Estate planningProbateSmall-business law
Two attorneys in downtown Bryan, a block from the courthouse, writing wills and trusts and handling probate since 2012. Much of the job is judgment: whether a will is enough or a trust earns its cost, whether an estate can pass by muniment of title or needs a full administration. We’ll tell you which, and most of the work is a flat fee.
Or call (979) 555-0167. The first call is free and takes about twenty minutes.
Wills and trusts, probate, and small-business law, and nothing else. We see the same Texas questions every week: whether a family needs a trust, which probate route an estate qualifies for, what a company agreement should say when an owner dies. We don’t take divorces, criminal cases or injury claims; if that’s what you need, we’ll tell you who in town handles it.
Wills, trusts & powers of attorney
Decide now who gets what, who is in charge, and who makes medical and money decisions if you can’t, so your family isn’t guessing later.
Estate administration after a death
When someone dies, we take the executor or the family through the court process, from the first filing to the house being in the right name.
Forming, contracts, buying & selling
Set the company up properly, put the deals you make every week on paper, and get help when it’s time to buy or sell a business.
Ruth opened the office in 2012. Daniel joined in 2017 and the firm became Calder & Whitlock. The attorney you meet at the planning meeting is the one who drafts your documents.
Estate planning & probate
Ruth has written wills and trusts for twenty years, first at a larger Houston firm and then on her own in Bryan. She also handles the firm’s probate work: muniments of title, independent administrations, and the heirship cases that follow when there was no will.
Small-business law
Daniel spent his first years in practice on deal teams in Dallas, then came back to the Brazos Valley, where he grew up. He forms companies, writes and reviews the contracts they run on, and handles sales of local businesses. When an owner’s company agreement and estate plan need to say the same thing, he and Ruth draft them together.
Short, general answers. Your situation gets a real one at the planning meeting.
For most families in Texas, a will is enough. Probate here is simpler and cheaper than in many states, especially with a well-drafted will. A trust earns its cost when you own land in more than one county or state, want privacy, or have a family situation where a court process would invite trouble. We’ll tell you which one fits at the first meeting, and we don’t sell trusts to people who don’t need them.
Everything listed in your engagement letter: the meetings, the drafting, the revisions, phone calls and emails along the way, and the signing with witnesses and a notary. Court costs, filing fees and recording fees are separate and passed through at cost. If something comes up that falls outside it, we tell you before doing it.
Not a problem, just a reason to plan carefully. Blended families are where a simple “everything to my spouse” will most often goes wrong. We’ll talk through how to provide for your spouse and still make sure each side’s children are taken care of.
Find the original will if there is one, request several certified copies of the death certificate, and keep paying the mortgage and insurance on the house. Don’t pay the deceased’s credit cards out of your own pocket. Then call us; the first conversation is free, and we’ll tell you which Texas probate route fits.
Usually, yes. An LLC keeps the business’s debts and lawsuits away from your house and savings, as long as you run it like a separate business. It doesn’t change your taxes by itself; ask your CPA about electing S-corporation status once profits grow. We work alongside your CPA rather than around them.
Drafting and review can happen entirely by phone and video. For wills, we strongly prefer an in-person signing at our office so the witnesses and notary are handled correctly. If someone is in the hospital or can’t travel, we’ll come to them anywhere in the Brazos Valley.
Yes. We regularly handle probates and plans for families in Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson and Washington counties, and business work across Texas.
Most plans, simple probates and business formations are one flat fee, set in the engagement letter before work begins. Contested and open-ended work is hourly.
Calder & Whitlock, PLLC
Schedule of fees, 2026
Disputes, negotiations and deal work. Billed in tenths of an hour, itemized monthly.
An estate plan usually takes three to four weeks and two visits to our office. Probate and business matters follow the same rhythm; signing day becomes a hearing at the courthouse, a filing with the Texas Secretary of State, or a closing.
Twenty minutes, free, by phone. Tell us what’s going on. We’ll tell you whether we’re the right firm, what it’s likely to cost, and what to bring.
An hour at our office or by video. We go through your family, property and goals and tell you what we’d recommend, and what we wouldn’t. Nothing starts until you sign the engagement letter.
Your documents arrive with a two-page summary on top: who gets what, who’s in charge, and what happens if. Mark them up and ask anything.
We go through your questions and make the changes. Revisions are part of the flat fee, not an extra.
We supply the two witnesses and the notary. You leave with your signed originals in a binder; we keep scanned copies on file.
Sample reviews
These are placeholders written for this concept. The Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct limit how firms use client testimonials, so a live site would follow those rules or leave this section out.
My mother passed in March and her will named me executor, which honestly I did not know what that involved at the time. Ruth explained that since the only debt was the house note we could do a muniment of title instead of a full probate, I had never heard of that. It ended up being one short hearing at the Burleson County courthouse and she went with me. Her office called me back every time, even when I was asking the same thing twice. About two months start to finish.
We had our wills and powers of attorney done here. Ruth was thorough and the two-page summary on top of everything is useful to have. Getting in took a while, though: the first planning meeting they had open was almost three weeks out.
Daniel reviewed my shop lease. Caught two bad clauses.
Book a free twenty-minute call, or a one-hour planning meeting if you already know what you need. Our office manager answers the phone during office hours.
(979) 555-0167Online schedulingPreview
On the live site, this panel connects to the firm’s scheduling system. You pick a meeting type and an open time, it books straight onto the right attorney’s calendar, and you get a confirmation email and a reminder text the day before.
Example open times, Thursday