Top Rated Estate & Trust Litigation Attorney in Houston, TX

Andrea Barr joined Ford + Bergner LLP in 2019 and focuses her practice on fiduciary, probate and trust litigation.

Ms. Barr's experience includes handling several commercial real estate transactions, commercial, probate, dram shop liability litigation, and a bill of review proceeding.  Ms. Barr’s practice focuses on complex negotiations and litigation involving questions of real estate and probate matters. Ms. Barr also has experience in probate, trust, and guardianship administrations.

While pursuing her law degree, Ms. Barr participated as a student attorney in the transactional clinic at the University of Houston Law Center where she formed entities and drafted agreements related to entity formation, employment, and sales of stocks. While serving as an intern appellate brief writer at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, she filed five (5) successful appellate briefs and created a new system with the Fourteenth and First Court of Appeals to retrieve records and evidence.

During and after law school, Ms. Barr worked for a sole practitioner firm where she was able to get hands-on experience drafting and arguing a bill of review proceeding setting aside an agreed judgment and family settlement and release agreement by summary judgment motion practice in Harris County Probate Court One. 

Representative Matters

• Successfully represented client in compelling estate accounting for 22-year period 
• Represented client in bill of review proceeding setting aside agreed judgment and family settlement and release agreement in probate proceeding
• Draft special exceptions in fiduciary claim case resulting in dismissal of defendant
• Represented former executor in ancillary proceeding and pursued enforcement of an arbitration provision contained in a will resulting in a published court of appeals opinion with dissent and subsequently, settled the $250,000 claim against her client for $3,000 (Ali v. Smith, 554 S.W.3d 755 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2018, no pet.))
• Won motion for summary judgment for subcontractor against general contractor and successfully defended appeal to uphold judgment (Albertelli Constr., Inc. v. Ram Industries Acquisitions, LLC, No. 05-18-01529-CV (Tex. App.-Dallas May 15, 2020)).
• Successfully defended against $8 million dollar action for conspiracy, DTPA violations, theft, conversion, negligence, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty by summary judgment in the Southern District of Texas resulting in dismissal of all claims and an award of $91,476.30 in attorneys’ fees and expenses
• Acted as second chair on two-week trial defending claims against former agent under statutory durable power of attorney and independent executor, including voir dire, direct examination, and drafting all pre-trial and trial materials
• Identified and secured necessary evidence prior to an alcohol provider’s server’s deposition in a wrongful death proceeding resulting in testimony showing the Safe Harbor Defense is unavailable as a matter of law
• Drafted opinion letters for brokerage firms on trust, probate, power of attorney, and other related issues under Texas fiduciary law
• Negotiated several purchases of acreage for series limited liability companies including easement agreements, mineral rights, and private road(s)
• Represented companies and private individuals in royalty disputes