Carolyn Ostrom – Austin Estate Planning Attorney

Carolyn Ostrom |

Collins Ostrom, PLLC

(512) 617-1560

https://www.collinsostrom.com/

816 West 10th St
Austin, TX 78701

Carolyn Ostrom | Collins Ostrom, PLLC

Rating:

Firm Summary

EXPERIENCE

Attorney and founder, Collins Ostrom PLLC, Austin, Texas

January 2007– Present

Attorney, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, Austin, Texas

1989 – 2006

PRACTICE

Helping business owners, executives, professionals, couples, and individuals to design wealth transfer and succession plans that minimize gift, estate, inheritance and generation-skipping taxes;

Preparing pre- and post-marital property agreements addressing community and separate property issues and potential claims;

Advising fiduciaries regarding duties and potential liabilities;

Establishing family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, and providing ongoing legal advice to support their administrations;

Working with business owners to create management and ownership succession plans;

Facilitating lifetime and testamentary charitable giving;

Devising strategies to fund the costs of education for family members and to assist them during their formative years;

Coordinating and conducting family meetings with the appropriate business advisors to facilitate wealth education among family members and to provide a forum for informed discussion of wealth management;

Counseling clients on medical and health care arrangements for themselves and family members;

Representing clients in connection with probate and estate administration;

Serving as the “family office” for the former CEO of a Fortune 500 Company.

LICENSES AND ADMISSIONS

Supreme Court of the State of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

CERTIFICATION

Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization

 

EDUCATION

J.D., The University of Texas at Austin School of Law, 1989

B.A. in English, The University of Texas at Austin, 1985

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Austin Bar Association Estate Planning and Probate Section, Treasurer 2015–2016, Board Member 2014 –present

Estate Planning Council of Central Texas

State Bar of Texas Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Section

Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation

State Bar College

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas—Volunteer Attorney, 1989–present

All Saints’ Episcopal Church

  • ​Member, 1999–present

  • Endowment Committee

    • Chair, 2016–2017

    • Treasurer, 2015–2016

    • Secretary, 2014–2015

    • Member, 2012–2017

  • Vestry

    • Senior Warden, 2011–2012

    • Member, 2009–2012

    • Clerk, 2004–2005

All Saints’ Episcopal Day School

  • President, Board of Trustees, 2005–2007

  • Trustee, 2004–2008 

  • Head Support Committee, 2007–2009

Casis Elementary School

  • Past Volunteer/Author Visit Co-Chair, Casis Cares, Read Aloud

Junior League of Austin

  • Sustainer, 2005–present

  • Member, 1990–2005

  • Project Chair, 1991–1992, 1997–1998

Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin

  • Past Volunteer/assisted with pasteurization and packaging of milk for premature babies who cannot tolerate formula,

Paramount Theatre

  • Gala Chair, 1997

  • Board Member, 1991–2000

Business Committee For the Arts

  • Arts Week Chair, 1992

  • Past Member

Hospice Austin

  • Past Volunteer/Developed and implemented first bereavement camp for children who had lost parents or siblings

AIDS Services of Austin

  • Past Volunteer/Coordinated food drives for Pantry

Christopher House

  • Past Volunteer/Read to and visited with patients, assisted in office

West Austin Caregivers

  • Past Volunteer/Took elderly and homebound clients to appointments and to run errands

Ronald McDonald House

  • Past Volunteer/Wrote articles for newsletter