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Karen S. Gerstner & Associates, P.C.: The Houston Estate Boutique Board-Certified Since 1986

Karen Gerstner earned her Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law in 1986 — making 2026 her fortieth consecutive year holding it, a tenure that predates most competing Houston boutiques by decades. In 2024, her daughter Libby Mosher joined the firm after leaving a large corporate law practice, giving the boutique its first second-generation attorney.

Origin and Background

Karen S. Gerstner & Associates, P.C. is located at 5615 Kirby Drive, Suite 306, Houston, TX 77005, confirmed through Martindale-Hubbell and the firm’s own site. Karen Gerstner earned her B.A. with honors from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1977, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and earned her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1980. She practiced estate and trust law at other Houston firms for more than two decades before founding her own boutique in 2004. She holds board certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law from TBLS, independently confirmed across Super Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell, and Lawyers.com, and has been a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) since 1999.

Practice Concentration

The firm concentrates exclusively on estate planning, trust and estate administration, and post-death tax planning and compliance, with a specific area of recognized expertise in estate planning for retirement plan benefits — a narrower technical niche than general estate planning. Gerstner is a frequent author and speaker on estate, trust, probate, and retirement-plan topics. See this Houston Estate Planning & Probate directory for how this single-practice-area boutique compares to broader multi-service firms also serving Harris County.

Notable Work / Track Record

As is typical for an estate planning and administration boutique, the firm does not publish a table of case verdicts or settlements, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify one — this practice area centers on drafted plans and completed administrations rather than litigated outcomes. What is independently verifiable is Gerstner’s 40-year unbroken TBLS certification, her ACTEC fellowship dating to 1999, and a 23-consecutive-year Super Lawyers selection (2003–2026) for Estate Planning & Probate specifically.

Client Voice

Client reviews describe Gerstner as someone who “knows estate law inside and out” and is “very professional,” with one reviewer describing a multi-year relationship spanning both parents’ lives and, later, both of their deaths — a repeat-engagement pattern that suggests sustained trust rather than a single transactional encounter. A second review calls the firm’s work simply “very professional” with the team seeming to “really care.” Awesome Attorneys did not identify a pattern of negative or critical reviews warranting disclosure.

Beyond the Courtroom

Gerstner’s clearest form of public-facing service is professional rather than civic: sustained authorship and speaking engagements on estate, trust, and retirement-plan topics for other practitioners, plus her ACTEC fellowship, an invitation-only body regarded as an expert credential within the trust and estate bar. Awesome Attorneys did not identify separate non-legal civic or nonprofit board service documented for her.

Recognition for This Houston Estate Planning Boutique

Gerstner has been named to Super Lawyers for Estate Planning & Probate every year from 2003 through 2026, a 23-year peer-driven streak. Her Board Certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law from TBLS, held continuously since 1986, is independently confirmed through Super Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell, and Lawyers.com. Awesome Attorneys distinguishes these peer-reviewed, examination-based credentials from self-submitted marketing-directory awards.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Estate planning for retirement plan benefits — one of the firm’s specific stated niches — involves coordinating beneficiary designations on IRAs and employer plans with a client’s broader estate plan, since these accounts generally pass by beneficiary designation rather than through a will, and federal rules (including post-2019 SECURE Act changes to inherited-IRA distribution timelines) can override a client’s general estate planning assumptions if the two aren’t coordinated. Texas has no state estate or inheritance tax, though the federal estate tax may still apply to larger estates depending on the exemption amount in the year of death. Texas Estates Code Chapter 401 governs independent administration, allowing an executor to act with minimal ongoing court supervision once appointed. None of this is legal advice; a specific estate or retirement-benefit plan should be evaluated by a licensed Texas attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Karen Gerstner’s clearest differentiator is a 40-year unbroken TBLS certification combined with a genuinely narrow technical specialty — retirement-plan beneficiary coordination — that not every general estate planning practice handles with the same depth, reinforced by a documented, repeat-engagement client relationship spanning multiple family members and years. The honest trade-off is that a boutique this specialized, with two attorneys total, has less capacity than a larger multi-attorney firm for a client who also needs adjacent services like business succession or complex litigation. For a Houston-area client whose estate plan turns significantly on retirement account beneficiary structuring, a four-decade board-certified specialist in exactly that niche is a reasonable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Karen S. Gerstner & Associates, P.C.’s official website (gerstnerlaw.com), Karen Gerstner’s Super Lawyers and Martindale-Hubbell profiles, her Experience.com client review page, and State Bar of Texas records.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Karen S. Gerstner & Associates, P.C. prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.