Fort Worth Estate Planning Attorney

Offering Practical Tools to Protect Yourself and Future Generations

The term “estate” might bring up images of mansions and yachts, but estates come in all sizes. You don’t have to be wealthy to benefit from estate planning tools, either. Your estate includes everything you own such as checking accounts, retirement accounts, homes, vehicles, and personal possessions—and they are all worth protecting through a comprehensive estate plan.

With the right estate plan built with the help of an attorney, you can designate who inherits your property after you’re gone, safeguard your assets, help your heirs avoid probate, appoint trusted individuals to manage your affairs, make medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated, and so much more.  in Fort Worth, Texas, is here to guide you through the entire process of making an estate plan. No matter the size of your estate, we can talk about which tools will meet your goals and how to get that plan into motion. You can also depend on us for other estate planning cases and concepts, such as guardianship and probate, so you’ll always have the legal guidance you need.

Call (817) 497-8148 or submit an online contact form to talk to a Fort Worth estate planning attorney today.

What is an Estate Plan?

An estate plan is a comprehensive set of legal documents and arrangements that outline how an individual's assets, properties, and affairs should be managed and distributed after their death or in the event of incapacity. It's essentially a roadmap that ensures your wishes are carried out and your loved ones are taken care of according to your desires. Estate planning typically involves several key components:

• Will: A will is a legal document that specifies how you want your assets and properties to be distributed after your death. It also allows you to designate guardians for minor children and specify other wishes, such as funeral arrangements.
• Trusts: Trusts are legal arrangements that allow a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of beneficiaries. Trusts can help manage and distribute assets according to your instructions while potentially avoiding probate and providing privacy.
• Power of Attorney: This document appoints someone to make financial or medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. There are two types: financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney.
• Beneficiary Designations: These designations specify who will receive certain assets, such as life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and investment accounts, upon your death.
• Advance Directive or Living Will: This document outlines your preferences for medical treatment and end-of-life care if you become unable to communicate your wishes.
• Letter of Intent: While not a legally binding document, a letter of intent can provide guidance to your executor or beneficiaries on specific wishes, such as the distribution of personal items or instructions for the care of dependents or pets.
• Guardianship Designations: If you have minor children, you can designate guardians who will take care of them in the event of your death or incapacity.

Benefits of an Estate Plan

An estate plan offers numerous benefits, both for you during your lifetime and for your loved ones after your death. Here are some of the key advantages:

• Control Over Your Assets: Estate planning allows you to dictate how your assets will be distributed after your death. This ensures that your wishes are carried out and can provide peace of mind knowing that your loved ones will be taken care of according to your desires.
• Avoidance of Probate: Probate is the legal process of administering your estate after your death, which can be time-consuming, expensive, and public. Proper estate planning, such as the use of trusts, can help avoid or minimize the probate process, saving time and money for your beneficiaries.
• Minimization of Estate Taxes: Estate planning can help minimize the tax burden on your estate, allowing you to pass on more of your assets to your beneficiaries. Techniques such as gifting, trusts, and charitable giving can be used to reduce estate taxes.
• Protection of Assets: Estate planning can help protect your assets from creditors, lawsuits, and other claims. Certain types of trusts, such as irrevocable trusts, can shield assets from potential creditors and ensure that they are preserved for your intended beneficiaries.
• Care for Incapacity: An estate plan typically includes documents such as powers of attorney and advance directives, which appoint trusted individuals to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. This ensures that your affairs are managed according to your wishes even if you are unable to make decisions for yourself.
• Smooth Transfer of Business Ownership: If you own a business, proper estate planning can facilitate the smooth transfer of ownership to your chosen successors, whether they are family members, business partners, or employees. This can help ensure the continued success and viability of your business after your death.
• Protection of Minor Children: For parents with minor children, estate planning allows you to designate guardians who will take care of your children in the event of your death or incapacity. Without a designated guardian, the court may appoint someone who may not align with your wishes or values.
• Preservation of Family Harmony: Clear and comprehensive estate planning can help prevent disputes and conflicts among family members by clearly outlining your wishes and intentions. This can help preserve family harmony and relationships during what can be a difficult time.

Creating a Trust to Start Your Estate Plan

A trust is a highly recommended estate planning tool for most people who want to create an estate plan. A living trust allows you to pass along assets without your heirs or beneficiaries having to go through probate. The assets are also generally protected from many creditor actions while they are kept in a trust. During the process of making a living trust, you must name someone who you want to oversee the distribution of your estate after you pass away death, and that person is charged to carry out the terms you created in the trust.

Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable, too. If a trust is irrevocable, it cannot be changed after it is created and finalized. On the other hand, changes can be made to the revocable trusts at any time in your life. Both revocable and irrevocable trusts have their advantages, so feel free to talk about either or both with your attorney.

Probate & Trust Administration

If you are a trustee (named in a trust) or an executor (named in a will), you have important obligations and time schedules that you must follow based on the expectations of the trust or will. Not doing so could land you in legal hot water, so you should prepare to handle these obligations with our help. Law Office of Mark M. Childress offers trust and probate administration services to ensure all aspects of your role are performed correctly and efficiently. 

The administration services we offer vary based on your case’s needs, such as:

• Filing the will in probate court.
• Identifying trust or will beneficiaries.
• Inventorying assets.
• Protecting property placed in a trust.
• Transferring property titles.
• Paying taxes owed by the estate or decedent.
• Settling debts.
• And much more.

Don’t let the complications of probate or trust administration get between you and your family, career, and other interests. Leave everything up to us.

Bring Your Guardianship Questions to Our Legal Team

An estate plan can include instructions for guardianship if the person making the estate plan has minor children or adult dependents. Our attorneys are here to answer all your questions about guardianship, so you can feel confident that your loved ones will be cared for in case you pass away or become incapacitated for any reason. We can also help you understand your obligations and expectations if you were named as the guardian of a loved one’s child or dependent adult.

Effective Estate Planning Can Bring Peace of Mind – Call Now

If you don’t have an estate plan – or need to change an existing plan – we can help and apply our decades of collective legal experience to your case. From providing strategic insight on the challenges that you can expect to helping make sense of the many legal documents that can come into play with even a small or straightforward estate plan, our goal is to meet your short-term and long-term goals. With the right estate planning tools, we can adjust your estate plan as your needs, assets, and relationships evolve, too, so you don’t feel like you are stuck once your estate plan is in place. Talk to our estate planning attorneys today and see what a bit of legal foresight can do for you and your family.

Schedule a no-cost consultation to learn more about estate planning with our Fort Worth attorneys.