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Recent Blog Posts
With Trusts Becoming More Common, Who Still Needs a Will?
If you have started to look into estate planning a bit, you have probably read over and over that trusts are rapidly becoming the preferred means of testamentary transfer. Certainly, there are numerous benefits of using a trust over a will. Using a trust can allow your beneficiaries to skip a lengthy and costly probate process. It also keeps the handling of your estate private rather than public, reducing the odds of a contest. And, you can use a trust to make controlled distributions over time instead of giving someone - especially a very young adult - one lump sum.
With all of this in mind, you might wonder why anyone at all still bothers with making a will. There are certain situations in which it is wise to use a will in addition to a trust. Wills are still useful in modern estate planning for many, as they can sometimes accomplish goals that a trust cannot.
5 Reasons to Update Your Texas Estate Plan
If you already have an estate plan, when is the last time you pulled it out and looked over it? If it has been a while, you might want to revisit it. People’s lives change over time. Laws change. Families change. It is a wise idea to review your estate planning documents periodically to ensure that the plan you have is still the plan you want.
Estate planning can be an emotional process for some, so it is understandable if you are reluctant to visit the subject more than once. However, even a quick review to make sure that your wishes are still accurately expressed can go a long way towards protecting both you and your loved ones. There are also a few trigger events that should prompt you to take a look at your estate planning documents. Most changes to an existing estate plan can be made relatively quickly and easily with a lawyer’s help.
When Should I Revisit My Estate Planning Documents?
6 Steps to Probating a Will in Texas
Probate can be very complicated. Even relatively straightforward probate cases involving smaller estates can be challenging if even one step goes slightly awry. Whether your loved one left a will or not, a problem that arises during any one step can lead to long delays and more expenses. There are generally six steps, or phases, of the probate process in Texas. Some steps are trickier than others. Some may go quickly, and others may seem to drag on forever. Most people could greatly benefit from a lawyer’s assistance in navigating the process.
Regardless of the complexity of the estate, it is typically easier to manage if you have a lawyer on board from the beginning. Our team has the experience needed to anticipate and be prepared for any potential difficulties during probate.
What to Expect During Texas Probate
Each step in the probate process must be completed correctly and in order before any distributions can be made. The six steps are:
Talking to Your Aging Parents About Estate Planning
Some families are very open about their estate plans and what their end-of-life wishes are. Some parents will tell their children who will be getting what completely unprompted. They may give their children copies of their wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives. This is the wise approach in most cases. Other families are less open about the subject. Estate planning can be an unwelcome reminder of human mortality. You may not even want to think about your parents one day passing away, or they may not want to consider it themselves. Nevertheless, it is important that you have this conversation. While adults of all ages should have an estate plan, it is especially important for older adults. If you have not yet spoken to your aging parents about their estate planning, now may be the time.
Why Is Having This Conversation Urgent?
When your parents are getting on in years, there is a substantial chance that they may be impacted by age-related illnesses that affect their cognitive function. Their estate planning must be completed before they lose the mental capacity to execute legal documents. It is impossible to tell whether or when the effects of aging will become apparent, so it is best that aging adults do not wait much longer to make an estate plan.
What If I Cannot Find My Family Member's Will?
Some families talk openly about subjects like death and estate plans. Others are uncomfortable discussing these sometimes difficult subjects. Talking about making a will can be upsetting for some, as it can serve as an unwelcome reminder that a loved one will not be here forever. If your family falls into the latter camp, you may not know much about your loved one’s estate plan. You may not even know where they put it or if they had one at all.
When it comes time to start settling your family member’s estate, you may have a limited window of time to locate their will. This can be a difficult task. Many older adults still keep hard copies of important documents, which can make your search all the more difficult. After years of practice, the attorneys at Geoff Mayfield, Attorney at Law have learned a few strategies for locating seemingly lost wills.
Where Should I Look If I Cannot Find My Loved One’s Will?
