Austin Estate Planning

Many people are concerned about the best method to protect themselves, and their loved ones, in the event of future injury, illness, or incapacity. Everyone has known or heard of a family that was torn apart by disagreements about how best to care for loved ones who were no longer able to make medical [...]

A will is a set of written instructions drafted under legal formalities that express how an individual’s personal property will be disposed of when he or she dies. The term “Last will and Testament” is the legal term often used for a will. This is an old term, which means, “I dispose of [...]

In Texas, the administration of an estate, known as Probate, is a relatively trouble-free process if you have all of your documents and follow the proper procedures.

Probate is a Latin term which means “to prove”, so to probate a Will simply means to prove that the Will is valid. Once the Will is [...]

In most cases, a will should be probated as soon as possible. Section 73 of the Texas Probate Code requires that a will be offered for probate within four years of the date the Decedent dies. Under limited circumstances, a will can be offered for probate if the person offering it is not at [...]

A question occasionally comes up regarding whether an executor or trustee must be paid for services provided.
Texas has no law in place requiring that an executor or trustee be compensated for their work, but if you are not going to pay them, you must say so in the will or trust agreement. If you do [...]

Section 78 of the Texas Probate Code states:

No person is qualified to serve [...]

Many people own life insurance policies, either through their employer or as supplements to their employer-funded policies, or have individual retirement plans (IRAs) or employee benefit plans (usually 401(k) plans), but unfortunately, not much thought is given to the beneficiary designations for those policies or retirement plans. The typical designation will go something like this:
Primary [...]

I recently had a client come to me with a question about a very small estate. His father died with no debts, had a little money in the bank and owned a home, that was it. What are his option in a case like this?
There are times when the full administration of an [...]

Many pet owners think of their pets as part of their family. Legally, pets are considered personal property like a car or jewelry. If you are sick, injured, or unable to care for your pet and have not planned ahead, your pets may not be taken care of by the person you want. They may [...]

This day and age, everyone should have some form of estate planning in place. Many avoid estate planning because it brings up uncomfortable thoughts about death and how property will be distributed. This article will discuss several reasons why everyone should have a will or trust in place.

First, let us talk about children. You want [...]