John Brentin is a partner at Porter & Hedges, and is in charge of the firm's wealth preservation practice. He focuses his practice on trusts, probate and estate planning. He is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  Mr. Brentin has been selected as a "Texas Super Lawyer" in Estate Planning/Trusts by surveys conducted by Texas Monthly since 2005.

Mr. Brentin has a wide range of experience in estate and tax planning, wills and trusts, retirement planning, probate and trust administration, asset preservation planning, multi-generational transfers, charitable trusts, estate taxation, gift taxation and family business succession planning.

Every planning engagement is unique and Mr. Brentin offers his clients, both individuals and their families, a wide variety of services related to estate planning, asset protection, probate and trust administration as well as business planning services, all tailored to the clients goals and objectives. His experience includes a full range of planning and estate administration matters, from basic wills and trust agreements to complex business structuring, the accumulation, management and transfer of family wealth and minimization of taxes. His clients include business owners, physicians, lawyers and other professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, executives, retirees and families.

Representative Experience

Our clients are a diverse group and who face a variety of legal planning issues. Each situation requires a plan tailored to the needs, goals, and objectives of the client. Below is a sample of client matters and situations we handle:

• The successful business founder who wants to pass on his closely held company to his two children who are both strong-willed and seldom agree on anything. The business has been in the family for 75 years, represents a significant part of his estate and could well draw a large estate tax at death.
• The high net worth couple who are not U.S. citizens and are living and working here as permanent residents. They have significant holdings in different states and outside the U.S.
• The physician who wants to protect his estate from potential lawsuits by using established asset protection planning techniques while achieving significant estate tax savings.
• The blended family couple with children from each other's prior marriages and new children born of the current marriage who want to make sure the surviving spouse is well provided for—but at second death the wealth ends up from whence it came.
• The successful manufacturing company executive and his spouse who want to pass on to their two daughters, their values of philanthropy by setting up a family charitable foundation which the children will eventually manage and which will be the primary recipient of their wealth at death.
• The parents of a minor child with special needs who want to select guardians and establish trusts for the benefit of the child whose disability will likely last a lifetime.
• The company executive who has recently transferred to Texas and whose outdated planning does not account for the community property system in this state.
• A shareholder agreement for owners of a successful business who are concerned about ongoing management of the company and the transition of ownership at each death or if a partner wants to leave the business.
• The closely held business owner concerned about taxes and whose outdated planning has not kept pace with the growth of her successful business.
• An elderly couple, one in the beginning stages of Alzheimers disease, who are concerned about their ability to manage their affairs and who have no close family to provide for their care and the management of their estate.

Professional / Civic Affiliations

• Martindale Hubbell AV Rated Attorney
• Member of the State Bar of Texas (sections on real estate, probate and trust law, tax law and business law)
• Houston Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• Houston Estate & Financial Forum
• Texas Academy of Probate and Trust Lawyers
• Houston Business and Estate Planning Council
• College of the State Bar of Texas and the Planned Giving Council of Houston.
• Past President and active member of The Rotary Club of Houston, a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow
• Troop 55 Assistant Scoutmaster and Pack 505 past Cubmaster with The Boy Scouts of America.

News

• Seventy percent of Porter & Hedges' Attorneys Named as 2007 Texas Super Lawyers (9/17/2007)
• 27 Porter & Hedges' Attorneys Named as 2006 Texas Super Lawyers (9/25/2006)
• Two Porter & Hedges' Partners Author Articles for Houston Business Journal (5/8/2006)
• Seventy Percent of Porter & Hedges' Partners Selected as Super Lawyers (10/1/2005)

Publications

• Mr. Brentin is the author of Basic Drafting of Wills and Trusts in Texas originally published in 1993 and is a regular speaker on a wide variety of planning topics to trade groups and to those involved in the financial services industries. He regularly conducts training seminars for financial planners, wealth management consultants, CPAs and insurance professionals.
• Editor-in-chief, Houston Journal of International Law (1977 - 1978).
• Flexible Succession Plan Positions Company For Smooth Transition (4/14/2006)
• Family Limited Partnerships: Lessons Learned (8/6/2004)
• Vehicle Used To Transfer Wealth Still Running After IRS Loses Case (8/6/2004)

Articles

• "Preparing for the Inevitable:The Importance of Business Transition Planning" (1/1/2008)

Events

Mr. Brentin is a regular speaker on a wide variety of planning topics to trade groups and to those involved in the financial services industries. He regularly conducts training seminars for financial planners, wealth management consultants, CPAs and insurance professionals.