Texas resident? Then you need a Texas Will. Period.
Texas has some really great procedures that save money and make life easier – if you have a Texas will. It has a self-proving affidavit, so you don’t have to drag in witnesses from another state. It has a provision for an independent executor, who can serve without bond. This saves the executor (the person who pays estate debts and distributes estate assets) from going to court before taking an action – a huge cost savings. It has a whole line of cases that are instructive on different provisions in the will. And, really best of all, there is no state estate tax in Texas.
If your will is from another state, there is a provision that you can self-prove it under that other state’s law – but your attorney will have to show the court the law of the other state that existed at the time you signed the will. There is a lot of room for error.
If, horror of horrors, you don’t have a will at all – be prepared for some huge problem. Because without a will the State of Texas decides who inherits. And – new Texas law alert! – you will now have to go through an extra and expensive procedure in probate court of proving heirship. That means citation will have to be posted, and the court will appoint an attorney to represent the unknown heirs, and then distribution will have to be decided. And that is before you even get to the estate administration, which may very well be a dependent estate.
All of which means that you need a Texas will. And who better to call than the attorneys at Hammerle Finley Law Firm? We’ve drafted over a thousand wills, and would like to have the chance to draft yours. Experience Counts. Call us!
