How Does Divorce Affect Your Estate Plan?
When you go through a divorce, it affects virtually every aspect of your life—from your daily life to your long-term plans for the future, but does divorce affect your estate plan. It also changes your legal obligations when it comes to your estate plan as well. In fact, you need to take steps...
Six Things You Should Know About Charitable Giving and Estate Planning
For many people, supporting charities is an important part of their life. They prioritize donations to charities as part of their monthly and annual budgets. However, some people forget to plan for charitable giving as part of their estate plan. Because charities cannot be heirs of an estate unless they are named in...
What you Need to Know About a Power of Attorney
Estate planning is important for everyone, regardless of your financial situation, family status, or any other issue. Exerting control of how your final affairs will be handled is a benefit of estate planning. However, the goal of estate planning is to protect yourself, your property, and your heirs by utilizing estate documents and...
Can I Really Avoid Probate?
In Texas, the typical way to transfer assets to heirs after a person dies is through a probate court proceeding. If the deceased person has a will when he or she dies, his or her property should be distributed according to the terms of the will. However, when a person dies without a...
What’s the Difference Between a Transfer on Death Deed and a Lady Bird Deed?
Texas property owners can transfer an interest in real estate to a beneficiary by using a Lady Bird Deed. However, in 2015, the State Legislature enacted laws that created another option for property owners to transfer an interest in real estate to a beneficiary. The Transfer on Death Deed is similar to a...
What does it take to remove a trustee from a family trust?
While most grantors of a trust think long and hard about who should be their trustee, they may not always make the right choice. Some trustees do not take their duties seriously or take advantage of their fiduciary role. They may also butt heads with beneficiaries on other issues as well, so what...
How Long Does the Probate Process Take?
When someone close to you dies, you have to deal with many issues, including the person’s estate. People in Texas are fortunate, because you might not have to go through the probate courts at all. If you do have to probate the will and the decedent’s estate falls within the guidelines for “independent...
What is Muniment of Title?
Texas probate lawyers frequently use muniment of title proceedings to administer small estates quickly. If you have suffered the loss of a loved one, you might be considering the use of this to probate the will. If that is the case, you should consult with an experienced Texas probate lawyer.
The...
What Types of Guardianships are Available in Texas?
America’s founders established our great nation on the principle that all men are created equal. But unfortunately, not all of us have an equal ability to exercise our rights. Children, for example, are legally unable to speak for themselves, and many of our brothers, sisters, and parents live with conditions that limit their...
What Kind of Power of Attorney Do I Need?
A power of attorney is a potent tool that allows a person to grant someone else legal authority to act on his or her behalf. The person granting the authority is known as the “principal,” and the person receiving the authority is his or her “agent.” But because powers of attorney are such...