Willi Law Firm

Focus and practice areas

Estate planning and probate account for most of the work at this Austin, Texas firm. Willi Law Firm lists wills, trusts, powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives among its services. The firm also handles asset protection, business succession planning and inheritance questions. Clients can arrange a consultation at the Austin office.

Probate work often brings litigation, and the firm takes on estate disputes too. That includes trust disputes and will contests. Cases like these can turn on documents, deadlines and the intentions of someone who has died. The site groups this litigation next to the planning services.

How the team is built

The attorneys page names two lawyers, James N. Willi and Tracy J. Willi. James N. Willi focuses on estate planning, elder law, asset protection and probate. He has been licensed to practice law since 1996. His earlier career includes work as an electrical engineer from 1986 to 1996, before he moved into law.

His court experience includes both Texas courts and federal courts. The biography states that he has represented clients before the United States Supreme Court. That is an unusual line to find on an estate planning page. In my opinion it points to comfort with appellate matters on top of planning work.

Elder law is one of James N. Willi's focus areas. It covers the legal questions that arrive with age. That can mean planning for long-term care, sorting out capacity concerns and putting powers of attorney in place ahead of need. These questions overlap with estate planning and guardianship, and the two areas of work meet often in practice.

Tracy J. Willi

Tracy J. Willi advises clients on estate planning, estate administration, probate litigation and civil appeals. She has been licensed in Texas since 1992. Since 2001 she has held Board Certification in Civil Appellate Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. That credential comes from the state body that reviews legal specialization in Texas.

Her litigation record covers guardianships, trusts, will contests, heirship disputes and real estate divisions in probate. Her page also names litigation and appeals in commercial disputes and intellectual property. So the two attorneys together cover the drafting side and the courtroom side of estate work.

The litigation and appeals side

Estate disputes reach court more often than people expect. A will contest asks a probate judge to decide whether a will is valid. When the paperwork is unclear, an heirship proceeding sorts out who inherits. Guardianship cases involve a request to appoint someone to manage another person's affairs, and a court reviews that request.

A will contest usually raises questions about capacity, undue influence or the way a document was signed. The person challenging the will carries the burden of proof. Heirship cases arise when someone dies without a clear will, and Texas law then sets who inherits. Real estate divisions in probate deal with land and homes that pass to more than one heir.

Civil appellate work is a separate skill. An appeal turns on whether a trial court applied the law correctly. It works from the written record and written briefs. A party files briefs that argue the legal points, and the appellate judges issue a written decision. Board certification in that field points to focused experience with appeals, and Tracy J. Willi has held it since 2001.

How probate generally works

Probate is the court process that settles a person's affairs after death. An executor or administrator gathers the assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and hands what remains to the heirs. A probate court in the county oversees the steps. When a valid will exists, the court confirms it before the estate moves ahead.

Estate administration is the working side of that process. It includes filing the will, notifying creditors, keeping records and preparing an accounting. Some estates close quickly, while others stay open for months when claims or disputes appear. Tracy J. Willi's listed work in estate administration and probate litigation touches both the routine filings and the contested ones.

What estate planning involves

Estate planning covers the documents that decide what happens to property and to personal choices later on. A will directs how assets pass after death. Powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives let someone act on financial or medical matters when a person cannot act alone. A durable power of attorney can keep finances moving during illness or later life. Willi Law Firm lists all of these on its site.

Trusts come in several forms. A living trust holds assets during a person's life and can pass them on outside probate. Other trusts hold property for children or for a relative who needs ongoing support. The terms of the trust decide who benefits and when. The firm lists trusts among its main services.

Business succession planning belongs to the same family of work. It maps how ownership of a business moves when an owner retires, falls ill or dies. A plan can set out who takes over and how the shares transfer. Asset protection, another listed service, deals with how property is structured against future claims. These matters often run alongside a will or trust.

What the record shows

Two clear data points anchor the firm's experience. James N. Willi has been licensed since 1996, and Tracy J. Willi since 1992. Those licensing years come straight from the attorneys page. The site does not state a founding year for the firm itself.

The firm also publishes Facebook and YouTube links in its site data, which points to some public presence online. In my opinion the clearest signal for a prospective client is the pairing of the two attorneys. One handles planning and elder law with an engineering background behind it. The other brings board-certified appellate work and a probate litigation record.

Between them they give the firm reach across estate drafting, probate and the disputes that follow. Tracy J. Willi's certification dates to 2001, and James N. Willi's Supreme Court experience appears in his biography. Both remain the named attorneys on the firm's own pages.