Normally, most people think only about a will in order to plan their estates. Estate planning in Texas covers many more areas, including: property, living wills, power of attorney, trusts, and inheritance tax planning advise. You can cut down or eliminate the emotional chaos that accompanies illness or death by making your wishes very well documented. When you are no longer able to make decisions for yourself, you family may not really know your wishes or they may be too distraught to carry them out. Even if you have confided your wishes to someone, if they have not checked in with you regularly, it is likely they do not know your latest wishes.

Estate planning in Texas allows you to create a will, but it does not always have to be a neatly typed document. You can make an oral will if 1) you are ill and at home or 2) if you are ill and are taken away to the hospital but die before you return. If what you own is valued at more than $30, though, you will have to have three viable witnesses to make it a legally binding plan. You want to make sure your wishes can be enforced if you are not here.

Holographic or handwritten wills are also a legally binding alternative when you are doing estate planning in Texas. If you choose this as an option, you must make the will in your own handwriting; you cannot type in anything that you forget to write; and you should say somewhere in the document that this is your last will and testament.

Once someone dies, their tax and financial records become public and can be accessed by anyone who has a desire to read public records. This factor may cause some people to come up with alternative plans that do not make their decisions so public.

Revocable living trusts transfer all of your assets to someone whom you would like to manage your affairs while you are still alive. There is also the possibility to make sure a designated person receives your money. TOD (transfer on death) or POD (payable on death) accounts gives the money from all bank accounts to a beneficiary. It is also a possibility to distribute assets on your own before death.

Dying intestate (or without a will) almost ensures your affairs will be settled in probate court. If you do not complete estate planning in Texas, the courts will divide your assets among surviving family. Your spouse has the most legitimate legal claim to your properties and assets in this case. The spouse automatically inherit all you two acquired as a couple, especially if you have natural children together. If you have children with someone other than your spouse, they receive half of your assets. Your spouse can legally continue to live in your house.

Power of attorney is an important feature of estate planning in Texas. It allows you to authorize another person to manage or transfer assets if you are incapacitated. They can also make gifts or create trusts. Power of attorney saves a lot of undesirable emotional bickering and makes sure your wishes are honored.

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