Larry D. George

Larry D. George is a Houston-based attorney and shareholder at Crain Caton & James. Larry focuses on corporate and tax planning, estate planning, trust structure, and probate law for high-net-worth individuals, multi-generational families, privately owned companies, and charitable organizations. Larry advises clients on wealth preservation, strategic wealth transfers, and minimizing gift and estate tax exposures. Key areas of practice include structuring family limited partnerships (FLPs), LLCs, revocable trusts, and private family foundations. Larry provides advanced counsel on business succession planning, entity formation, shareholder voting agreements, corporate exit strategies, and non-family key employee incentive agreements. Additionally, Larry manages complex wealth events for high-profile individuals, including multi-million-dollar lottery winners.

Experience

Estate Planning

• Prepared traditional wills, life insurance trusts, revocable trusts as well as powers of attorney, medical directives, and related documents
• Devised gift and estate plans to minimize the payment of current or future estate and gift taxes
• Developed succession plans for family-owned businesses
• Developed family entities such as family partnerships, limited liability companies, special-purpose trusts, and trusts to direct the management, to control and preserve the family’s assets while minimizing taxes both during lifetime and at death
• Charitable planning including the use of trusts and family foundations
• Counsel on the benefits of and develop premarital and post-marital agreements for asset protection, succession planning and promoting family harmony

Business/Tax Planning

• Structured and negotiated the acquisition or sale of entities or their assets and coordinated with the firm’s specialists in real estate, environmental, employment, or securities law matters as appropriate
• Developed Buy-Sell Agreements among shareholders to deal with death, divorce, disability and other issues among the owners
• Devised succession plans to transfer the business to the next generation of owners or to key employees
• Developed key employee agreements to encourage the retention of non-family members in the business
• Developed and prepared incentive compensation agreements for key employees
• Devised exit strategies for the owners including the sale of the business to family members, key employees, and to the third parties in a tax effective and secure manner
• Business and tax counsel to entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses in the formation and capitalization of new and growing businesses taking into account control issues, management, shareholder agreements, and voting agreements
• Counseled on the resolution of disputes among the owners of closely held businesses
• Advised and counseled on employee disputes and, as necessary, include lawyers from the Firm’s employment group
• Represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service on tax disputes of all nature