative Divorce Texas
Founding Member, Collaborative Divorce Austin
Member, National Association of Royalty Owners
Speaking Engagements
Preparing Your Estate Plan
October 15, 2021 - Presented at Belmont Village Senior Living in Lakeway
Documents and Distancing—Top Ten Legal Thoughts for Grads and Parents in a Pandemic
June 16 & 17, 2021 - Presented at the Lake Travis Community Library via Zoom
Top Ten Legal Thoughts for Graduates and Parents During a Pandemic
June 29 & July 1, 2020 - Presented at the Lake Travis Community Library via Zoom
Documents and Desserts Power of Attorney Graduate Party
August 7, 2019 - Presented at the Offices of Leslie Henges Dolliver, PLLC
Account Registrations & Beneficiary Designations: Why You Should be Thoughtful and Careful
April 21, 2017 - Presented to Cambridge Financial Advisors
Road Map to an Estate Plan
February 22, 2017 - Presented to members of the Texas DPS Credit Union
Seven Core Estate Planning Documents Every Person Needs
November 12, 2015 - Presented to members of the Texas DPS Credit Union
Gifting and Devising Mineral Rights: Effective Transfer Tools
October 13, 2015 - Presented online on behalf of the National Business Institute
Top Ten Mistakes Parents Make When Sending Their Child Off to College
June 16, 2015 - Presented at the Lake Travis Community Library
Community Service
Member of the Lohmann’s Ford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Coach of the Travis County Consumer Decision Making Team, Agricultural Product Identification Team, and Family and Consumer Science Educational Presentation Team
Personal
I have lived in Lakeway since 1997 and enjoy baking, hunting, traveling, puzzles, and spending time with my husband and three children. I have to admit that it makes me smile when my husband tells his friends he “married up”. This is not because I am an attorney. Men from West Texas think they’ve “married up” if their wife can hunt, skin, and process their own deer.
