Areas of Practice
When a legal situation arises, you need to act quickly and contact an experienced and knowledgeable law firm to evaluate your case and guide you through the maze of Texas laws and the complicated Harris County court system. Trying to go it alone can be detrimental to your case and your future.
The Houston based law firm of Kathleen Vossler & Associates concentrates mainly on three areas of law including 1) probate and guardianship – such as estate planning, wills and trusts, 2) family law and 3) civil litigation. Because we regularly work on cases involved in these areas of law, we have the know-how and experience to give you the representation that you deserve.
Our firm keeps up with new cases and legislation and other changes in the law that occur so our lawyers are prepared to help you with your legal issues.
Probate, Estates, Wills, and Trusts
The State of Texas has very specific laws and Harris County Courts have specific procedures and policies for when you or a loved one dies in Texas. After your death or the death of a loved one, you or the survivor may have to navigate the Texas Estates Code and go through the legal process by which the debts are paid and the assets are distributed.
Our practice handles cases involving probate, wills, trusts, heirships, estate administration and estate planning to help our clients in their time of need to make it as easy as possible for our clients in this time of transition.
It is just as important to our practice that we help people prepare for their inevitable death or incapacitation as it is that we help them when they come to our office after the death of a relative or loved one.
It is an unfortunate fact that most of us feel uncomfortable in planning for, or even talking about about our inevitable death. But preparing a will and other estate planning documents can make things easier for the family and loved ones we leave behind. While the laws of intestacy are in place as a back-up plan for people who do not have a will, those laws take away your ability to decide what should happen to the worldly things that you spent your life accumulating.
If you have a blended family, family members that don’t get along, or if you do not have close family, then leaving everything up to the laws of intestacy can cause great expense and create great injustice to the loved ones you leave behind. You have a right to decide what should happen to your stuff when you die.
Exercise that right by having a trusted Estates lawyer like those at Kathleen M Vossler & Associates help you.
For example, a Harris County resident who dies intestate- i.e. without a will, would have the assets and property that he earned during his lifetime divided according to Texas laws and statutes- which may not be what he wanted to happen with his hard earned money and property.
In addition, the resident’s surviving family would have to incur additional costs, hardship and sometimes even strains in family relationships when trying to go through the Texas Estates code. The problems of intestacy can be prevented.
If you have a smaller estate, you may be able to do with just a simple will prepared by an experienced estate attorney. But if you have a home and other assets, you may require some additional planning to prepare for the future to ensure that your assets are divided the way you want and with very little court supervision or difficulty for those you leave behind.
The law firm of Kathleen Vossler and Associates can expertly aid you in estate planning for the future and in helping survivors on the death of you or a loved one.
Attorneys from Kathleen Vossler and Associates may also help you in planning for any disability, incapacitate or severe illness that you or your loved ones may experience so that decisions concerning property and your health do not go ignored.
If you have a loved one who is unable to provide for their food, clothing or shelter or they are unable to make decisions concerning their welfare because of mental or severe illness, our firm may be able to help you if a guardianship is required.
Our office may also help you to prepare for any possible disability or illness through such methods as a power of attorney, medical power of attorney, advanced directives, trusts including revocable trusts and pour-over wills.
- Advance Directive for Family and / or Surrogates, which is commonly referred to as a “Living Will”, and that is where the client has the ability to state in advance whether or not they wish to be maintained on Life Support, which people commonly refer to as ‘Pull the Plug’.
- Medical Power of Attorney, where you can designate a trusted person in advance to make medical and health care decisions in the event of their incapacity.
- Statutory Durable Power of Attorney: In the event of your illness, incapacity or inability to comprehend and sign important documents, a power of attorney will give someone you name either broad or limited authority to act on your behalf and to manage your finances and assets.
Family Law
Family law deals with many issues – Divorce, Custody, Child Support, Paternity, Adoption, Protective Orders and Grandparent’s Rights are just a few. Kathleen M Vossler & Associates is the right firm to help you in your family law situation.
If you need help in your divorce with either custody or to ensure that the property you earned during the marriage isn’t wasted, squandered, or stolen by your spouse or someone else, Kathleen M Vossler and Associates will work tirelessly to ensure that you get the just and right ending to your situation.
If you are seeking to enforce, modify or even defend against an action for child support, our office works to ensure you can have a home and sufficient funds to take care of yourself and your children.
For the sake of your future and the futures of your children, you must protect your family and hire a high quality divorce and family law attorney who can make such emotional and stressful situations proceed as well as possible.
Adding to the family through adoption is one of life’s greatest gifts, but it must be done in a proper legal way to make it valid. We can help you with these, as well as the many family law issues, including Visitation, Paternity, Child Support Enforcement, Contempt Defense, Modification of Child Support, Grandparent Rights, Custody Disputes, Property division, Protective Orders and Modifications.
Mediation
Kathy Vossler is also a well-trained, experienced and certified family law mediator, negotiator and litigator. Kathy Vossler has mediated Family Law matters for over 20 years. From her time of becoming a certified family law mediator while still in school at the University of Houston Law Center in 1996, she has performed family law mediation and has experience in resolving all the difficult and emotional issues that arise in family law issues.
Civil Law
If you or someone you know has been involved in a wreck, auto collision or otherwise been injured or killed by the negligent actions of another irresponsible person or company, the attorneys at Kathleen Vossler and Associates can help you get the medical attention and lost wages and pain and suffering you encounter as a result of your injuries or the death of your loved one.
Our offices can help you with your breach of contract, car wreck, wrongful death or other civil cases. Our office is has experience trying cases and is willing to try your case before judge or jury in order to get the best results for your case. We also utilize mediation and other alternative methods to trial to get you the best results and to ensure justice.
If you live in Harris County, Fort Bend County or Montgomery County and need a knowledgeable, caring Houston lawyer to handle your legal issues, please contact the attorneys at Kathy Vossler and Associates, at (713) 861-9447, or email us on our contact page.
