Kathleen Ford Bay
Potts & Reilly, L.L.P. , is an AV rated law firm under Martindale Hubbell’s Peer Review Rating process that represents individuals, non-profit organizations, governmental agencies, and business entities. Our firm offers experienced representation to clients throughout Texas.

Our firm focuses its practice in matters involving:
* Administrative Law and Appeals
* Campaign Finance, Election Law, and Ethics Advising
* Civil Litigation and Appeals
* Criminal Defense and Appeals
* Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy Law
* Estate Planning, Probate, Trusts and Elder Law
* Local Government and Municipal Law
* Non-Profits, including 501(c)(3) entities
* Property Tax Disputes
* Public Policy, Legislative, and Governmental Affairs
* Water Rights

The firm is also available to assist title companies as a closing agent for real estate closings, in a notarial capacity.

Estate Planning, Probate, Trusts and Elder Law

Dealing with estate planning and probate issues can, without an experienced attorney, be daunting – even more so when you are trying to help a family member. Congress still, as of July, 2009, has not decided upon a more permanent "bypass amount". There are estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and the “bypass amount” — $3.5 million in 2009 — to consider when making distributions to individuals. Special charitable deductions and the unlimited marital deduction are to be considered as well.

Not only do you need a Will, but you need to coordinate beneficiary designations for life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, and other assets that can, with proper planning, pass outside the terms of the Will. There are income taxes due on deferred compensation-type assets when distributions come out — during your life and after your death. You may want to plan to minimize that income tax, with a roll-over to an IRA if married to the decedent, or a so-called “stretch”, or "inherited", IRA paying over time after death.

We also offer estate planning services for non-traditional couples. This requires special care to ensure that the desires of the couples are carried out during the times of need. We can walk you through the maze of Wills, powers of attorney (including health care decisions), living wills, guardianships, and other estate planning documents that are necessary to ensure that your affairs are in order and handled in the way that you choose.

What is Elder Law? All the foregoing plus issues regarding the “special needs” of disabled individuals and governmental benefits for people.

Not everyone accepts gracefully the plans made by the decedent. Negotiation occurs; sometimes litigation. Also, beneficiaries sometimes disagree with actions taken or not taken by a fiduciary-executor, trustee, or attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney. When negotiation does not lead to resolution, litigation may. As detailed on our Civil Litigation page, our attorneys are fully equipped and prepared to litigate on your behalf, if necessary.

Fellow - American College of Trust & Estate Counsel

Kathleen Ford Bay
Potts & Reilly LLP
401 W 15th St #850
Austin TX 78701-1669
Tel: 512 469-7474
Fax: 512 469-7480

Recognized as a Super Lawyer since the inception of Texas Super Lawyers1 in 2003 and in The Best Lawyers in America2, Ms. Bay represents individuals - in planning their wills and disability documents, when they are beneficiaries under wills and trusts, when they are fiduciaries, when they are considering and dealing with charitable gifts and charities, and when they need to probate a will and perhaps deal with the IRS regarding estate taxes. Ms. Bay also represents banks and trust companies acting in fiduciary roles. On the non profit side, Ms. Bay represents charities, usually incorporated in Texas and sometimes foreign charities doing business in Texas. Ms. Bay is not a native Texan, but was born in a hospital in Glendale, California, while her parents were living close to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from Rice University with a double major in English and Behavioral Sciences and from University of Texas School of Law at Austin with high honors (where she received the Order of the Coif and graduated as a Chancellor), Bay practiced with the Wall Street law firms of Sullivan & Cromwell and then Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy before returning to Austin in 1987. Ms. Bay was a director at Blazier, Christensen, Bigelow & Virr, P.C. in its Estate Planning, Probate, and Trusts Section before joining Potts & Reilly in September 2008. Ms. Bay is admitted to practice in Texas and New York and before the Tax Court. Ms. Bay is a Fellow of the American Academy of Trusts and Estates Counsel, a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, has served on the Council of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the American Bar Association, on the Board of the Estate Planning Council of Central Texas, and on the Board of the Travis County Probate Section. Ms. Bay has served as a Governor-appointee (Gov. Bush and then Gov. Perry) to the Texas Council for the Humanities (now Humanities Texas), on the Executive Committee of the Austin Symphony Orchestra (and is currently on its Board), on the endowment committee for her church (All Saints Episcopal), is a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary International, and has served as a mentor in the Austin public school system. Ms. Bay is not certified in Elder law.

Potts & Reilly, L.L.P., in Austin, Texas, represents clients throughout Texas, including the communities of Austin, Dallas, San Marcos, Georgetown, Round Rock, Marble Falls, Horseshoe Bay, Granite Shoals, Kingsland, Bastrop, El Paso, the Texas Hill Country, Highland Lakes, and Central Texas.

Travis County - Williamson County - Burnet County - Llano County - Dallas County - Hays County
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