Hello!  I’m Fred Cludius, your Personal Family Lawyer®.

I find most professional bios are little more than a list of educational credentials and a few carefully crafted mission statements explaining why the writer is skilled at his or her job. I want to share a little more—to dive a bit deeper—in my explanation of how I chose to make estate planning the focus of my law firm and why it is so important to me.

In law school, I knew that I wanted to help people. Out of law school, I practiced in personal injury trial law with several firms finishing up with Kyle Law Firm in New Braunfels. During my career in the injury field, I obtained Board Certification in Personal Injury Trial Law, graduated from the Keenan Trial Institute, was a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and served as a speaker at continuing education seminars in trucking litigation.

My estate planning practice was born of personal experience after the tragic death of my wife Jennifer, who was killed in an 18-wheeler crash. Before her death, Jennifer and I kept putting off our own estate planning. For us (and like so many other families), we believed there was always tomorrow to plan.

Until there wasn’t.

Because we had no plan in place at the time of her death, Jennifer’s property went where the State of Texas said it would go and not where I knew Jennifer wanted it to go. It took years, multiple court proceedings and four lawyers to get things settled. And this was without any conflict, just going through the standard processes required to settle the estate.

Jennifer’s death made it too hard for me to continue in injury litigation, so I decided to find a new way to use my law license. The experience of going through the probate process opened my eyes to the importance of planning and the fact that most people put it off until it is too late. My experience planted a seed of inspiration in me—to switch my practice focus from personal injury to estate planning. That seed quickly took root when I received training from a nationally recognized mentor in estate planning. I have taken my experience as an estate planning client to craft a better way to serve people than what you will find in a traditional law firm setting. A way that keeps you on task to complete a plan.

As an injury lawyer, I could only help people once something went wrong. As an estate planning attorney, I have found a new context for using my law license—helping people plan so their families don’t experience conflict and their loved ones are protected. I want to help you avoid the experience I endured.

I have since remarried a wonderful woman, and together Blanca and I share five children in our beautifully blended family: Trevor, Ernesto, Samantha, Noah and Libby. It is my love for this family we’ve created that makes me so passionate about caring for the families of others.

I would love to help you begin the estate planning process, to give you peace of mind and protect the people you love.