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Recent Blog Posts
Who Can Make a Will in Texas and How to Execute One
Creating a will is often seen as the most basic form of estate planning. While an increasing number of people choose trusts over wills, these documents still have important uses for many individuals. Smaller estates may be passed entirely through wills in some instances. Texas state law sets out a few basic requirements that must be met in order for a will to be considered valid and enforced during probate. Some requirements relate to who the testator is, while others proscribe a very specific method of will execution.
In general, most adults will be able to create a will in Texas. There are limitations based on the testator’s competency, however. This is one reason why middle-aged and even young adults should consider creating a will now rather than waiting until they are older adults at risk for age-related mental deterioration. It is also highly advisable to execute a will only under the direct supervision of a qualified lawyer.
How to Arrange Care for a Pet in Your Estate Plan
Many people share a strong bond with their pets. Companion animals can be a wonderful source of comfort to their owners. If you have a dear pet who could potentially outlive you, you may be comforted to know that there is a way to provide for the ongoing care of your pet using your estate plan. Trusts for the care of an animal are explicitly authorized in Texas’s trust code. There are requirements governing the use of pet trusts. For example, the animal provided for must be alive during the grantor’s lifetime. A trust to care for your dog would likely be permitted, but a trust caring for all future descendants of your dog would likely not be enforced. If you are interested in using a trust for the care of an animal to provide for your pet should they outlive you, it is best to work with a skilled attorney. Pet trusts can be complex as can any other form of trust.
What You Should Know About Trusts for the Care of an Animal
3 Essential Asset Protection Strategies in Estate Planning
When you are planning how your estate property is to be distributed one day, you likely want the entirety of your estate passed on to your loved ones rather than being diminished by fees and costs. Mistakes during the estate planning process can lead to the loss of estate funds and property, affecting what will be available for your beneficiaries. There are a number of estate planning strategies geared around asset protection. Everything from the type of testamentary instrument you use to the wording of a trust can have a significant impact on your estate’s asset retention.
Asset protection may be of particular importance for those with more complex assets they are seeking to pass on, such as ownership interest in a company. It is wise to work with an experienced attorney who can help you to utilize every available asset protection tactic during the estate planning process.
Ways to Preserve Estate Property
Why Young Adults Need Estate Plans Too
Estate planning is often thought of as a task for the sick and the elderly - those who reasonably anticipate that their life will draw to a close in the relatively near future. Those with great-grandchildren are meant to make out their wills. A father diagnosed with late-stage cancer should create a trust. Those who are of an age to be concerned with Alzheimer’s and other age-related impairments of the mind need powers of attorney and health care advance directives.
While it is true that the aforementioned groups should create estate plans with haste, it is also important for young adults to undertake the task. Little can be predicted in life. Even those who are young, unmarried, and with no descendants would be wise to create an estate plan to cope with the contingencies of life. If you are interested in making an estate plan, an attorney can aid you in preparing the documents your plan should be comprised of.
When Should a Successor Trustee Seek Legal Assistance?
The duties of a successor trustee can be complex and varied. Depending on the nature of the instructions left by the grantor, a successor trustee may have significant discretion in distributing trust funds, or none at all. Despite holding the instructions of a now-deceased grantor sacred, a series of difficulties may arise for the successor trustee. Situations may arise frustrating the purpose of a trust or rendering its continued administration impracticable. Successor trustees, even professionals, may encounter situations that are legally complex and require a high level of skill and commitment. Beneficiaries, or those who were not named as beneficiaries, may not be amenable to the successor trustee’s handling of the trust. Legal challenges may be brought. A majority of fiduciaries tasked with managing another’s trust for the benefit of the grantor’s selected beneficiaries may benefit from legal assistance at some point in the execution of their duties.
Top 5 Challenges Families Face During Probate
Probate is generally not fun. It can be complicated. It can be prolonged. It can be costly. There are multiple steps in the Texas probate process, so there are plenty of points where something could go wrong. It is fairly normal for families to run into difficulties during probate. Although the personal representative may initially have things under control, that could change at any moment. Anything from a surprise challenger to a few missing documents can throw a wrench in probate unexpectedly.
