Resolve the dispute
without losing the family.
Mediation with a focus on Probate, Trust, Guardianship, & Fiduciary Disputes in San Antonio, Texas
Our approach
Balmer Mediations helps executors, trustees, heirs, guardians, and their counsel reach practical settlements in probate, guardianship, and trust litigation — outside the courtroom, on their own terms.
Fiduciary disputes rarely need a trial.
They need a proven process and someone who has sat on both sides of the table
Contested estates carry legal complexity and family history in equal measure. A settlement that holds has to account for both. David Balmer mediates from the experience of having litigated these types of disputes for over 30 years in Texas probate courts.
Grounded in probate and guardianship practice
Years spent litigating contested administrations, will contests, breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims, and guardianship disputes mean the process anticipates the real legal exposure on each side, not just the emotional one.
Built for family systems
Estate and guardianship disputes involve people who have to remain a family after the case ends. Sessions are structured to protect that relationship wherever a settlement allows it.
Flexible format
In-person, virtual, joint session, or shuttle mediation between caucus rooms — the format follows what the parties and their counsel need, not a fixed script.
A neutral space for negotiating fiduciary and probate disputes
Serving San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country.
Common Matters Mediated
-
Will & Codicil Contests
-
Trustee & Executor Accounting Disputes
-
Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims
-
Guardianship & Heirship Disputes
-
Estate Partition & Distribution Disagreements
-
Family Business & Succession Disputes
“The goal of mediation shouldn't be to make everyone happy. It should be to give each side a resolution they can live with, and a way to stop the litigation and the financial and emotional costs that go along with it.”
— DAVID BALMER, CREDENTIALED MEDIATOR
A process shaped around Texas
probate practice
Mediation sessions reflect the procedural realities of Texas probate courts, from standing and notice issues in a will contest to the accounting disputes common in trust litigation. That context shortens the distance between opening positions and a workable agreement.