The Ashmore Law Firm PC

The Ashmore Law Firm offers collaborative divorce as an alternative to litigation for couples who want to resolve their divorce privately, with control over the outcome and without a public courtroom record. Managing Attorney Gary Ashmore is a collaboratively trained divorce practitioner and a member of Collaborative Law Dallas. In the collaborative process, each spouse retains a trained attorney, and the parties commit in writing to resolve all issues through structured negotiation rather than court, often working with a neutral financial professional and other specialists as needed. The firm regularly uses the process in high-net-worth and business-owner divorces where confidentiality, the continuity of a company or professional practice, and the parties' ongoing relationship as co-parents matter more than winning a contested hearing. Collaborative law also allows the estate-planning consequences of the divorce, including trusts, beneficiary designations, and succession documents, to be addressed in the same negotiation with the firm's Trusts and Estates attorneys. Because collaborative divorce is not the right fit for every case, the firm advises clients candidly on when it works and when litigation is the better path, and also represents clients in mediation. The firm helps clients separate the emotional divorce from the legal one, with divorce coaching provided as part of the process at no additional cost.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/dallas-texas-family-law-mediation-lawyer-mediation-attorney.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/library/collaborative-divorce-for-high-net-worth-families-in-texas-pros-cons-and-when-to-avoid-it.cfm
Related: https://collaborativelawdallas.com/cld-professional/gary-ashmore/

The Ashmore Law Firm represents parents in child custody and conservatorship matters in Dallas, Collin, Denton, Tarrant, and Rockwall counties, both as part of a divorce and in standalone suits affecting the parent-child relationship. The firm handles joint and sole managing conservatorship, possession and access schedules including standard and expanded possession orders, geographic restrictions and relocation disputes, and the rights and duties allocated between parents. In high-income families the practice regularly addresses above-guideline child support and the allocation of expenses beyond basic support, including private school tuition, college funding, club and select sports, extracurricular activities, tutoring, summer camps, and nannies or other childcare, as well as medical and dental support and support for children with special needs. The firm also drafts and litigates provisions for international and out-of-state travel, passport control, right of first refusal, communication and electronic access, and modification and enforcement of existing orders. In contested cases the firm works with custody evaluators, amicus attorneys, and mental health professionals, and its attorneys have served as Attorney Ad Litem and Guardian Ad Litem in Texas courts. The firm's goal is to protect the child's best interest while helping parents reach workable arrangements through negotiation, mediation, or collaborative law where possible, and to litigate effectively when it is not.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/childcustodylawyerdallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/childsupportdallas.cfm

Texas is a community property state, and how a marital estate is characterized, valued, and divided is often the most consequential issue in a divorce. The Ashmore Law Firm represents clients in the characterization of community and separate property, tracing of separate property claims, reimbursement and economic contribution claims, and the "just and right" division of the community estate. The firm has particular experience with closely held businesses and professional practices, executive compensation including stock options and deferred compensation, retirement accounts and QDROs, real estate, trusts and inherited assets, and the allocation of marital debt. Working with forensic accountants, business valuation experts, and other professionals, the firm's attorneys build the record needed to protect a client's interests in negotiation, mediation, or at trial. Where an inheritance, family trust, or estate is at issue, the Family Law attorneys coordinate with the firm's Trusts and Estates practice.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/asset-and-debt-division-in-dallas-texas-divorce-dallas-texas-divorce-lawyer.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/dallas-high-net-worth-divorce-lawyer.cfm

The Ashmore Law Firm represents clients in contested and uncontested divorce throughout Dallas and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with particular depth in complex and high-net-worth divorce. Led by Managing Attorney Gary Ashmore, the practice handles every stage of a Texas divorce, from initial filing and temporary orders through discovery, mediation, collaborative divorce, trial, and post-divorce modification and enforcement. The firm regularly represents executives, business owners, physicians, and other professionals in cases involving significant marital estates, and addresses related issues including child custody and conservatorship, child support, court-ordered spousal maintenance and contractual alimony, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. Because the firm also practices estate planning and probate, clients can update wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations as part of the divorce process rather than after it. The firm helps clients separate the emotional divorce from the legal one, with divorce coaching provided as part of the process at no additional cost.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/divorceattorneydallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/dallas-high-net-worth-divorce-lawyer.cfm

For owners of family businesses, professional practices, and other closely held companies, the business is usually the largest and least liquid asset in the estate, and the one most likely to lose value if ownership passes without a plan. Led by Managing Attorney Lori Ashmore Peters, recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates, the firm helps business owners in Dallas and North Texas plan for the transfer of ownership and control during life, at retirement, and at death. Services include wills and revocable trusts that address business interests specifically, buy-sell agreements and entity document review, business succession planning for the next generation or for key employees, irrevocable trusts and family limited partnerships for asset protection and estate tax planning, and coordination of life insurance and retirement assets to fund a buyout or equalize inheritances among children who are and are not in the business. The firm also plans for the events that most often disrupt a closely held company: the owner's disability or incapacity, the death of a partner, and divorce. Because the firm practices family law and estate planning under one roof, a business owner facing divorce can address the valuation and division of the company, the protection of separate-property interests, and the resulting changes to succession and estate documents with one coordinated team, and the firm's probate and fiduciary litigation attorneys are available when a transfer of ownership becomes contested.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/estateplanningattorneydallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/trusts.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/estatetaxplanning.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/library/business-ownership-and-divorce-in-texas-the-ashmore-law-firm.cfm

