You have done the hard work of creating a trust that will hold assets for your children or whoever you want to inherit from you following your death. At the moment, you have not yet funded the trust. This is a key step to making your trust work, so you will want to...
Estate Planning
How do you update your will?
Making your will is easy to put off for tomorrow — so much so that when you finally do draft your last will and testament, it can feel momentous and final. But as your life is an evolving story, so too does your will need changing from time to time. The reality is...
When should I update my will?
A last will and testament is the cornerstone of any good estate plan. However, these documents are not intended to be "set it and forget". As your life changes, so will your estate plan. That is why updating your will is so important. Here are a few different...
Taking your will contest to court
When the contents of a loved one’s will disappoint the surviving heirs, it is probably too late to ask the loved one for clarification. This is why many estate planning advisors recommend that those preparing their wills share their decisions before it is too late....
When should you revisit your estate plan?
According to Forbes, there are two common errors people make when it comes to estate planning. The first is to fail to have a plan in place at all. The second is to fail to update your will or estate plan every few years, or as life circumstances change. If you have...
Creating a special needs trust
There are a lot of options available to those who wish to set up an estate plan, from a will to various types of trusts. However, everyone is in a different position and for some people, there are unique strategies to ensure that loved ones receive the support they...
Your second marriage and your estate plan
Texas is one of a handful of states known as a community property state. In short, this means that the state considers nearly all assets and all debts held by a married couple to be jointly owned or jointly liable unless otherwise identified, such as in a prenuptial...
Want to see how interesting an estate can be? See ‘Knives Out’
"Knives Out" isn't the typical big-budget, action-packed film that's popular these days. Instead, it turns a topic that most people find pretty dull (estate planning and wills) and turns it into something truly interesting.It's also surprisingly accurate. Without...
Can you keep your heirs from losing an inheritance in divorce?
If you're a grandparent developing your estate plan, you may choose to leave some of your assets directly to your grandchildren rather than leave it to their parents to pass on a portion of their inheritance.Whether your grandchildren are toddlers or young adults, you...
Why people don’t even talk about estate planning
There's an interesting issue in the United States where everyone knows they'll need an estate plan, but many people never write a will. Similarly, children often understand that their parents need to talk to them about estate planning -- four out of five people...