Practice Areas

Traditional Estate Planning

A traditional estate plan consists of:

• Will
• Revocable Trust
• Medical Power of Attorney
• Durable (Financial) Power of Attorney
• Directive to Physicians
• HIPAA Authorization

A traditional estate plan is essential to ensure your wishes are carried out at death and incompetence. Without an estate plan, assets may not be distributed at death according to your wishes and no one has authority to act on your behalf should you become incompetent. We work with you to customize an estate plan that fits your specific wishes, individual assets, and unique family dynamics. The result is a personalized estate plan that is not only valid under Texas law, but that also meets your specific estate planning goals and provides the best results for you and your family.

What is a Will?

A Will is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage the estate and provides for the transfer of property at death. Texas has a simplified probate process, but precise language is required in the Will to take full advantage of the system.

What is a Revocable Trust?

A revocable trust is designed to transfer property at death while avoiding probate proceedings. This strategy is also used to reduce taxes, safeguard financial privacy, and to regulate the use of assets if the owner becomes incapacitated.

Why is it Important to Have a Traditional Estate Plan in Texas?

A Will that is validly executed pursuant to Texas law is necessary to ensure your assets are distributed to the appropriate individuals in the appropriate way upon your death. The law regarding Wills is very technical and strictly adhered to by Texas courts. Often a document that is thought to be a Will does not meet the standard under Texas law and is therefore not recognized as a Will. Without a valid Will, assets are distributed pursuant to Texas law, which includes children and other family members. Importantly, spouses are not always included in that scenario, which leads to many complicated situations. It is vital that a Will be prepared by a competent attorney to ensure it can be followed upon your death.

In addition, there are rules regarding how assets may be passed to a minor child and circumstances when it may not be prudent to allow assets to be inherited by certain individuals. Working with an estate planning attorney who can explain the various options in structuring inheritance is essential to establish an estate plan that provides a legacy for your family instead of a burden.

Why Is It Important to Have Incompetency Planning?

It is vital to have incompetency planning to avoid a lengthy and costly guardianship proceeding and to establish the individuals you trust with your life decisions.

Executing incompetency documents is simple. Attempting to take actions without incompetency documents is complicated and often costly. Typically, a guardianship is required for an individual who is incompetent and did not execute incompetency documents before they became incompetent. A guardianship is a proceeding with a court that is very costly and often takes a year or more to establish. In addition, the incompetent person often has no say in who is appointed as guardian. All of this can be avoided by working with an estate planning attorney to put the appropriate incompetence documents in place well in advance of any competency issues.

Contact Us

Call us at 214-742-6065 or Contact Us Here to book your initial meeting with one of our experienced estate planning attorneys in our Dallas or Plano office.