Articles
What Can I Do If I Think I Am Likely To Become Incapacitated?
Key Takeaways: Incapacity can leave you unable to manage your personal needs or finances. A Declaration of Guardian lets you tell the court who you want—or do not want—to serve as your guardian. You can name separate guardians for your person and estate, or the same...
What A Special Needs Trust Can I Do For A Special Needs Child
Executive Summary: Estate planning is especially important for parents of a special needs child. Improperly leaving assets directly to a special needs child can jeopardize important government benefits. SSI and Medicaid are needs-based programs with strict income and...
Is Estate Planning Expensive And Time-Consuming?
Quick Answer: Almost two-thirds of Americans do not have a will and other important estate planning documents like powers of attorney for no good reason. Enormous improvements in easily available technology have made it possible for some attorneys such as myself to...
What Is A Common Law Marriage In Texas?
Quick Answer: Per Section 2.401 of the Texas Family Code, three elements must exist at the same time in order to establish a common law marriage. Both parties must agree to be married. The couple has to live together as husband and wife while in Texas, i.e. they act...
Should I Get A Living Trust In Texas?
Quick Answer: The most common situations for when creating a living trust makes sense are: You own real estate outside of Texas. You really want to try to avoid probate on your estate to save time and money. You think you have a high chance of becoming mentally...
What Is Estate Planning?
What is estate planning? First of all, almost everyone has an estate, because an estate is merely made up of everything a person owns – cars, real estate, checking accounts, investment accounts, furniture, clothes, etc. So, dear reader, you are pretty much guaranteed...
Should I Get Power Of Attorney For A Parent?
“Should I get power of attorney for a parent?” If someone doesn’t already have power of attorney for your parent, then yes, you really should try to get one. And if you don’t think you should be the one to get power of attorney for your parent for whatever reason,...
Use A Spendthrift Trust To Leave Assets To Someone Who Isn’t Good With Money
A spendthrift trust can be a very powerful estate planning tool if you want to leave assets to someone who isn't good with money. I have always said that everyone has their strengths, i.e. things that they are good at. Some of us are very artistic. Some of us are...
Can My Will From Another State Be Used In Texas?
With so many people moving to Texas these days I often get the question “Can my will from another state be used in Texas?” The quick answer is, yes, as long as the will was created and signed properly within the laws of that other state, then the will should be...
Why You Need To Name Guardians For Your Children
It's bad enough that 64% of Americans don't have a will, but most parents of minor children have not named guardians for their children either. And you really need to name guardians for your children, because in some ways this might be even more important than having...