Services

Wills

 

I offer packages for both married couples and single individuals that include:

  • Last Will and Testament

  • Durable Power of Attorney (for finances)

  • Medical Power of Attorney

  • Declaration of Guardian

  • HIPAA Authorization

  • Living Will, or Directive to Physicians

  • Final Disposition Instructions

  • Optional Transfer on Death Deed to transfer title to real estate, including the home, without probate

Everyone should have a will. You can control who inherits your property and when they get access to it. If you want to leave property to children, like your kids, your will can create a trust for them so they do not receive a huge amount of cash (like your IRA) before they are able to handle it. If you do not have a will, the State of Texas — not you — directs what happens to your property upon your death.

In the case of second marriages, the laws that apply if you don’t have a will may result in undesired outcomes, like children co-owning the family home with their step-parent. In addition to determining who inherits your property and when, your will can appoint a guardian for your children, assuring they are cared for by someone chosen by you. This avoids an expensive, court-supervised guardianship proceeding.

The will package also includes several documents that protect you in the event you become incapacitated. These include two powers of attorney: one for finances and one for medical affairs. Your financial power of attorney allows someone to manage your finances when you are unavailable but still alive. Similarly, your medical power of attorney allows someone to make medical decisions for you when you are unable to.

You will also receive a Living Will, which instructs your doctors on your end-of-life wishes and frees your family from having to guess at what you would want in those difficult situations. And your HIPAA Authorization will allow your family and anyone else you designate to get the information they need from your doctors so they can assist in your medical care.

Finally, the optional Transfer on Death Deed eliminates the need for probate to transfer title to real estate. Many couples mistakenly think their home “automatically” passes to their spouse simply because it’s community property. In non-community property states, this may be true, but not in Texas. The title to the home must be transferred in the deed records to give the surviving spouse clear title. Normally, this requires an expensive probate proceeding, but the Transfer on Death Deed eliminates the need for that (at least when it comes to real estate).

Living Trusts

 

Living Trust package:

  • Living Trust

  • “Pour-over” Will (to transfer any assets that inadvertently do not get included in your trust)

  • Durable Power of Attorney (for finances)

  • Medical Power of Attorney

  • Declaration of Guardian

  • HIPAA Authorization

  • Living Will or Directive to Physicians

A will has to be probated to have any effect. You often hear people say that probate is something to be avoided. They claim that a living trust is superior to a will-based plan, since the trust does not have to go through probate. Probate in Texas, however, is not as burdensome as in some states, and actually has some benefits that a Living Trust cannot provide. You may, therefore, decide that you do not want to “avoid probate” after all.

Nonetheless, a Living Trust does have benefits. If you are married, it can potentially eliminate two probates: both yours and your spouse’s. Additionally, your assets are not “frozen” upon your death, as they are while awaiting probate. A trust can also provide more privacy than a will, and is more difficult to challenge. Finally, it can help with management of your affairs should you become disabled.

Once the trust is created, it must be “funded” by transferring title to your assets to the trust. The cost of transferring each asset is in addition to the fee listed below for drafting the trust.

Probate

 

If the decedent had a will

  • Standard independent administration

  • More limited probate of will as Muniment of Title (most useful when all that needs to be done is transfer title to real estate)

  • Will does not provide for independent administration but all beneficiaries of will agree to one

If the decedent died without a will

  • Heirship Proceeding

  • Small Estate Affidavit

Texas has a simplified and streamlined probate procedure for those with a properly written will. The executor can be allowed to handle the estate’s affairs independent of court supervision. Alternatively, if the estate is a simple one and the goal is simply to transfer title to real estate, the will can go through a limited probate procedure known as a “muniment of title.” No executor is appointed in that case. If there is no written will, a significantly more costly proceeding to determine who the heirs are may be required.

If there is no will and no more than $75,000 has to pass through probate, the short-form “small estate affidavit” can be used. The only real estate that can be transferred with this affidavit, however, is the homestead.