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Small Estate Affidavits If your loved one, the decedent, has less than $75,000 and they don't have a will (even if they own real estate and it's their homestead, then we don't count the value of the real estate) then we just count the value of the assets that are less than $75,000. A Cl...

So your loved one did have a will, thank God. And so what do you do? Do you need to do anything further? Of course, you do. Having a will is the first step, but having the will without having the will probated is the step that you have to take. The Second Step So step one, decedent has a ...

I believe that information and knowledge help us to make intelligent choices and decisions. So we've talked about what kind of proceeding you file when there is no will involved. This time, I'm going to talk about the why. Why would you need to file an application for heirship determination, ...

The last part of this application to determine heirship and the application for independent administration is the request for issuance of letters testamentary. What are The Letters Testamentary? These are court certified letters that say that you have been appointed as the executor of...

Part two of what you would file in court if there wasn't a will involved. What's the Difference Between Independent Administration and Dependent Administration? Before we get into the application, I want to make a distinction between an independent administration and a dependent one. Ge...

Here are the things you could do to get the assets of your loved one when they have not prepared a will. The Long, Long Title The first one we're going to talk about is a long title. It's called the Application for the Determination of Heirship and Application for Independent Administra...

  Getting Your Inheritance if Your Loved One Never Married You This question comes up a lot because sometimes people have held themselves out as being married. They live together but when it comes time when one of the people in the relationship departs his or her life and there's no will th...

I'm talking to you today about how to get your inheritance if you are not a blood relative. I'm talking to you about the problems that arise when someone hasn't left a will. What Happens Without a Will: Intestate Succession When a person has not left a will, the state has already codified o...

Estate planning considerations when you have properties in more than one state. To make this theme clearer, I'll begin with an inquiry that came to me. A Gentleman's Dilemma: A Case Study A gentleman's father had properties in Texas and in Nevada. He left Texas and spent his latter year...

Estate planning considerations when you have properties in multiple states. Many people use wills as their primary estate planning source. Now you have an option. You can have a will and that's fine. And you can also have an irrevocable family trust. Pros and Cons of Irrevocable Family Tru...

  What is a reciprocal will? Generally speaking it's when a husband and wife are on one accord and they share the same assets and if one predeceases the other the surviving spouse takes it all. In other words, in the wife's will she's going to give everything to her husband and in the husba...

Why should you have a will? Do you still need to have a will if you don't own any property, don't have any bank accounts, or maybe you just have one piece of property and you're married and your spouse owns one-half interest, and you think that, okay, the other half will go to your spouse on yo...

I would say yes. I would say yes if you have more than one piece of property, but this is just a preference. Many people don't want to, it's like six of one and a half a dozen or the other. What the family trust does is it takes your assets and you transfer them while you are alive to the famil...

Taking inventory is a pre-planning step to take when you're contemplating your estate plan. I've discussed this previously but I want to just take this time to hone in on inventorying. What I want you to do is take a look at all of your assets and put them in a category. Because many of you all...

We're back and now we're going to talk about insurance. I do not profess to be an insurance agent, but I tell you, you need to have a great insurance agent in your pocket or on your Rolodex or on your speed dial or on your contact list. Because most of what I'm discussing is about financing you...

Business owners, how are you doing business? What is your entity formation? Are you a sole proprietor? A partnership? General partnership? A limited liability company? A limited liability partnership? C-corp? S-corp? How are you doing business? The Decisions Behind Business Formation A lo...

Do you need a lawyer to help you with your business succession planning? I recommend that you hire one. Do you also need a lawyer for your estate planning? Absolutely. If you have questions If you would like to talk to me about the specifics of your particular business and your particular p...

We've done a lot of talking about business succession planning, which deals with how you can continue your business and how the business would continue if you or a key person were no longer there. So we understand what we need to do to keep your business running. We also understand how we ca...

Let's think about your business. You went through different stages to create and form your business entity. Then you basically looked for the right people to carry out your business concern. And of course you made decisions in order to make your business sustainable and profitable. The key q...

Should I have more than one successor? The answer is YES. But you need to prioritize the order in which the persons would serve. Let me give you an analogy... A hypothetical scenario Let's say you're going to give the power of attorney to a loved one or a trusted friend. What happens if B...

Baby boomers don't like to think about exit strategies. We want to live forever. However, one thing that I would recommend is that you know the date that you want to leave the company. And during the last three years of that time, use your time to mentor your replacement. Of course, by that ...

Let's talk about your business succession plan and retirement. We already know that you want to have a business succession plan for the business to continue when you're no longer a part of it. And you may not be a part of it if there should be some incapacity or a death. If you want to retir...

Business succession plans work whether you're a sole owner or you're in a partnership, a limited liability company, a large corporation, or a small corporation. The key part of the business succession plan is to make sure that you are taking steps to replace key people during the life of you...

When selecting a successor, you always begin with the end in mind. It's important to look within your organization to see if there's a talent or a person that you could groom to be your replacement. You often don't have the benefit of knowing though. If you're planning your retirement and there...

Entity Purchase Agreements can be used as vehicles to ensure the continuity of your business. Here is how it works: The entity would purchase life insurance policies on all of the owners, and thereby the entity would be both the owner of the policy and the beneficiary. In other words, that w...