We live in a digital world where documents are scanned, emailed, and electronically signed every day. Even high-value transactions, like real estate deals, are often completed entirely online, which is perfectly valid. Many people store important documents on their computers or in the cloud. But when it comes to certain critical documents are copies alone [...]
David Pyke, probate and estate planning attorney and founder of Pyke Balen & Moncure, P.C., joins host Melinda Eitzen on The Melinda Eitzen Show to discuss where family law and estate planning intersect—and why proactive planning is essential to protecting your assets, your family, and your future. Together, Melinda and David explore how [...]
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 [...]
The Texas Estates Code provides templates for the language for a statutory durable power of attorney (financial) or a medical power of attorney. Therefore, these templates have been made into forms that are easily replicable. So, you don' t need an attorney, right? There are two critical disadvantages to attempting to draft your own power [...]
Your estate planning binder should contain the originals of all your estate planning documents, but that is not everything that is needed for someone to help you in a time of crisis. Your agent under your medical power of attorney should have the following information, which can easily be kept in your estate planning binder [...]
Are you new to Texas? Well then, "Howdy!" Over 150,000 have joined us in our corner of the Lone Star State in the last year. Hopefully, before you moved to Texas, you had good, up-to-date estate planning. But, since estate planning laws are different from state to state, if Texas is now your residence, you [...]
When someone has a severe medical crisis, their loved ones get a crash course in the convergence of financial, medical and legal issues. In this six-part series, our weekly newsletter will focus on the step-by-step process to deal with these emergency issues. First is the immediate assessment and prognosis. If the health event is serious [...]
Regardless of whether you use Revocable Living Trusts, Wills, and Powers of Attorney to accomplish your estate planning, a key decision is who to trust to make your financial and medical decisions. The person who makes your medical decisions is your medical power of attorney. The person who makes your financial decisions is either your [...]