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Trust, Wills & Probate. Ricky Villarreal Attorney at Law 281-793-7262 WWW.MYTEXASWILLS.COM. Outline. What is a Will & Why do I need a Will? What is Probate? Do I need a Trust or just a Will? Are there any other documents that I need? What should I have in my Estate Plan?.
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Trust, Wills & Probate Ricky Villarreal Attorney at Law 281-793-7262 WWW.MYTEXASWILLS.COM
Outline • What is a Will & Why do I need a Will? • What is Probate? • Do I need a Trust or just a Will? • Are there any other documents that I need? • What should I have in my Estate Plan?
What is a Will & Why Do I Need a Will? • Generally, the Will covers: • Who will handle your estate. • Who inherits your assets. • Who takes care of your kids. • Who takes care of the inheritance you left the kids. • Without a Will: • The court will follow Texas Law to help decide how to transfer your assets, and who care for your kids and their inheritance. • Dying without a Will burdens your family with extra legal expenses, issues and paperwork.
What is Probate? • Probate is the process of executing your wishes as you have documented in your Will. • Here’s a general outline of the Probate process: • Find the Will • Hire Attorney • File Application for Probate • Attend Probate Hearing with your Attorney • Manage affairs of the estate (pay bills, distribute the assets, set up living arrangements for the children, etc.)
What is Probate? • At the Probate hearing, you will need to: • Provide testimony regarding the estate, • Take an oath to execute the terms of the will, • Receive permission to to manage the estate. • After the hearing, your duties are generally: • Provide “Notice to Creditors” • Pay bills and deal with creditors. • File “Final inventory and list of claims”. • Transfer assets. • Set up arrangements for care of the children.
Do I need a Trust or just a Will? • Recall that the Will provides for transferring your assets and taking care of your kids, but requires going through the probate process. • Many times, the executors have a difficult time trying to identify the assets. • Your loved ones will have to do this after suffering your loss.
Do I need a Trust or just a Will? • The Trust: • Pros: • avoids probate, • allows your appointed representative to handle your affairs and pay your expenses if you are incapacitated, • can allow significant tax benefits for wealthy estates. • Cons: • You will need to take action now to move your assets into the trust. • Generally, for financial accounts, you will need to contact your institution to determine how to move that account into the trust. • For your home, a Warranty deed must be filed.
Do I really need to have a Trust? • To ease the burden on your loved ones, you should add a Trust to your estate plan. • The front-end effort is more involved, but only to the extent that you need to retitle your assets. • This has the advantage of forcing you to document your assets for your trustees/executors. • The day-to-day management and use of your assets doesn’t change, since you are the Trustee and have full authority over the assets. • The back-end effort is significantly reduced, since your trustees/executors now have knowledge of your assets and can execute your wishes without going through probate.
Are there any other documents that I need? • To complete your legal estate plan, you should also have: • Medical Power of Attorney • appointing your representatives to make medical decisions for you if you are incapacitated. • Durable Power of Attorney • appointing your representatives to make business transaction for you beginning immediately or upon your incapacity. • Living Will • directs your Physician on your wishes for treatment if you are incapacity and your death is imminent.
What should I have in my Estate Plan? • At a minimum, your estate plan should consist of the following: • Medical Power of Attorney, • Durable Power of Attorney, • Living Will, and • Will. • To significantly ease the burden on your family, you should also add a Trust.
