Practice Areas

Wills, Advance Directives and Probate of Will: 

Our Planning includes a basic Will or if necessary, a more detailed Will to address a Client's particular concerns, plus a Medical Power of Attorney in the event one cannot manage his or her healthcare, a Durable Power of Attorney for handling business matters, a Directive to Physicians to remove life support systems if terminal illness is involved, a HIPAA Privacy Statement authorizing release of medical information to selected persons, only, and other necessary Advance Directives.  

Taking the 1st step to have even a basic plan provides peace of mind and in the event of an incapacity or death, your plan is already in place. 

Texas has an efficient and affordable probate procedure which allows transfer of a deceased person's probate estate assets by a Will to the beneficiaries named in the Will.  Currently, when a Will is admitted to Probate, privacy of the deceased person's probate assets is assured.  If the sale of the home or other real estate is part of the plan, the Will must contain certain language and directions, now required by most Texas land title companies, to allow the title company to insure the title of the real estate to the new purchaser.

Trusts:

Revocable Living Trusts are part of our services, also.  I recommend using these in specific instances, only. 

I review the family or individual circumstances with the Client to determine if a Trust is really necessary--Trusts generally involve more attorney time to prepare the trust document and accompanying Will and Advance Directives.

I recommend Clients to review all Trust documents and trust assets once each year to be sure nothing has changed in the title ownership of assets.  If someone acquires assets in their personal name which have titles (car, stocks, bonds, annuities, etc.) this generally requires a paper transfer to effectively pass these assets into the Trust.

 Avoiding Court Ordered Guardianship of a person and/or their Estate assets is Most Important:

Court Ordered Guardianship, as one Probate Judge once told me, is like "having a tiger by the tail."  A Court appointed Guardian has an ongoing legal and fiduciary duty to the incapacitated person ("the Ward") as long as the Ward is under Court supervision, which can be for many years.  Planning for avoiding court ordered guardianship is one of our primary goals.

I don't take Guardianship cases anymore, due to the increased amount of time and costs required to represent the Guardian in an ongoing basis.  If a Client requires a Court supervised Guardianship, I will refer the Client to an  attorney who specializes in this area. 

Please remember, you are only able to put your Plan in place while you still have your marbles!

Real Estate Transfers:  Part of our planning includes the use of the Gift Deed reserving an Enhanced Life Estate (Ladybird Deed) in certain instances where Medicaid planning is needed to protect the homestead from certain claims after death.

As to the costs of planning and probate, since each person has differing needs or requirements, I offer an initial consultation at no charge to review the facts and then give an estimate of the time frame and costs involved.