Kevin Spencer
Top rated Estate & Trust Litigation attorney in Dallas, Texas
Spencer, Johnson, & Harvell, PLLC
Practice Areas: Estate & Trust Litigation, Estate Planning & Probate, General Litigation
Licensed in Texas since: 1993
Education: The University of South Dakota School of Law
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2011 - 2023 
Selected to Rising Stars: 2004 - 2005, 2007 Call today:
214-965-9999
Free Consultation Spencer, Johnson, & Harvell, PLLC
500 N. Akard StreetSuite 2150
Dallas, TX 75201 Visit website
Details
Attorney Kevin Spencer of Spencer & Johnson, PLLC, has an active and full-time practice and over 28 years of experience in the area of estate, trust, guardianship and fiduciary litigation law in Dallas, Texas. His practice involves will contests, trust contests, guardianship disputes, and lawsuits against personal representatives, trustees and guardians for failing to act according to their statutory and legal duties. It also includes heirship disputes, oil and gas disputes, proving or defending assertions of common-law spouse or heirship, creditor's claims against estates or guardianships, survivorship and wrongful death claims.
Kevin was selected as a Texas Super Lawyer in the area of Estate and Trust Litigation every year since 2011 and has been an AV* rated attorney (peer review rating) since 2003. Â He was named by Texas Monthly as a Rising Star in 2007, 2005 and 2004 and was listed as one of Best Lawyers in Dallas Under 40 Â in a 2006 issue of D Magazine.
Kevin has written papers and given speeches before several state bar sections, including the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and at legal clinics for Legal Services of North Texas. He has authored a number of papers on estate and trust litigation matters, including being twice published in the Texas Tech School of Law Estate Planning and Community Property Law Journal, (1) Good Estate Planning Process: A Panacea for Litigation, 11 Tex. Tech Est. Plan. & Com. Prop. L.J. 137-150 (February 2019) and (2) Standing and Error Correction in Probate, Tex. Tech Est. Plan. & Com. Prop. L. J., Vol. 10, No. 1 (Summer 2018).
*AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories: legal ability and general ethical standards.
Practice areas
Estate & Trust Litigation, Estate Planning & Probate, General Litigation- 80% Estate & Trust Litigation
- 10% Estate Planning & Probate
- 10% General Litigation
First Admitted: 1993, Texas
Professional Webpage: http://www.dallasprobate.com/attorneys/richard-kevin-spencer...
- Texas State Bar
- Member, Dallas Bar Association, Family Law Section
- College of the State Bar of Texas - 2007, 2008 & 2009; Dallas Bar Association; Life Fellow - Dallas Association of Young Lawyers; Leadership Class - DAYL - 2002
- Member, Dallas Bar Association, Trial Skills Section
- Member, Dallas Bar Association, Probate Section
- Member, Dallas Bar Association, Appellate Section
- Legal Services of North Texas; Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program
- University of South Dakota - School of Law - J.D., 1992
- Austin College, B.A., 1989
- Texas Super Lawyer - Estate and Trust Litigation -Â Texas Monthly - 2011-Present, Texas Monthly, 2011
- Martindale-Hubbell - AV Rating
- Best Lawyers in Dallas Under 40 - D-Magazine - May 2006
- Life Fellow, Dallas Association of Young Lawyers
- Texas Rising Star (Best Lawyers in Texas Under 40), Texas Monthly - 2004, 2005, 2007
- DAYL Leadership – Class of 2002
- Attorney, Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program
- President, Cistercian Preparatory School Alumni Association, 1998-2002
- Certified Mediator, 2012
- Certified Attorney Ad Litem for Guardianships
- I wrote a paper and gave a speech to estate planners and probate attorneys advising them of problems and traps we see planners get in, when they do not take notes, do not pay attention to detail and begin to think the process of executing a Will is routine and loses its importancde to them., Speaker, Estate (Planning) Litigation Pointers: A Litigator's Perspective, Collin County Probate Section, 2016
- This is an article providing practice tips and pointers about creating a good estate planning process that will arm a scrivener to defend his or her work if a will contest ever arises., Author, Good Estate Planning Process: A Panacea for Litigation, 11 Tex. Tech Est. Plan & Com Prop. L.J. 137-150 (February 2019), Estate Planning; Estate Litigation, Litigation, 2019
- An estate administration is a continuing series of decisions and events that affect later decisions and events. Texas law offers four mechanisms to correct error in decisions made to avoid the administration being steered off course. This article addresses those mechanisms and the elimination, by the Texas Supreme Court, of a fifth option that used to be available in probate, but now is not., Author, Standing and Error Correction in Probate, Tex. Tech Est. Plan & Com. Prop. L.J., Vol. 10, No. 1 (Summer 2018), 2018
- I wrote and spoke on the difference between family law and probate law as it relates to children, particularly, the jurisdictional aspects in both types of courts and conservatorship versus guardianships over minors., Speaker/Author, (Family vs.) Probate Regarding Children, Advanced Family Law Course, State Bar Of Texas - Family Law Section, 2007
- I wrote and spoke on the interplay of a trust in a divorce and how it affects "just and right" division of property., Speaker/Author, Divorce and Trust Litigation - Can you trust the Trust?, The TAFLS Trial Institute, State Bar Of Texas - Family Section, 2004
- I wrote and spoke on the five methods of correcting error in probate and the reasons for correcting error, particularly, because probate matters are an ongoing and progressive process and errors in an early part of the process can affect and even have deleterious effect on the later parts of the process., Speaker/Author, Bill of Review and Error Correction in Probate, Probate Litigation Seminar, State Bar Of Texas - Probate Section, 2004
- I wrote an article addressing certain probate issues that can affect a divorce, which need to be remember and considered in devising any divorce settlement or preparing for trial of a divorce., Author, Probate Issues Affecting Divorce Attorneys and their Clients., Family Law Forum, Texas Academy Of Family Law Specialists, 2002
- I wrote and spoke on the basic aspects of probate and how it might affect the family practitioner., Speaker/Author, Probate: Dead or Alive, We will be Splitting the Estate and Other Cross Over Issues, Advanced Family Law Course, State Bar Of Texas - Family Section, 2002
- I spoke regarding the topic of judicial notice, self-authentication and automatically authenticated evidence., Speaker, Self-Proving Evidence, How to Offer & Exclude Evidence Seminar, State Bar Of Texas - Litigation Section, 2001
- I gave a speech to the practicing attorneys at Legal Services of North Texas explaining the basics of guardianships and the guardianship process, so they might be able to handle guardianships themselves., Speaker, Basic Guardianships, Legal Services of North Texas, 1996
- Banking
- Commercial
- Individuals
- Oil & Gas
- Real Estate
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2011 - 2023
- Rising Stars: 2004 - 2005, 2007
