Hanshaw Kennedy Hafen Law

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Hanshaw Kennedy Hafen Law Hanshaw Kennedy Hafen is a multi-practice law firm based in Frisco, Texas.

Our attorneys handle a broad range of practice areas including commercial litigation, business law, healthcare law, estate planning, catastrophic injury, divorce and family law.

For the CPAs, bankers and advisors who usually see this first.Your client's buy-sell is funded with life insurance the c...
10/16/2026

For the CPAs, bankers and advisors who usually see this first.

Your client's buy-sell is funded with life insurance the company owns. When an owner dies, the company collects the payout and buys back that owner's shares.

On June 6, 2024, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled in Connelly v. United States that the insurance money counts toward the value of the business for estate tax. The buyback promise does not cancel it out.

So a plan built to protect the family can raise the estate tax bill. Agreements signed before June 2024 and never reviewed are the ones to check.

If you are seeing this with a client, we will take the call and tell you honestly whether it needs a lawyer yet.

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

Texas gave business owners three new tools in 2025. They only work if you add them to your documents.Senate Bill 29 took...
10/15/2026

Texas gave business owners three new tools in 2025. They only work if you add them to your documents.

Senate Bill 29 took effect May 14, 2025. A company can now write in a jury waiver for disputes among owners and managers, name an exclusive Texas forum for those disputes, and opt in to a business judgment rule that protects good-faith decisions.

None of it is automatic for a private company. All of it is easier to add while everyone still gets along.

Send us your company agreement. We will check it against SB 29 and send back a short list of what is worth changing.

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

A non-compete and a trade secret are not the same protection.A non-compete limits where a former employee can work. Unde...
10/14/2026

A non-compete and a trade secret are not the same protection.

A non-compete limits where a former employee can work. Under Section 15.50 of the Business and Commerce Code, it has to be reasonable, and it ends on a date.

Trade secret law limits what they can use. The Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act has been in effect since September 1, 2013. It does not expire, and it applies even to people who never signed anything.

The catch: you have to treat the information like a secret. A pricing sheet on a shared drive anyone can open is hard to protect.

Before this quarter ends, write down what you consider a trade secret and who can open it today.

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

Two owners. Fifty fifty. And they do not agree.One wants to sell the building. The other wants to refinance. Neither has...
10/13/2026

Two owners. Fifty fifty. And they do not agree.

One wants to sell the building. The other wants to refinance. Neither has the votes, so nothing moves.

Either owner can ask a Texas court to step in. Section 11.314 of the Business Organizations Code lets a judge close an LLC or partnership when it can no longer run under its own rules. That is not a buyout. It is the end of the business.

The fix is a tiebreaker and a buy-sell with a set way to value the company. Both are easy to add while you still get along.

When did you last read the deadlock section of your company agreement?

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

Five miles. One year. A buyout capped at one year of salary.If your practice signed or renewed a physician non-compete o...
10/12/2026

Five miles. One year. A buyout capped at one year of salary.

If your practice signed or renewed a physician non-compete on or after September 1, 2025, those are not negotiating positions. They are statutory ceilings.

Senate Bill 1318 rewrote Section 15.50 of the Business and Commerce Code. The buyout cannot exceed the physician's total annual salary and wages at termination. The covenant expires no later than the one year anniversary. The geography is capped at a five mile radius from where the physician primarily practiced. And the terms have to be clear and conspicuous in writing.

Section 15.501 extends all four to dentists, nurses licensed under Chapter 301 of the Occupations Code, and physician assistants under Chapter 204.

Which of your practitioner agreements renew in the next two quarters, and has anyone read them since the statute changed?

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

A removal right that expires is the same as no removal right at all.Chapter 25A of the Government Code created the Texas...
10/11/2026

A removal right that expires is the same as no removal right at all.

Chapter 25A of the Government Code created the Texas Business Court, which opened September 1, 2024. House Bill 40 dropped the commercial threshold from $10 million to $5 million in 2025 and added intellectual property and trade secrets as qualifying subject matter.

The deadline: if the parties do not all agree, a notice of removal has to be filed within 30 days after a party discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, facts establishing the court's jurisdiction.