Physicians, dentists, and other medical professionals face estate planning issues that ordinary planning does not address: an ownership interest in a practice that cannot pass to a non-licensed spouse or child, personal liability exposure that follows them into retirement, income that starts late and peaks in mid-career, and retirement and deferred compensation accounts that make up a disproportionate share of the estate. Led by Managing Attorney Lori Ashmore Peters, recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates, the firm helps medical professionals in Dallas and North Texas build plans that account for those realities. Services include wills and revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts and asset protection structures that respect Texas law, beneficiary and retirement account planning, disability and incapacity planning through durable and medical powers of attorney, and estate tax planning for larger estates. For practice owners, the firm coordinates buy-sell agreements and practice succession planning with the estate plan so that a death, disability, or divorce does not disrupt the practice or leave a family without value for the owner's interest. Because the firm also handles complex divorce, physicians going through a divorce can address the division of a practice, the characterization of deferred compensation, and the resulting changes to their estate plan with one coordinated team.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/estateplanningattorneydallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/trusts.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/estatetaxplanning.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/dallas-high-net-worth-divorce-lawyer.cfm

The Ashmore Law Firm represents families in guardianship proceedings for both incapacitated adults and minor children in the Probate Courts of Dallas, Collin, Denton, Tarrant, and Rockwall counties. Led by Managing Attorney Lori Ashmore Peters, who is certified to serve as Attorney Ad Litem and Guardian Ad Litem in the Probate Courts of Texas, the practice handles guardianship of the person and guardianship of the estate, temporary and emergency guardianships, and contested guardianship proceedings in which family members disagree about who should serve or whether a guardianship is needed at all.

For adults, the firm assists families of aging parents, individuals with dementia or other cognitive decline, adults with disabilities, and young adults with special needs who are approaching age 18, and advises on less-restrictive alternatives such as supported decision-making agreements, durable powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, and management trusts. For minors, the firm handles guardianships for children who have lost a parent, whose parents are unable to care for them, or who are receiving an inheritance, settlement, or other assets that require a guardian of the estate. Once a guardianship is established, the firm represents guardians in ongoing administration, including annual reports, inventories, accountings, bond requirements, and court approval of major decisions, and in the modification, restoration, or closing of a guardianship.

Because the firm also practices family law, estate planning, and probate, guardianship matters that intersect with a custody dispute, a contested will or trust, or a special needs trust can be handled by one coordinated team.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/guardianshipattorneydallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/probateattorneydallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/estateplanningattorneydallas.cfm

The Ashmore Law Firm represents executives, business owners, physicians and other professionals, and families with inherited or multi-generational wealth in both the divorce that divides an estate and the estate planning that protects what remains. On the family law side, Managing Attorney Gary Ashmore concentrates on complex and high-net-worth divorce, including the characterization and tracing of separate property, valuation and division of closely held businesses and professional practices, executive compensation and deferred compensation, retirement accounts and QDROs, real estate portfolios, and trusts and inherited assets, along with above-guideline child support, contractual alimony, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. On the estate planning side, Managing Attorney Lori Ashmore Peters, recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates, advises on wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, asset protection, estate tax planning, business succession, and planning for blended families and second marriages.

Because both practices operate under one roof, the firm reviews the tax basis, trust structure, beneficiary designations, and succession consequences of a property division before the decree is signed, and builds the post-divorce estate plan from the same tracing and valuation work. Clients value the firm's discretion, its use of collaborative divorce and private negotiation where confidentiality matters, and the coordination of a team that is billed for only one attorney's time. The firm serves clients throughout Dallas and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, including the Park Cities, Preston Hollow, Turtle Creek, Plano, Frisco, and Southlake.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/dallas-high-net-worth-divorce-lawyer.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/estateplanningattorneydallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/library/dallas-high-asset-divorce-tax-trust-strategy.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/reports/high-net-worth-and-complex-divorce-in-texas-dallas-park-cities-and-highland-park-tx-divorce-and-.cfm

When an estate or trust becomes contested, the firm represents beneficiaries, heirs, executors, and trustees in will contests, trust litigation, and fiduciary disputes throughout North Texas. Matters include challenges based on lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, and fraud; claims for breach of fiduciary duty against executors, trustees, and agents under a power of attorney; disputes over will and trust construction; removal of fiduciaries; and contested heirship and accounting proceedings. The firm's attorneys draw on decades of experience in the Dallas County Probate Courts and coordinate with the Family Law practice when an inheritance, trust, or estate is also at issue in a divorce or property division.

https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/probatelitigation.cfm

When an estate or trust becomes contested, the firm represents beneficiaries, heirs, executors, trustees, and other fiduciaries in will contests, trust litigation, fiduciary litigation, and contested probate and guardianship proceedings in the Probate Courts of Dallas, Collin, Denton, Tarrant, and Rockwall counties. Matters include challenges to a will or trust based on lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, or fraud; claims for breach of fiduciary duty against executors, trustees, and agents under a power of attorney; disputes over the construction or modification of a will or trust; removal and replacement of fiduciaries; contested heirship, inventory, and accounting proceedings; and disputes over the characterization of estate or trust assets following a death or divorce. Managing Attorney Lori Ashmore Peters, who leads the practice, has served as Special Probate Judge for Dallas County Probate Court No. 3 and as Master over Probable Cause Hearings, and the firm's founder, The Honorable Joseph E. Ashmore, Jr., presided over that court for more than a decade. The firm's attorneys draw on that experience to resolve disputes through negotiation or mediation where possible and to litigate them to judgment when necessary, and coordinate with the firm's Family Law practice when an inheritance, trust, or estate is also at issue in a divorce or property division.

Link: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/trustlitigation.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/willcontestattorneydallas.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/fiduciarylitigation.cfm
Related: https://www.ashmorelaw.com/practice_areas/probatelitigation.cfm