In Texas, a will controls assets owned by an estate. A trust controls assets owned by the trust. The will, therefore, does not control accounts or assets that transfer by a beneficiary designation of some kind. The will does not control direct transfers by right of survivorship agreements. Why not, you may ask? Well, [...]
There are several common problems we see with beneficiary designations. First, there is the "unintentional beneficiary". These occur when we are fairly certain that the owner of the account added another person as a convenient signer, but the bank created, without the owner's knowledge, a "joint right of survivorship account." Surely the bank will fix [...]
As our last blog article discussed, there are many types of beneficiary designations or ways to hold assets that avoid probate. Prior to the invention of IRAs and 401Ks, almost all assets were either owned singularly or jointly. In Texas, as a general rule, joint assets do not automatically pass to the other. Singular assets [...]
Beneficiary designations come in many forms. First, you need to know your acronyms: JTROS – Joint with Right of Survivorship POD – Payable on Death TOD – Transfer on death There are also beneficiary designations, alternate beneficiary designations, and joint ownership with (or without) survival benefits. This is a confusing set of similar designations [...]
As with the famous and diets, myths abound in estate planning and probate too. Today, we finish our TOP TWELVE LIST that ends with a lagniappe #13 since we count like bakers. Myth #12: Trusts Keep Assets Away from My Creditors. A revocable living trust is a great tool for avoiding probate and they have [...]
As with the famous and diets, myths abound in estate planning and probate too. We’ve compiled our TOP TWELVE LIST that we are sharing in five installments. Myth #8: If I have a will, my estate avoids probate. A will does not avoid probate in Texas—it actually guides the probate process. Probate is still required [...]
As with the famous and diets, myths abound in estate planning and probate too. We’ve compiled our TOP TWELVE LIST that we are sharing in five installments. Myth #5: Trusts always pay high taxes. This is a partial truth. Income retained in a trust is taxed at unfavorable tax rates compared to most individual tax [...]
MYTHS ABOUT PROBATE AND ESTATE PLANNING PART TWO As with the famous and diets, myths abound in estate planning and probate too. We’ve compiled our TOP TWELVE LIST that we are sharing in five installments. Myth #3: Spouses inherit everything. Depending on your family, your spouse may not be the heir at law or [...]
As with the famous and diets, myths abound in estate planning and probate too. We’ve compiled our TOP TWELVE LIST that we are sharing in five installments. Myth #1: The best way to handle estate planning is with beneficiary designations. This is almost never true. Beneficiaries designations have at least two flaws: inflexibility and avoidance [...]
It seems obvious that a pre-marital agreement must be entered before marriage, right? Well, have you ever heard of a post-marital agreement? They exist, and the only difference between them is whether you sign one before or after you are married. Which is why we prefer to call these agreements "Marital Property Agreements." Marital Property [...]