Horseshoe Bay Estate Planning Specialists — Trust Services Built for Lake LBJ
Horseshoe Bay is one of Texas's most successful destination communities — and one of our most natural client bases. Dual-residency families. Lake LBJ homeowners. Resort-club members with multi-state property and grown children scattered across the country.
Planning built for the resort community on Lake LBJ.
Horseshoe Bay started in the early 1970s as a private master-planned development on the south shore of Lake LBJ, conceived by Texas oilman Norman Hurd and his cousin Wayne Hurd as a destination resort for affluent Texans. It incorporated as a city in 2005 and now functions as both a year-round community and one of the busiest second-home markets in central Texas. Three championship golf courses, a resort hotel, a marina, and miles of lakefront define the geography. The demographics define everything else: an older, wealthier, more mobile population than any of the surrounding Hill Country towns.
Our Horseshoe Bay clients almost always have planning complications that straightforward lake-home owners do not. They have a primary residence somewhere else — Houston, Austin, Dallas, sometimes out of state. They have a Horseshoe Bay home that sits empty for part of the year. They have boats, golf carts, and resort-club memberships that need to be accounted for. They often have business interests outside Texas and adult children who do not live in Texas at all. The plan needs to handle every one of those moving pieces.
The Horseshoe Bay demographic.
Horseshoe Bay's population profile is sharply different from the surrounding Hill Country — wealthier, older, more mobile, and more likely to maintain a primary residence elsewhere. Planning has to reflect that reality.
Two homes, two counties, one plan that handles both.
The single most common Horseshoe Bay planning issue is what to do with the lake home when the family's primary residence is elsewhere. Owned individually, the lake home enters probate in Burnet or Llano County (depending on which side of the county line it sits on) at the same time the primary residence enters probate in whatever county the family actually lives in. Two probate proceedings, two clerks, two filing schedules, two sets of legal costs. Every Horseshoe Bay family who owns a home elsewhere should have their lake property titled in a trust — not as a luxury but as basic competent planning.
The complication is that Horseshoe Bay sits across the Llano-Burnet county line, with some neighborhoods in Llano County and others in Burnet. We confirm the county before drafting any deed and file with the appropriate county clerk. Lake LBJ-front properties are predominantly in Llano County; properties on the south and east sides of the city often fall into Burnet County. The trust itself does not change — only the deed-filing location does.
- Primary residence deeded into trust — Whether in Texas or another state.
- Horseshoe Bay home deeded into trust — Filed in Llano or Burnet County as applicable.
- Resort-club membership handled — Many memberships are transferrable through the trust with the resort's cooperation.
- Boats, golf carts, recreational vehicles — Titled or assigned in a way that survives probate.
Horseshoe Bay, TX
We meet Horseshoe Bay clients at the resort, at home, or at our Granite Shoals service area — about 20 minutes east via HWY 1431.
Open in Google MapsWhat planning around a constant-level lake actually involves.
Lake LBJ is a constant-level lake — held within a tight elevation range by the LCRA — which is part of why Horseshoe Bay homes hold their value and why Lake LBJ-front property commands the premiums it does. From a planning standpoint, constant-level matters because the lakefront component of value is more stable than on the variable-level lakes (Lake Travis, Lake Buchanan) where shoreline access changes with the seasons. Appraisals are more predictable. Insurance is more straightforward. Long-term planning around the property is easier to model.
What complicates Lake LBJ planning is everything attached to the home rather than the home itself. Boat slips and lifts. Boat-house structures with their own permit history. Golf-cart titles for the community paths. Resort memberships that may or may not transfer with the property. Country-club equity certificates. We work through each of these in the trust-funding phase because every one of them is a potential probate trip on its own if it is titled individually and not addressed in the plan.
The other Lake LBJ specific issue is community-property documentation. Many Horseshoe Bay owners bought their lake home in a different state — sometimes a common-law state — and the question of whether the property is community or separate property under Texas law depends on the source of the down payment, the title history, and the marital domicile at the time of purchase. We sort that out before drafting because it changes the trust funding strategy and the eventual estate-tax treatment.
What we build for the resort community.
Every service below is available to Horseshoe Bay residents. Many of our HB clients combine three or four into one coordinated structure.
Estate Planning
Coordinated multi-state plans with primary and secondary home titling.
Living Trusts
Revocable trusts that hold both residences and avoid dual-state probate.
Irrevocable Trusts
ILITs and SLATs for high-net-worth families approaching federal exemption.
Asset Protection
Layered defense — important for business owners and high-liability professionals.
Business Trusts
Trust-owned LLC structures for resort-area business owners.
Business Succession
Exit planning for HB business owners moving toward retirement.
Questions HB families ask.
Yes. A Texas-formed trust can hold real property in any state. We deed the out-of-state property into the trust using that state's deed format and recording requirements. Most Horseshoe Bay clients who own a primary home in another state end up with a single Texas trust holding both properties, which is cleaner and cheaper than maintaining separate plans.
No. Riparian rights attach to the property, not to the owner's name. Transferring the property into a trust transfers the rights with it. The same applies to boat-slip licenses, dock permits, and shoreline easements — all follow the property into the trust.
Most Horseshoe Bay Resort club memberships have specific transferability rules in their member agreements. We coordinate with the resort to confirm that the trust is recognized as the holder and that membership rights survive the transfer. Equity memberships sometimes require additional steps, which we handle directly with the resort's membership office.
Trust ownership does not trigger a reappraisal under Texas Tax Code §11.13(j) when the transfer is to a qualifying revocable trust of which the original owner is a trustor and beneficiary. Your assessed value, homestead exemption (if claimed), and over-65 freeze (if applicable) all carry over unchanged.
Every service we offer, available in Horseshoe Bay.
The chips below link to the full service pages. Most clients combine two or three services into a single plan.
Communities near Horseshoe Bay we also serve.
These are the closest cities in our coverage map — each with its own dedicated planning page.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
Tell us a little about your situation and we'll be in touch within one business day. Every consultation is free and confidential.
By submitting this form you agree to be contacted by CMS Global Ventures regarding your inquiry. We never share your information.