Additional Estate Planning Solutions
Outside and in addition to our estate planning packages and groupings, we provide other estate planning products that can be tailored to work as either stand-alone tools or as appendages to existing estate plans. We refer to these documents as our Additional Estate Planning Solutions. While they are many, they don’t represent the full scope of our services. Depending on your circumstances and goals, our attorneys can show you how one or more of these – or other solutions — may work best for you.
1. LAST WILL & TESTAMENT
A Will, often called a Last Will and Testament, is the best known and most frequently used estate planning tool in Texas. It’s a legal document that contains your instructions about the distribution of your property after your death. It also designates an executor to manage your estate in line with your final wishes. It usually names a guardian for your minor children. Using this tool has the potential to avoid prolonged court-administered probate proceedings where the decedent has no valid will at all.
2. APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIAN FOR MINOR CHILDREN
An Appointment of Guardian for Minor Children, formally known as a Declaration to Appoint Guardian for Minor Children, is a document that enables parents to designate a legal guardian for their minor children in the event of both parents’ incapacity or death. Upon the incapacity or death of the last parent, the appointed guardian – usually a family member or close friend — is entrusted with making decisions regarding the welfare, upbringing, and care of the children under the age of 18. A guardian’s authority extends to matters related to education, healthcare, and finances, to ensure the well-being and best interests of the minor children are protected.
An Appointment of Guardian is effective and useful as a stand-alone document. Alternatively, an appointment can be included in the wills of one, or ideally, both parents. Many estate planning attorneys believe it’s wise to generate a stand-alone appointment and at the same time, insert an identical appointment in the wills.
2. GENERAL DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY
A valuable tool in Texas estate planning is a General Durable Power of Attorney. You can utilize one without having a comprehensive estate plan. This legal document permits you as the “principal” to name one of more agents to handle your business, financial and legal matters beginning the date it’s executed. A durable power of attorney remains valid even if you can no longer make decisions on your own. Unless you state otherwise in the document, or you revoke it, your durable power of attorney continues in effect until the time of your death.
3. LIMITED POWER OF ATTORNEY
A Limited Power of Attorney, sometimes called a special power of attorney, is a legal document and type of power of attorney that’s narrow in scope and applies only to specific matters for a limited duration of time. It’s very different from a General Durable Power of Attorney which confers broad authority to the principal’s agent, usually over a long period of time.
This narrowing in scope typically relates to certain asset categories like real estate, securities, and bank accounts, and is sometimes specific to a geographic region — for example, properties or assets located only in Texas. A Limited Power of Attorney can also be limited by duration, empowering your agent to make decisions only for a short period of time, like while you are out of the country.
A Limited Power of Attorney does not replace or in any way diminish the terms of your General Durable Power of Attorney. Think of the limited power as a convenient, additional tool you can own to complete an important specific task.
4. MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY
A Medical Power of Attorney is a legal document that permits you, as principal, to appoint a trusted person or persons as your agent to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unconscious or mentally incapable of making those decisions for yourself. By law, your agent cannot act through your Medical Power of Attorney until your attending physician certifies in writing that you are incompetent and files the certification in your medical records.
If you’re incompetent and lack a Medical Power of Attorney in Texas, hospitals or healthcare providers treating you will turn to others to make healthcare decisions for you – regardless if those individuals know your intentions. State law permits your spouse, a majority of your children, your parents, a relative, or even a physician — to make healthcare decisions for you when no Medical Power of Attorney is in place. If you’re engaged or have a life partner, note that those loved ones are not included in the statutory succession plan to decide your healthcare plan.
5. DIRECTIVE TO PHYSICIANS
Also known as a Living Will or Advance Directive, a Directive to Physicians is a legal document that lets you specify your wishes about end-of-life care if you become terminally ill, unconscious or unable to communicate with others. It can ensure your loved ones make the right choices in honoring your medical preferences for your final days.
Directives to Physicians provide detailed instructions regarding your desire to receive or reject extraordinary medical care such as:
- Utilizing ventilators, dialysis units, or feeding tubes to support vital functions.
- Accepting artificially-supplied nutrients and fluids, along with IV antibiotics, when self-feeding is insufficient for survival.
- Deciding to receive palliative care, or medical treatment to alleviate pain or discomfort.
6. HIPAA AUTHORIZATION
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law that dictates how healthcare information is shared. Your doctors and healthcare facilities will be unable to release your health information to others without having a valid HIPAA Authorization in hand.
In a HIPAA Authorization, you’ll name one or more individuals to whom you permit access to your medical information. This document gives medical providers your permission to release your private healthcare information to your named healthcare agents and family members. With that in hand, your health care providers or insurance company will have no reservations sharing your protected medical information with your designated representatives.
7. LADY BIRD DEED
A Lady Bird Deed, also known as an enhanced life estate deed, is a legal instrument used in estate planning to transfer real property to beneficiaries while allowing the property owner (grantor) to retain control and use of the property during their lifetime. This type of deed gives the property owner the right to sell, mortgage, or transfer the property without the consent of the beneficiaries; and, it ensures the property passes directly to the named beneficiaries upon the grantor’s death, bypassing probate.
A Lady Bird Deed offers a host of estate planning advantages, including a streamlined approach to transferring real estate upon the death of the property owner.
8. TEXAS TRANSFER ON DEATH DEED
In Texas, a Transfer on Death Deed (TODD) allows a property owner (grantor) to pass their real estate directly to their chosen beneficiaries, bypassing the probate process – in a way, not unlike naming beneficiaries of an insurance policy.
A valid Transfer on Death Deed must be a written document and include a detailed description of the property, plus the names and addresses of the beneficiaries. The deed also must state the property will transfer only after the owner’s death. The deed must be recorded of public record before the death of the owner. The deed can be revoked during the lifetime of the grantor.
A Transfer on Death Deed conveys property outside of probate. Avoiding probate means avoiding the costs of a probate proceeding to transfer the property to your beneficiaries. Under current law, a TODD conveyance — outside of probate — also excludes your real property from Medicaid estate recovery.
9. TEXAS GUN TRUST
A Texas Gun Trust is a specialized trust created to accept firearms as assets, while also accepting the responsibilities of legal ownership, possession, and transfer of those firearms — particularly those regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA).
By placing your firearms in a revocable trust, you transfer ownership of the weapons from yourself to the trust. That will ensure your individual compliance with federal laws that govern the possession and transfer of firearms. Creating a Texas Gun Trust also provides benefits such as privacy, inheritance planning, and protection against future changes in gun laws.
10. IRREVOCABLE TRUSTS
If you’ve researched popular Texas estate planning tools and strategies, you’ve likely heard of Irrevocable Trusts. They’re attractive mechanisms to minimize estate taxes, protect assets from creditors and judgments, avoid probate, and maximize privacy.
There are several frequently-used Texas trust vehicles that at their foundation, are irrevocable trusts. The best-known among them are Asset Protection Trusts, Life Insurance Trusts, Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts, Special Needs Trusts, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, and Charitable Remainder Trusts. All of them present creative, time-tested opportunities to achieve many estate planning goals.