Austin High-Asset Divorce Attorneys

Meet Our Austin High-Asset Divorce Attorneys

When your case is complex, who leads it matters. Our Austin high-asset divorce attorneys each bring distinct strengths to complex financial, custody, litigation, and settlement matters. Your case is led by the attorney whose experience best fits your circumstances, with the support of colleagues who collaborate when specialized issues arise. 

The attorneys below all practice from Goranson Bain Ausley’s Austin office and bring particular depth to high-asset divorce – cases involving closely held businesses, complex property, executive compensation, and significant or generational wealth.

P. Lindley Bain is the Managing Partner of Goranson Bain Ausley and a Board Certified family law attorney in Austin. She helps clients manage the financial and emotional sides of high-net-worth and contested family matters with clarity and confidence – particularly divorces involving closely held businesses, complex property, and business valuation. A Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, she is the firm’s second female managing partner, with a J.D. and M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University and nearly 20 years of practice.

Rob Frazer is a partner in Goranson Bain Ausley’s Austin office and Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. With more than 17 years of legal experience and a trial background that predates his exclusive focus on family law, Rob represents high-asset, educated, and savvy individuals who want to protect what they have built over a lifetime and avoid the destruction of business or personal assets in divorce. His clients include professionals, business owners, C-suite executives, and their spouses.

Kelly Ausley-Flores is a partner in Goranson Bain Ausley’s Austin office and a Board Certified family law attorney. She earned Board Certification in Family Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in 2000 and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Admitted to the Texas Bar in 1995, Kelly has practiced family law exclusively for more than 30 years, focusing on high-net-worth divorce, complex property division, and family businesses for clients who are often financially well-established and ready for straight-talking, experience-backed counsel. 

Kris Algert is a Collaborative Divorce attorney in Goranson Bain Ausley’s Austin office. A partner since 1991, she is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and a Master Credentialed Collaborative Professional named to the inaugural class recognized by Collaborative Divorce Texas (2017). With more than 35 years in family law, she advises business owners, professionals, and other clients on high-net-worth divorces, complex property division, and business valuation, as well as prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.

Kristiana Butler is a high-net-worth divorce attorney and partner in Goranson Bain Ausley’s Austin office. She is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. With more than a decade focused exclusively on family law, she advises clients on divorces involving closely-held businesses, executive compensation, complex investment portfolios, and the sensitive family dynamics that often accompany them.

Why Clients Turn to GBA Family Law for Austin High-Asset Divorce

Strategic Planning From the Start

In a complex divorce, the decisions made early in the case can have financial consequences that last for years. Goranson Bain Ausley includes two of only 11 attorneys in Texas who are Board Certified in both Family Law and Civil Appellate Law. That rare combination of trial and appellate experience helps identify legal issues early, strengthen the record at trial, and reduce the risk of costly challenges later. Whether your case involves a closely held business, substantial assets, or complex custody issues, we develop a strategy designed to protect your interests from the outset. 

The Depth to Match Your Case

Complex divorces often involve multiple legal and financial issues at once – from business valuations and executive compensation to separate property, child custody, and appellate considerations. At Goranson Bain Ausley, your case is led by a dedicated attorney while drawing on the collective experience of one of Texas’s largest family law firms. When specialized issues arise, our attorneys collaborate to bring the right experience to each aspect of your case, providing thoughtful strategy backed by the depth of our team. 

Experience Across Every Path to Resolution

Goranson Bain Ausley has the nation’s largest team of Collaborative Divorce attorneys and more attorneys recognized in Best Lawyers for Collaborative Law than any other U.S. firm. Combined with extensive litigation, mediation, and arbitration experience, that breadth allows us to recommend the process best suited to your goals and circumstances.

Complex Financial or Asset Issues We Help Clients Navigate 

Every high-asset divorce is different, but many involve financial issues that require specialized legal and financial analysis. Our Austin attorneys regularly represent clients whose marital estates include one or more of the following: 

• Business valuation and characterization: Determining the value of closely held businesses, professional practices, partnerships, and other business interests, while addressing whether all or part of those assets are community or separate property under Texas law. 
• Equity and executive compensation: Evaluating stock options, restricted stock units (RSUs), performance shares, deferred compensation, and other executive compensation plans, particularly when awards were granted or vested at different stages of the marriage. 
• Characterization of separate and community property: Tracing inherited, gifted, and premarital assets through commingled accounts and investments, using the financial documentation necessary to preserve separate property claims. 
• Real estate portfolios: Dividing primary residences, investment properties, vacation homes, and out-of-state or international real estate while addressing valuation, ownership, financing, and jurisdictional issues. 
• Retirement and tax-advantaged accounts: Dividing pensions, 401(k) plans, IRAs, brokerage accounts, and other investment assets, including the preparation of Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) and strategies to help minimize unnecessary tax consequences. 
• Inherited and generational wealth: Addressing family trusts, inherited assets, beneficial interests, and family entities while preserving the legal characterization of separate property whenever appropriate. 

What Makes a Divorce High-Asset in Texas

A high-asset divorce is one where the marital estate includes assets that are genuinely difficult to value or divide, such as a business, equity compensation, real estate, substantial retirement or deferred compensation, or inherited and generational wealth. What defines these cases is the complexity of the assets involved, not a particular dollar figure.

Texas law asks a court to divide the marital estate in a way that is “just and right” under Texas Family Code section 7.001, which, importantly, does not mean a simple 50/50 split. And because Texas is a community property state, the question of whether an asset is separate or community property often becomes the heart of the case. It’s frequently where the most is at stake, and where experience matters most.

Choosing the Right Approach for Your Case

If you are facing a complex divorce, the most useful first step is a conversation with our Austin family law team about your situation, your concerns, and your options. We can help you understand the issues involved, the people who may work on your case, and the most efficient and effective path forward.

• Collaborative divorce is often appropriate when protecting privacy, preserving business interests, or maintaining a healthy co-parenting relationship is important, and both spouses are committed to reaching an agreement without going to court. 
• Mediation is often appropriate when both spouses are willing to negotiate in good faith and want to retain control over the outcome while avoiding the time, expense, and uncertainty of trial. 
• Litigation is often necessary when significant disputes cannot be resolved through negotiation, immediate court intervention is needed, or important financial or parenting issues require a judge’s decision. Our trial and appellate experience helps us build a strong case from the outset and protect your interests throughout the process. 

Schedule a Consultation with Our Austin Team

If you’re facing a complex divorce, the most useful first step is simply a conversation with our Austin family law team about your situation, your concerns, and the people who would handle your case. You can talk through your situation, your concerns, and the people who would handle your case, and leave with a clearer sense of where you stand and what your options are.