Estate Planning

The Law of Frying Pans Making Your Gifts Cook ‘Tis the season for giving and receiving gifts.  So here ‘tis your first gift of the season:  a primer on the law of gifts. What Is Considered A Gift? Simply stated, a gift is a voluntary transfer of property made gratuitously.  There is, of course, a bit more to it. The owner has to intend to give the property, the property has to be delivered,...

The Post-Thanksgiving Blues Reflections Bring Good Cheer With any luck, you have finished waving goodbye to the last of the relatives and returned to your home.  Home, a place where you can reminisce in private about all of the real and imagined slights, jabs and jibes made by that graceless, greedy, egocentric, are-you-sure-we-are-even-related mob.   Too soon?   Let’s steer your emotions towards a more productive use by reflecting on the differences between your moral...

Revenge Of The Divorcing Spouse and Why Estate Planning Is A Must Warning: if you or a loved one are going through a divorce, this column contains content that might elicit a strong emotional response.    In Texas, you are either married or you are not; there is no half-way mark.  A marriage can only be ended by divorce, annulment or death. Estrangement, separation, divorce pending – none of those matter.   To say...

Don't Lose the Original Will Wills only take legal effect when the person who made the will dies and the will is admitted to probate. Probate is a legal process where a court hears evidence to prove that the will is valid and should be given legal effect.  Normally this requires that the original will ( not a copy) be filed with the clerk of the court. Most wills are self-authenticating,...

Unfortunate fact: your debts do not die with you.  They continue to burden your property after your death.   This is a big deal.  Your creditors can go after the property that goes through your probate estate and the property that passes under beneficiary designation.  It is fair to say that your beneficiaries or heirs take their share of your property under the threat that it may be pulled back by a...

Many families are blessed with a child (or adult) who happens to have a disability. There is obviously some concern regarding that loved one’s care and standard of living once a parent or other caregiver is no longer able to provide for them. SSI and Medicaid Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid can help, but they are limited and require the disabled person to have very depressed levels of assets and...

This may sound harsh, but you need to do more for your family than just sign a will. You should also leave them a map to follow. How do you go about it? Prepare your executor.  You should have a list of all of your beneficiaries and professional advisors with their contact information. Tell your executor where you keep your original will. Tell your successor trustees where you keep your original...

Once you’ve inked your name on your estate planning documents, you may be tempted to throw them in a drawer at home and move on to your next project. That is not the best plan. Instead, think about when and how the documents will be needed and then act accordingly. Let’s start with your will.  After you are dead someone – probably your executor or a beneficiary – will need to take...

Perhaps there was a master plan that caused the traditional family gatherings of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas to fall so close together. If you are into conspiracy theories, you might even question the motive behind throwing family members into close contact for days on end. The incidental benefit is that after all of the forced family togetherness, you now have a good idea who you want to name on your...

Most people have a general idea that they “should” have a Will, but do they really understand what happens if they don’t? One of the biggest difficulties that can arise when someone dies without a Will is that the State of Texas decides who gets your “stuff.”  This may or may not be where you actually want your property to go.  If someone dies married, and there are no children...

With so much disagreement nowadays, here is one thing we can all agree on: Leaving money outright to a minor child is a really bad idea. It is such a bad idea, in fact, that most judges will take extraordinary steps to tie up the money for as long as the law permits rather than see it be squandered by a shiftless parent, guardian or 18-year old. So if there is universal...

Are you married? Amazingly, a lot of people cannot correctly answer that question. In Texas, you can be married formally or informally.  The formal way is when you sign a written declaration of marriage.  The informal way, also known as a common-law marriage, is when you and another person agree to be married, thereafter live together in Texas as spouses, and represent to others that you are married. The formal method is...