In Texas, the courts have a system in place to protect people who can no longer care for themselves due to physical or mental incapacity. When someone is legally found to be incapacitated by clear and convincing evidence, and the court determines that a guardian is in their best interest, the court may appoint a [...]
Once you have completed your estate plan with your attorney, should you have a family meeting? In most cases, it is probably a good idea talk with the persons you have appointed in the various roles. You should have appointed a financial agent, a medical agent, an executor for a Will, and possibly guardians [...]
Hi, here’s a common question we get: Can my ex-spouse interfere with my estate? And the answer is, yes, they can. They can’t do it directly because an ex-spouse is not someone who will inherit from you, and if there was ever a will that left them anything, the divorce nullifies that will. [...]
It seems obvious that a person who has a severe mental illness, such as chronic schizophrenia, would be the exact type of person for whom a guardianship would be appropriate. The Texas Estates Code seems to support this position. To create a guardianship, the person must be "incapacitated" which the statute defines for an adult [...]
Your Finances A recent study forecasted "a dramatic rise in the burden from dementia in the United States of the coming decades, with one in two Americans expected to experience cognitive difficulties after age 55" according to Dr. Josef Coresh, the study’s senior investigator and epidemiologist. Dr. Coresh is the founding director of the Optimal [...]
What documents does everyone need? They absolutely need a will or a living trust. They definitely need a medical power of attorney and an advanced directive. An advanced directive allows you to choose the end of life care you want and direct your agent as to your choice . There simply isn't an adult that shouldn't [...]
A second fundamental reason why we plan is to deal with incapacity or disability as opposed to death. Although I can guarantee you all of you will die, I can assure you that most of you will have someone in your family affected by incapacity. Incapacity means the legal inability to make decisions for yourself [...]
As we addressed in last week's post, the healthcare crisis of a loved one involves financial, medical, and legal issues. If the immediate financial and medical issues can be resolved without court action, the most important thing is to get the patient properly assessed and determine their prognosis. If a loved one who has been [...]
Britney Spears, as almost everyone knows, had been under “conservatorship” in California. What does that mean? Do not try to make me understand California “law”, but if Britney was a Texan, we wouldn’t call it conservatorship. We would call it guardianship, and Ms. Spears would likely never have had a guardian for her as an [...]
For many, a Revocable Living Trust is a wonderful substitute for a Will to do estate planning. There are many advantages, and a few disadvantages, to a living Trust, so we do not make a blanket recommendation that everyone have a Revocable Living Trust. However, it is not uncommon that we are approached by someone [...]