My primary practice areas within the field of general civil litigation focus on contested probate, trusts, estates, and guardianships, as well as  business and commercial litigation, construction litigation, and real estate litigation. Dedicated to providing the highest quality and thorough service in every case, I routinely serve clients in the following counties in the Brazos Valley: Brazos, Burleson, Ft. Bend, Grimes, Houston, Lee, Leon, Madison, Milam, Montgomery, Robertson, Walker, and Washington. I am also willing to take, and have taken, cases in other counties and venues as well outside of this area.

• Contests over Wills and trusts
• Guardianship proceedings
• Estate and trust administration
• Probate of Wills or trusts
• Need for administrator of estate

What does it mean to probate a Will? Is a handwritten Will valid? Can anything be done if a Will sets up a trust that depletes the Estate of its assets? If your loved one dies without a Will but there is property to distribute and debts to be paid, who accomplishes those tasks? Can anything be done if your loved one signed a Will while heavily medicated and on his deathbed in the hospital? What becomes of your children if you and your spouse die suddenly in the same accident? As a parent, do you have any right to intervene if your 22-year old daughter is literally killing herself with an eating disorder? These are just a sample of the kinds of questions that probate law deals with.

I returned to the private practice of law on January 1, 2006, after serving two terms of office as judge of County Court at Law #1 in Brazos County. As judge of that court, I had jurisdiction over civil cases involving $100,000 or less, family law, probate, guardianships, condemnation cases, mental cases, and criminal misdemeanors. As judge, I presided over more than a hundred jury trials and decided hundreds more in trials without a jury. In all, only 14 of my decisions were ever appealed and only three of those were reversed by the appellate court.

As a practicing lawyer for nearly 20 years before my time on the bench, I tried cases in the state courts of dozens of the 254 counties throughout the State of Texas and in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Moreover, I have tried lawsuits in the federal district courts of the Western District of Kentucky and in the Southern and Western Districts of Texas. Lastly, I have successfully argued cases before the highest appellate courts in Texas and Kentucky and before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

As an experienced Probate Attorney, I am dedicated to the proposition that clients are entitled to sound advice at a reasonable price. This sound advice is derived from the many hats I have worn over my 26 years in the profession. In addition to being a full-time trial judge for seven years, I served as a part-time municipal court judge for seven more, and am a Board Certified trial lawyer. Moreover, I was one of the first lawyers in Brazos County to be certified as a Mediator and an Arbitrator, and filled those roles in hundreds of other cases. I was selected by other lawyers and chosen by federal district and state court judges to mediate difficult cases. Based on the needs of the case, my proven track record demonstrates that I know how to advocate before an appellate court, persuade a trial judge, motivate a jury, and escort a client through mediation or arbitration.

Recent Achievements:

Since returning to private practice, I have been involved in dozens of contested estates, most of which are still pending. The following are those contested Estate matters that have been successfully concluded:

• Estate of Mary Elizabeth Cadden Rife, including Estate of Mary Elizabeth Cadden Rife v. Terry Ellis and Jennifer Ellis, Cause No. 84,299, Probate Court #1, Travis County, Texas. The terms of the settlement are confidential but the clients’ desires were satisfied.
• Betty Sprague, as Guardian of the Estate of Victor Canavespi, and Charles Sprague, Jr. and Mark Alan Sprague v. Jeannette Canavespi, individually and as Trustee, of the Victor Canavespi Irrevocable Trust; Cause No. 06-000750-CV-85; 85th Judicial District Court, Brazos County, Texas. The terms of the settlement are confidential but the clients’ wishes were fulfilled.
• In re: The Guardianship of Kristin Soltis Jones, 297-G, County Court at Law #1, Brazos County, Texas.  Appointed by the court to represent 21-year old girl who suffered from anorexia nervosa for 8 years; involved moving her from Arizona to Texas and to three different facilities within Texas.
• The Estate of William Benard Robeson, 12,391-PC, and The Estate of Billy Joe Robeson, 12,601-PC, County Court at Law #1, Brazos County, Texas.  Appointed by the court to serve as administrator of the estates of husband and wife who died within nine months of each other.

If you or someone you know anywhere in Texas needs the assistance of an experienced Probate Attorney, call Randy Michel today at 866-766-2630, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your free consultation.