Texas Estate Planning Attorneys

Most estate planning attorneys never see what happens after the plan is used. We do. Our firm spends its days in Texas probate courts, administering the estates and litigating the disputes that other people’s documents created. That is an unusual vantage point for an estate planning practice, and it changes how we draft.

We know which wills sail through probate in a single hearing and which ones put a family in front of a judge for two years. We know the clause that decides it. When we build your plan, we are building the file we would want to be handed as probate counsel.

If you live in Texas and you need a will, a trust, a power of attorney, or a complete estate plan, we can help. Call (844) 878-0700 for a free consultation, or use the form on this page.

What a Complete Texas Estate Plan Includes

Most people who ask for “a will” actually need four or five documents working together. A complete Texas estate plan generally covers:

• A will — who inherits, who raises your children, who administers the estate, and a direction that the executor serve independently.
• A statutory durable power of attorney — who manages your finances if you cannot.
• A medical power of attorney — who makes your healthcare decisions.
• A directive to physicians — your own wishes on life-sustaining treatment.
• A declaration of guardian in advance of need — who should serve, and who should not, if a guardianship ever becomes necessary.
• A review of everything that passes outside the will — retirement accounts, life insurance, payable-on-death accounts, and any transfer on death deed.
• A trust, where one is genuinely warranted — not by default.

The last two are where most plans fail. A beneficiary designation overrides your will, so a plan that never looked at the beneficiary forms is not a plan. And a trust sold to someone who did not need one adds cost and administration for no benefit.

Estate Planning Services We Provide Across Texas

We serve clients statewide from offices in Houston, Fort Worth and Austin, and we handle the full range of Texas estate planning documents.

Wills

A Texas will decides who inherits, who raises your minor children, and who administers the estate. It also decides how hard that administration will be. Texas recognises handwritten wills, and online templates are legally capable of being valid — but validity is a low bar. A will can be perfectly valid and still force your family into a supervised, bonded, court-controlled administration that costs many times what the document saved.

We draft wills that are built to be probated: properly witnessed, self-proved, and written with the administration in mind. Naming an executor and a guardian for your minor children are part of it, but the clause that decides whether your family spends months or years in court is the direction that your executor serve independently.

Revocable Living Trusts

A revocable living trust holds your assets during your lifetime and passes them to your beneficiaries without probate. It is the right tool for some Texas families and unnecessary for others, and we will tell you honestly which you are.

Trusts genuinely help when you own real property in more than one state, when you want privacy, when a beneficiary needs their inheritance managed rather than handed over, or when you expect the plan to be challenged. They are oversold when a well-drafted will and a few correct beneficiary designations would have achieved the same result. Because we litigate trust disputes, we also draft with the trustee’s future job in mind — clear powers, clear standards, clear succession.

A will should still be drafted alongside any trust, to account for property acquired shortly before death that was never transferred into it.

Irrevocable Trusts

An irrevocable trust gives up control in exchange for protection — from creditors, from estate tax in larger estates, or to preserve eligibility for benefits. It is a specialist tool and should never be entered into casually, because unwinding one is difficult.

It is not impossible, though. Texas law provides routes to modify or terminate an irrevocable trust in the right circumstances, including agreement among the beneficiaries and, where that is not available, a court proceeding. We handle both sides of this: terminating an irrevocable trust in Texas is one of the questions we are asked most.

Statutory Durable Power of Attorney

This is the document that lets someone you choose manage your finances if you cannot. Without one, your family’s only route is a court-supervised guardianship: public, expensive and slow.

We also litigate power of attorney abuse, so we draft these carefully. A durable power of attorney is the most powerful document most people ever sign, and handing it to the wrong person causes real damage. We will talk through who should hold it and what limits belong in it.

Medical Power of Attorney and Directive to Physicians

A medical power of attorney names the person who makes healthcare decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. A directive to physicians — what most people mean by a “living will” — records your own wishes about life-sustaining treatment.

These two documents spare your family from guessing, and from arguing, at the worst possible moment. They are inexpensive and they belong in every plan.

Declaration of Guardian in Advance of Need

If a guardianship ever does become necessary, this document lets you name in advance who should serve, and who should never serve. Courts give real weight to that choice. Because our firm handles contested guardianships, we have seen what happens when nobody wrote it down.