Tips on Choosing the Right Trustee
If you are leaning towards using a trust over a will as your primary testamentary tool, you are among countless others making the same smart choice. Using a trust allows your loved ones to bypass probate, which can be very complicated in Texas. Often, trust administration is much smoother and allows distributions to be made to your beneficiaries much more expediently. Trusts can also help you avoid the expense associated with probate so that more money stays in your loved ones’ hands.
One key factor in how smoothly your trust can be administrated is your choice of trustee. The individual you choose may have some discretion in making distributions and will be responsible for managing any property or funds in the trust. It is important to make the right selection, as a poor choice could cause headaches for your beneficiaries down the road. You should discuss your options with an attorney before making a final decision.
Top 3 Causes of Disputes Between Commercial Landlords and Tenants
In some ways, renting out commercial real estate can be less complicated than renting out residential units. As a commercial landlord, you probably are not too worried about someone smoking inside your property or throwing loud parties that disturb other tenants. You are less likely to be disturbed by after-hours maintenance requests, and you are not subject to some of the stringent housing code requirements that apply to residential units.
Of course, that does not mean that renting out commercial space is going to be all smooth sailing. There are plenty of reasons that a commercial landlord could face litigation. Disputes between corporate renters and property owners are not uncommon. If you are facing legal threats from your commercial tenant, it is important that you get in contact with an attorney as soon as possible to help resolve your dispute.
Preventing and Addressing Commercial Real Estate Rental Disputes
Why Estate Planning Matters for Younger Adults
When you are still in the prime of your life, estate planning may not seem important at all. You have no reason to anticipate needing one anytime soon, and you may not have children or a spouse to worry about protecting. As a younger adult, you have also had less time to accumulate property, so you might not feel that deciding how to distribute it is very important. This could be a big mistake. Life is nothing if not unpredictable. Your personal circumstances, from your health to your wealth to who you would want your beneficiaries to be can change very quickly. Aside from that, there is much, much more to estate planning than simply making a will or trust. Wherever you are in life, having a legally sound estate plan in place can offer an additional layer of security to both you and your loved ones. A qualified lawyer can help you take the next steps.
Why Should I Have an Estate Plan at All?
First, you should know that your estate plan will encompass important medical planning documents like a living will and health care powers of attorney. These documents are your voice should something happen so that you cannot speak for yourself. For most young people, your parents would be the de facto decision-makers in this type of situation. If you do not see eye-to-eye with them regarding how you would want to be treated - or not treated - these documents are not optional.
5 Tips for Making Sure Your Advance Medical Directives Are Followed
Advance medical directives are extremely important for everyone. Even if you are young and healthy, you never know when an emergency could arise, and you will need those documents to fall back on. For those who are older or anticipate that they may become incapacitated in the near future, these documents are critical. Living wills, medical powers of attorney, and Do Not Resuscitate orders are your voice when you can no longer speak for yourself. Everyone has their own wishes regarding what types of care they would or would not want to receive should they become incapacitated and seriously ill. Creating an incapacity plan to express these wishes is the first step. Making sure that your wishes are going to be carried out in practice is equally important.
Steps You Can Take Toward Ensuring That Your Wishes Are Respected
You know what your wishes are better than anyone else. Unfortunately, not everyone may agree with your decisions. Family members sometimes make irrational decisions during times of emotional stress, especially when a loved one seems to be dying. Some measures you can make to keep your documents in control of the situation include:
What Happens If I Die Without an Estate Plan in Texas?
Losing a close family member is always difficult, no matter what. Administrating a family member’s estate can be emotionally challenging even if they had a strong estate plan and the administration can be carried out smoothly. When there is no estate plan, the difficulty level can skyrocket for the surviving family members. During a period of grief, they will have the added stress of trying to sort out the estate without the decedent’s guidance.
In Texas, when a person passes away without an estate plan, their estate must go through a process called intestate probate. Essentially, in the absence of an estate plan, state law determines who should receive what. While the intestacy structure is designed to approximate what you probably would have wanted, there is no guarantee that this reflects your actual wishes. This is one of many reasons that estate planning is important for everyone.
How Does Intestate Probate Work in Bexar County?
1602 N. PanAm Expressway, San Antonio, TX 78208
210-535-0870