Many bereaved families start the process by themselves only to find that they need help from an attorney midway once a challenge arises. It is often best to have a lawyer on board from the beginning if possible. Our goal as probate lawyers is to take on the legal side of handling your loved one’s estate so that you and your family can focus on healing from your loss.
The Most Common Problems That Arise During Probate
The Two Main Types of Trusts
Estate planning trusts come in many different forms. There are trusts with specific purposes, like charitable trusts and minors’ trusts. There are trusts created by a will. If you are looking to create a trust, you have numerous options. However, the two main types of trusts you will likely work with are revocable living trusts and irrevocable living trusts. The differences between the two largely revolve around how flexible the trust is. Many people choose revocable living trusts because they are rather easy to go back and make changes to. The idea of an irrevocable trust frightens some people. However, there are numerous benefits to using irrevocable trusts, mainly related to asset protection. You should speak with an attorney about what your particular estate planning needs and goals are before settling on a type of trust.
What Is a Revocable Living Trust?
3 Tools Texas Parents May Need in Their Estate Plan
No parent ever wants to think about the possibility of passing away while their children are still children. It can be a terrifying and uncomfortable thought. It is also statistically very unlikely, especially if your children currently have two living parents. However, life is nothing if not unpredictable. No one can predict the future. While you are highly unlikely to need an estate plan that provides for your minor children, it is far better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have it.
As you cannot leave money directly to a minor, even if they are your own child, you will need to use several different estate planning tools to protect them. If you have minor children and you do not already have a strong estate plan designed with them in mind, the time to start building one is today.
Estate Planning Tips for Parents With Young Children
There are a handful of legal tools parents of minor children can use to protect their children should the worst happen. Documents and strategies that may belong in your estate plan include:
Understanding Revocable Living Trusts in Texas
Trusts are often the smarter way of planning to distribute your future estate property. Wills come with a lot of pitfalls - specifically, that your loved ones will have to go through an often-challenging probate process. Trusts allow your future beneficiaries to skip the time-consuming proceedings and cost associated with probate and may offer a number of other benefits in addition. However, trusts are not understood as well as wills are. There is still a prevailing popular belief that trusts are for the ultra-wealthy, those families whose children and grandchildren will never have to work for a living. This is far from the truth. You may be surprised how much you and your loved ones could benefit from creating a revocable living trust. Our attorneys can answer any other questions you may have about how trusts work or how they could help you.
How a Revocable Living Trust Works
A common source of confusion is that there are multiple unique types of trusts to choose between. There are irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts, revocable living trusts, and even something called a testamentary trust, which can only be created using a will. These are just a few of the forms a trust can take.
Why You Should Not Rely on a Homemade Will
There are multiple ways for a person to try to make a will without seeing an attorney. While these methods may seem cheaper and easier in the short-term, they can backfire horrendously in the end. The two main ways that some people go about DIY-ing their estate plans are through online kits, and by making handwritten (“holographic”) wills. Both methods are quite fallible. The risk of using one of these at-home methods is that the document you create will not be legally effective.
In Texas, wills must be created according to certain formalities, and they must comply with a series of strict laws. The effect of even one legal mistake can be that the entire document gets thrown out, and you are left intestate. Our attorneys can help you with a much better, safer way of making an estate plan.
What is a Holographic Will?
A holographic will is a will that is written entirely in the testator’s own handwriting and signed. While these can be legally acceptable in Texas, there is quite a lot of risk that someone could challenge the will. Most holographic wills are made without neutral witnesses present, and thus, are easily disputed. The only time a person in Texas should attempt to make a holographic will is if they are imminently about to die and truly have no other options. For example, in one famous case, a farmer carved his will into the bumper of the tractor he was pinned under.
14603 Huebner Rd., Bldg. 32, San Antonio, TX 78230
210-535-0870
