The Law Offices of Kennedy & Jackson

Focus and practice areas

Estate planning, asset protection, and probate form the core of this Houston firm. Its own description limits the work to those areas and to the estate administration matters that grow out of them. A concentrated practice like this one tends to build depth in a narrow body of law. In my opinion, that focus is the clearest signal the website sends.

The work stays close to how families hold, protect, and pass on what they own. The firm calls itself a boutique in the Galleria area of Houston, and its service list supports that. Two lawyers cover a defined set of matters and go deep on them.

The estate planning toolkit

The estate planning menu runs wide within its lane. The firm handles wills and trusts, living trusts, and life insurance trusts. It prepares powers of attorney, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and buy-sell agreements. Gift tax planning, charitable gifts, and private foundations sit on the same list, as do family limited partnerships and real estate transfers.

Each of those tools does a specific job. A will directs who receives property and names an executor. A living trust can hold assets during life and pass them at death outside probate. Powers of attorney let a trusted person act on financial or medical decisions when the client cannot. Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements set property terms before or during a marriage.

The list also reaches into charitable and family planning. A private foundation gives a family a structure for ongoing giving, and charitable gifts can be arranged with tax treatment in mind. Family limited partnerships let relatives hold and transfer assets together under one set of rules. These are the kinds of tools that suit clients with more moving parts in their finances.

Asset protection and business work

Asset protection carries its own set of structures at the firm. The list includes irrevocable trusts, testamentary trusts, and IRA inheritance trusts. Family limited partnerships and limited liability companies appear here too, along with asset segregation. These arrangements aim to keep certain property separate and to control how it reaches the next generation.

The mechanics behind them reward a plain summary. An irrevocable trust moves assets out of an owner's direct control, which can change how they are treated for tax and creditor purposes. A testamentary trust is written into a will and takes effect at death. An IRA inheritance trust holds retirement money for heirs under set terms. These are technical instruments, and careful drafting is most of the job.

Business succession and transactions

Business matters connect to the planning side. The firm lists business succession, business transactions, and real estate purchases and sales. For an owner weighing who takes over a company, a buy-sell agreement and a succession plan usually move together. A buy-sell agreement sets the terms for one owner's share changing hands, which keeps a transition orderly. The firm handles the planning and the deal that carries it out.

Real estate runs through both sides of the firm's work. It handles purchases and sales, and it manages real estate transfers as part of estate plans, such as moving a home into a trust or between family members.Property is often a major asset a family holds, so how it is titled and how it passes matter to the wider plan. The firm folds that work into the estate picture.

The attorneys behind the work

Two partners run the firm: Thomas Kennedy and David Jackson. Both hold board certification in estate planning and probate law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. That credential carries real requirements. In Texas it calls for years of practice in the area, a record of relevant matters, peer references, and a written exam.

Having both partners hold that certification tells you where their careers have gone. Thomas Kennedy is the principal and lectures on estate planning topics. Both partners have taught these subjects at the university level. The firm states more than 30 years of collective experience between them.

As a reviewer, I read the teaching background as a useful trait in this field. Someone who has explained trusts and probate to a classroom is usually comfortable explaining them to a client, and that helps when a person has to understand a document before signing it. The certification and the teaching point the same way: two lawyers who work in a defined area and know it well.

How the probate side works

Probate is the second half of the firm's certification, and it shapes a good part of the daily work. The firm guides executors through estate administration, the court-supervised process of paying debts and distributing what is left. It also represents interested parties in intestacy cases, which arise when someone dies without a valid will.

Estate administration itself follows a fairly set path. An executor gathers and values assets, notifies creditors, pays valid debts and taxes, and then distributes what remains to the beneficiaries. A lawyer's role is to keep those steps in order and in line with the court's requirements. That guidance is what the firm offers executors who have never handled the process before.

One named area here is heirship determination. When there is no will, a Texas court often has to decide who the legal heirs are before property can pass. These proceedings involve sworn statements, sometimes an attorney appointed to represent unknown heirs, and a court order that settles the question. The firm handles that process for the families caught up in it. Guardianship rounds out this part of the firm's work, covering cases where a court appoints someone to manage the affairs of a minor or an incapacitated adult.

A note on the working style

Public feedback about the firm points consistently to organization and a straightforward manner. Clients describe getting their documents drafted and signed off without long delays. I read that as a practical approach to planning work, which suits a two-partner firm with a tight focus. In my opinion, that is a fair expectation to bring to a first meeting.

Who the firm serves and where

The client base spans individuals, families, and businesses, by the firm's own account. That mix fits a practice built on estate planning, since the same firm can write a young family's first will and, years later, handle a business succession plan for someone in that family. The work tends to follow clients through changes in their lives.

The office sits in the Galleria area of Houston. Its named service area covers Greater Houston and Harris County, along with Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Brazoria counties and parts of East Texas.