Brian D. Cororve
Partner

Our clients are successful families and individuals who count on us to explain sophisticated concepts in simple terms, explore every option available and give them peace of mind knowing they’re making the best decisions. The most rewarding part of my practice is helping clients navigate the complex web of legal, tax and financial issues and working together with the client’s other advisers to design a strategy that will have a positive impact on their family and business from generation to generation.

Brian Cororve brings more than 20 years of experience to counseling high-net-worth families, entrepreneurs and professionals on the most effective strategies for protecting sophisticated assets and business interests, preserving wealth through multiple generations and minimizing estate and gift taxes. His practice encompasses all aspects of complex estate planning, probate and estate administration, trust structuring and administration, asset protection planning and business succession planning. Brian is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Brian has substantial experience in developing a wide variety of advanced wealth preservation strategies tailored to each client’s unique family dynamics and business interests, including family limited partnerships and all types of revocable and irrevocable trusts. He has also guided individual and institutional trustees to favorable results in numerous trust modification and reformation proceedings.

In addition to planning, Brian helps executors and family members navigate every phase of complex will probates and estate administration, including asset gathering and appraisal, payment of the decedent’s debts, filing estate tax returns and distributing assets to beneficiaries. Although disputes between family members are often unavoidable when significant assets and business interests are at stake, Brian always explores every option available to prevent litigation and in some cases, helps clients negotiate family settlement agreements whenever possible to avoid the cost and stress of a prolonged courtroom battle.

Brian understands that the most challenging problems can be solved by an interdisciplinary team dedicated to protecting the client’s interests. When a problem involves unique issues that go beyond his practice focus and require a more holistic approach, Brian draws on the diverse skills and experience of colleagues in the firm to design the best strategy that will achieve the client’s goals. He also collaborates with his clients’ existing teams of family accountants, financial advisers and life insurance professionals to share ideas and maximize the effectiveness of his clients’ estate planning and wealth preservation strategies.

Thought Leadership / News
October 12, 2023 
 Speeches and Presentations
Preparing Estate Tax Returns, Wills, and Other Documents for Portability

State Bar of Texas Estate Planning & Probate Drafting Course

August 10, 2023 
 Speeches and Presentations
Things Every Texas Estate Planner Should Know About Advising New to Texas Clients, Including Transfer of Guardianship from Another State

UT 25th Annual Estate Planning, Guardianship and Elder Law Conference 

Honors
  • Recognized as a leading private wealth law lawyer in Texas by Chambers & Partners HNW (2019 - 2023)
  • Ranked as one of the leading private wealth law lawyers in Texas, Chambers & Partners USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2020 - 2022)
  • Selected by his peers for inclusion in Woodward/White, Inc.'s The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Trusts & Estates Law (2021 - 2024)
  • Named a "Super Lawyer" by Texas Super Lawyers (a Thomson Reuters business) as published in Texas Monthly  (2015 – 2023)
  • Named a Houstonia Magazine Top Lawyer in Houston (2020 - 2023)
Organizational Involvement
  • Houston Estate and Financial Forum
  • State Bar of Texas
    • Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law Section
  • Houston Bar Association
    • Probate, Trusts and Estate Section, Chair (2023 - 2024)
  • Houston Business and Estate Planning Council, Past President
  • Society of Financial Service Professionals, Past President
  • American Bar Association
Education
  • J.D., The University of Texas School of Law (1998)
  • B.A., magna cum laude, Washington University in St. Louis (1995)
Bar Admission
  • Texas (1998)
When I Feel Most At Home
  • Watching sports - I'm a lifelong Houston sports fan (through all the good times and bad)
  • Enjoying the diverse and thriving Houston food scene
  • Spending time with the family watching movies, walking the dog (Penny) and enjoying all the wonderful cultural opportunities that Houston has to offer