Clear Answers To Your Estate Planning Questions

Dallas Estate Planning FAQ’s

It is natural for you to have a lot of questions about estate planning and how it can help you and your family someday. At Book Law Firm, we help people throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex understand how to use estate planning to make the probate process as efficient, smooth and inexpensive as possible. Our team of experienced estate planning attorneys has the answers you need to understand how to get the most out of the process.

Here are some general answers to some of our clients’ most frequently asked questions. Contact us to schedule a consultation and get your more specific questions answered.

– What is the difference between a will and a trust?

– Do I need an estate plan if I already have a will?

– How can we protect our estate from being overly taxed for our heirs?

– How is owning property in multiple states handled in an estate plan?

– How often should I review and update my estate plan?

– Are there specific estate planning considerations for business owners?

– Can we avoid probate in Texas, and if so, how?

– Are there specific strategies to handle estate planning for blended families?

– What are the legal requirements for a valid will in Texas?

– How do I handle my digital assets in my estate plan?

– What happens to my estate if I die without a will or estate plan in place?

– How does a living will differ from a last will and testament?

What is the difference between a will and a trust?

Both will and trust can be used to transfer your property to your loved ones after you die. But they go about this differently. Once you create a trust, you place assets in it during your lifetime, though you generally continue to use and control that property until you die. With a will, you maintain direct ownership of your property during your lifetime.

Among the main advantages of a trust over a will, there are:

Assets transferred via trust do not pass through probate.
Assets in trust can be exempt from federal estate and gift taxes.
Information in a will becomes part of the public record once it is accepted by the probate court.
Setting up and maintaining a trust can cost more money than a will.

Having a will is important for almost everyone. Whether a living trust or other type of trust is right for you depends on your particular circumstances.

Do I need an estate plan if I already have a will?

There is much more to estate planning than a will. For example, advance directives, such as a directive to a physician and a medical power of attorney, can help you control your end-of-life care even if an illness or injury has made you incapacitated. Designating a financial power of attorney can protect your finances in a similar situation. There are many estate planning tools to help you during and after your lifetime.

How can we protect our estate from being overly taxed for our heirs?

While Texas does not have an estate or gift tax, the federal government does. Fortunately, tools such as living trusts can help your estate minimize or outright avoid burdensome taxes and pass on that wealth to your heirs and beneficiaries.

How is owning property in multiple states handled in an estate plan?

Many wealthy people own real estate and other property both in and outside of Texas. Each state has its own estate planning and administration laws, and it may be necessary for your executor to handle probate in multiple states. However, you likely would have options for avoiding this, such as by putting your out-of-state assets in a living trust or jointly owning real property with your spouse with the right of survivorship. Both of these methods allow the transfer of property outside of probate.

How often should I review and update my estate plan?

One of the great things about estate planning is that you can amend your plan whenever needed to ensure it reflects your current preferences and priorities. You should consider reviewing your plan whenever you experience a major life event, such as:

Getting married or divorced
The addition of a new child or grandchild to your family
The death of an intended heir, beneficiary, trustee or executor

As time passes, our final wishes can change. Even if nothing like this has happened to you in years, a review every three to five years can remind you of what is in your plan and give you the chance to make changes if you wish.

Are there specific estate planning considerations for business owners?

Yes. Whether you are a sole proprietor or partner in an LLC or other business structure, you need to determine what will happen to your share of the company when you retire or pass away. This is known as succession planning, and it can be a significant part of your estate plan.

Can we avoid probate in Texas, and if so, how?

Probating an estate can be a time-consuming and costly process. Many estate planning tools transfer wealth without being subject to probate. Probably the most important of these is a trust. Assets placed in trust generally avoid having to pass through probate before being passed on to beneficiaries according to your instructions. Life insurance policies and jointly owned real estate with the right of survivorship also avoid probate.

Are there specific strategies to handle estate planning for blended families?

It is not unusual for a testator to have stepchildren from a second or third marriage. Failing to update your estate plan could lead to unintended consequences, such as your stepchildren being excluded (or included) as heirs. In other cases, the spouse inherits from the testator, who assumes their biological children will inherit from the spouse when they pass away, only to be excluded upon the spouse’s death. Besides the financial implications, these scenarios can lead to emotionally fraught feuds between siblings and stepsiblings.

Mindful and clear planning can eliminate unfortunate situations like these and allow you to pass on your wealth to the next generation exactly as you wish after you and your spouse pass away.

What are the legal requirements for a valid will in Texas?

Unless your will meets the standards set out by state law, the probate judge could throw it out, which could cause major delays in administrating your estate and lead to very different inheritances than you intended. Fortunately, meeting these requirements is fairly simple:

The will must be in writing, meaning handwritten by the testator or typed.
The testator must sign the will. If the will is typed, they must sign in the presence of two witnesses, who must also sign in the presence of the testator.
The testator must be “of sound mind” and have “testamentary intent” when they sign the will. Essentially, this means they understood the contents of the will and the consequences of signing it, and they signed because they intended it to be their last will and testament.

How do I handle my digital assets in my estate plan?

Digital assets like your social media accounts, photographs and other media stored in the cloud can be very important. Unless you provide access in your estate plan, it could take your executor a lot of time and hassle to dispose of them as you wish. You can avoid this and make things much easier for your executor by drawing up a list of usernames and passwords for your online accounts and backing up your cloud-stored data on a laptop or external storage device.

What happens to my estate if I die without a will or estate plan in place?

Dying without a valid will is called dying intestate. When this happens in Texas, state intestacy laws determine who will inherit the estate. This can mean that people you love will not inherit as you wanted and others who you did not want to inherit will get part or all of your estate. This is why putting off estate planning until it is too late is such a risky mistake. A few hours of working with an estate planning attorney puts control over your estate in your hands and removes intestacy laws from the picture.

How does a living will differ from a last will and testament?

A last will and testament mostly has to do with announcing how your assets will be distributed and naming your executor – things that take place after you pass away. As the name implies, you create a living will to help you while you are still alive. A living will is a document in which you explain the extent of life-extending care you would want in various scenarios, such as being hooked up to a ventilator or feeding tube.