An Appointment of Agent for Disposition of Remains is a document where you designate who controls your funeral arrangements and handling of your remains after death. The State has a law in place listing who has priority, in Texas that is found in Health and Safety Code section 711.002 and starts with the surviving spouse,...
A transfer on death deed designates transferees/beneficiaries to receive a piece of real property–home or lot–upon death of the transferor/owner. This is similar to a pay-on-death beneficiary on a bank account. The transferor does not lose any rights to the property during life and can cancel the designation at any time. To prepare one, you...
Estate PlanningDeclaration for Mental Health Treatment
August 4, 2021
One of the documents that makes up the basic estate plan includes the medical power of attorney, where the principal (you) can designate an agent to make your medical decisions when you are no longer able to do so. The medical power of attorney is an important component but it does have limitations. An agent...
I worked with a client who was dying of cancer. A few weeks before his death, he decided to hire me to prepare his will and powers of attorney. I traveled to him because he wasn’t in a position to leave the house, brought my portable office equipment, and we talked. He usually took pain...
Estate PlanningEmergency Planning during Covid-19
April 1, 2020
What can be done to complete an estate plan during this unprecedented time? Clients have been asking how they can finish a will and powers of attorney when it isn’t safe to interact with others. After much brainstorming, lawyers across Texas came up with options. So what do you do? Start regular estate planning beginning...
Estate PlanningWhat Exactly is an “Estate Plan”?
May 16, 2019
What exactly is an estate plan? I hear it often. An “Estate Plan” is simply a plan for what you want done with your things and with you either upon your death or if you become incapacitated. An Estate Plan has at a minimum the following pieces -A will -Durable Power of Attorney -Medical Power...
Estate PlanningWhy Do People Wait?
September 4, 2015
People confess to me that they don’t have a will and they keep putting it off, often a look of guilt in their eyes. Why, if we feel guilty, do we wait so long? Sometimes 30 years after having children or even until we our on our deathbeds? We don’t want to think about our...