In DrinkPAK v. PRIII/Crow Building C, 2026 Tex. Bus. 27, the court found a removal untimely because the original petition already stated an objective amount in controversy. The clock starts when the facts become knowable, not when you get comfortable.

A Frisco company is also not in one division. Filed in Collin County, a suit goes to the First Division in Dallas. Filed in Denton County, the Eighth Division in Fort Worth.

If a petition landed on a desk at your company this month, send it over and we will tell you whether the 30 days is still open.

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

An overbroad non-compete is not a dead non-compete in Texas. It is a non-compete a judge rewrites and then enforces.Sect...
10/09/2026

An overbroad non-compete is not a dead non-compete in Texas. It is a non-compete a judge rewrites and then enforces.

Section 15.51(c) of the Business and Commerce Code says a court shall reform unreasonable limits on time, geography or scope and shall enforce the covenant as reformed. Shall, not may.

So an employee who assumes a five year nationwide covenant is a nullity is assuming wrong. A court can cut it down and hold them to the smaller version.

The part employers skip: where a court has to reform, it may not award damages for a breach occurring before reformation. You get the injunction going forward. The lost profits claim is gone.

Pull your three most used covenants before the next offer letter goes out, and check one thing on each: does the territory match where that person actually worked.

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

A sales manager gives notice on a Friday. On Monday you learn the pricing spreadsheet went to a personal account last Tu...
10/08/2026

A sales manager gives notice on a Friday. On Monday you learn the pricing spreadsheet went to a personal account last Tuesday.

Whether that spreadsheet is a trade secret depends less on what it is than on how you treated it before it left.

Chapter 134A of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code sets a two part test. You took reasonable measures to keep it secret, and it has independent economic value because it is not generally known or readily ascertainable. Section 134A.002(6).

Both halves matter. Information you shared freely is not protected. Guarded information anyone could look up is not protected either.

And Section 134A.003 is clear that an injunction cannot stop someone from using the general knowledge, skill and experience they acquired on the job. They keep what they learned. They do not keep your file.

Pull three things this week and put them on one desk: your NDAs, your access logs, and your offboarding checklist. Send us the set and we will tell you where the gaps are.

https://hanshawkennedy.com/articles/what-counts-as-a-trade-secret-under-texas-law/

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

You are three weeks from close and the seller cannot produce a signed company agreement.For the CPAs, bankers, brokers a...
10/07/2026

You are three weeks from close and the seller cannot produce a signed company agreement.

For the CPAs, bankers, brokers and advisors who see the trigger before we do.

You are reading a K-1 and the ownership split does not match what your client told you last year.

A client mentions that his partner stopped returning calls and changed the password on the accounting file.

Each of those has a clock on it. A Texas Business Court removal right expires 30 days after the facts establishing jurisdiction become reasonably discoverable, under Section 25A.006 of the Government Code.

We are not asking you to diagnose it. You already did the hard part, which is noticing.

If you are seeing this with a client, we will take the call and tell you honestly whether it needs a lawyer yet.

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

You were told something in the room. The paper said you were not relying on anything said in the room. In Texas, the pap...
10/06/2026

You were told something in the room. The paper said you were not relying on anything said in the room. In Texas, the paper wins.

On September 22, 2026 the Business Court of Texas dismissed a former executive's fraud case on the pleadings, with prejudice. Beard v. Perot. He said he was promised compensation tied to a portfolio company. The court never decided whether the promise was made.

He had signed a release specifically disclaiming reliance on any communications, promises or statements that may have been made.

A merger clause alone usually is not enough. Italian Cowboy Partners v. Prudential, 341 S.W.3d 323 (Tex. 2011), says so. A clear disclaimer of reliance is a different animal.

Search the next draft that crosses your desk for three words: relying, reliance, representations.

When did you last check whether something you signed gave up your right to say you were misled?

https://hanshawkennedy.com/articles/can-you-sue-for-fraud-after-signing-a-texas-release-agreement/

For informational purposes only. This is not legal advice.

Address

1415 Legacy Drive , Suite 350
Frisco, TX
75034

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+19727316500

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