Karen G. Gantt
Managing Partner – Craig Ranch Office
Address: 8850 Collin McKinney Parkway, Suite 250, McKinney, TX 75070
Phone: 972-562-6262
E-mail: karen@mccrawgantt.com
About
Karen focuses her practice on high-net-worth trust and estate planning and administration. She works with mineral owners, business owners, executives, physicians and other individuals and their families to develop and administer plans for the tax-efficient transfer of assets to future generations.
Karen provides strategic counsel on a full range of trust and estate matters, including gift and estate tax minimization, trust administration, fiduciary succession and asset protection. She frequently advises clients on the structure and management of family-owned business interests and real estate holdings, including farm and ranch interests and mineral properties. She often represents clients as executors or beneficiaries in probate matters. In select cases, Karen will act as executor, trustee or agent in the administration of estates, trusts, family limited partnerships, limited liability companies and other entities that hold complex assets such as real estate or oil and gas interests.
Karen began her legal career as a commercial litigator at Winstead PC and then worked as division counsel of a publicly traded company. In these roles, she gained wide-ranging experience, which further assists her understanding of her clients’ legal and economic positions.
In 2017, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Karen to the Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents. She served as Board Chair for three terms from 2021 – 2023. She also chaired SFA’s University System Affiliation Evaluation Sub-Committee that led to SFA’s affiliation with The University of Texas System. Prior to her service on the SFA Board of Regents, Karen was President of the SFA Alumni Association Board of Directors and a member of the SFA Alumni Association Foundation Board of Governors.
Current Board Positions & Appointments
Commercial Bank of Texas, N.A. – Board of Directors (2024 – present); Wealth Management and Trust Committee; Audit Committee; North Texas Advisory Committee
The University of Texas Foundation – Board of Directors (2025 – present)
Stephen F. Austin State University Foundation – Board of Trustees (2023 – present)
Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee, The University of Texas System – Member (2023 – present); Nominating Committee (2024 – 2025)
Education
The University of Texas School of Law
J.D., 1998
Associate Editor, The Review of Litigation, Joe Jamail Liaison
Stephen F. Austin State University
B.A., summa cum laude, 1995
Highest Ranking Graduate
President, Delta Delta Delta
Professional Memberships & Affiliations
State Bar of Texas (Probate Section, Oil and Gas Section)
Collin County Bar Association (Estate Planning and Probate Section)
Estate Planning Council of North Texas
Dallas Estate Planning Council