Guardianship is the outcome good planning is meant to avoid. When an adult loses capacity with no durable power of attorney and no medical power of attorney in place, the family’s only remaining route is to ask a court to appoint a guardian. That means a formal application, medical evidence of incapacity, a court-appointed attorney representing the proposed ward, a hearing, and then ongoing court supervision with annual reporting for as long as the guardianship lasts.

It is expensive, it is public, and it frequently turns into a fight between family members who each believe they should be the one appointed. Two documents, signed while you still have capacity, usually prevent all of it. If your family is already past that point, we handle contested guardianships too.

Transfer on Death Deeds and Beneficiary Designations

Some of the most effective Texas estate planning happens outside the will entirely. A transfer on death deed can pass real property to a named beneficiary without probate while leaving you full control during your lifetime. Retirement accounts, life insurance and payable-on-death accounts pass by beneficiary designation regardless of what your will says.

Reviewing these is part of every plan we build. A contradiction between a beneficiary form and a will is one of the most common causes of the litigation we are hired to fight.

Why Independent Administration Is the Most Important Clause in a Texas Will

If you take one thing from this page, take this.

Texas offers something most states do not: independent administration. An independent executor administers the estate largely free of court supervision — no court permission for each sale, no bond in most cases, no ongoing supervision. It is dramatically faster and cheaper than the alternative.

A dependent administration requires court approval for essentially every action. It can multiply the legal fees and add many months, sometimes years.

The difference frequently comes down to a single sentence in the will directing that the executor serve independently and without bond. When that sentence is missing, the family can sometimes still obtain independent administration — but it takes agreement from all the beneficiaries, and agreement is exactly what is missing in the families who end up in our office.

We put that clause in every will we draft. We have also written the most detailed guide to Texas independent administration available anywhere, because we handle these constantly:

• What independent administration means in Texas
• Independent vs dependent administration
• How to request independent administration in a Texas will
• Closing an independent administration

How Texas Law Shapes Your Plan

Texas estate planning is genuinely different from planning in most other states, and plans drafted elsewhere often do not fit.

Texas is a community property state. Property acquired during a marriage is generally owned by both spouses together, and each spouse controls only their own half by will. Plans imported from common-law states routinely get this wrong, particularly for blended families and for couples who moved to Texas mid-marriage.

Texas imposes no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. For most families this removes the tax pressure that drives planning elsewhere and lets the plan focus on control, administration and avoiding conflict. Federal estate tax still applies to larger estates, and those thresholds change — we will tell you plainly whether it is a live issue for you.

A Texas will generally must be offered for probate within four years of death. Miss that window and the will may be unusable, leaving the estate to pass by intestacy no matter what the document said. Families who “did not want to deal with it yet” lose the will’s protection this way.

Texas offers probate shortcuts that reward good drafting. Muniment of title can transfer property under a will without a full administration when the estate has no unpaid debts other than those secured by real property. It is fast and inexpensive — and it is only available if the will was drafted and executed properly.

A self-proving affidavit saves your family a step. Signed with the will in front of a notary, it means no witness has to be located and brought to court years later.

What Happens If You Have No Plan

If you die without a will in Texas, the state’s intestate succession rules decide who inherits, and they very often do not match what people expect — particularly for blended families, unmarried partners, and couples with children from a prior relationship. The surviving spouse does not simply inherit everything.

The court, not your family, then appoints the administrator, usually under dependent administration with its full supervision and cost. We have written a complete guide to what intestate succession means in Texas.

Blended Families, Business Owners and Second Marriages

Two situations account for a large share of the estate litigation we handle, and both are predictable enough to plan around.

Blended families. A second marriage with children from a first is the single most common source of Texas inheritance disputes. Community property rules mean the surviving spouse already owns half of the community estate, and what happens to the other half decides whether your children inherit anything at all. Leaving everything outright to a spouse and trusting that it will reach your children later is a common arrangement, and it fails often — through remarriage, through a later will, or simply through spending. There are structures that provide for a spouse for life and still protect the children’s share. They have to be built deliberately.

Business owners. If you own part of a company, your estate plan and your company’s governing documents have to agree. A buy-sell agreement that says one thing and a will that says another produces litigation between your family and your business partners at the worst possible moment. Whether the business can be sold, who can vote the interest during administration, and whether the executor has authority to run it are all questions worth answering before they are urgent.

Property in more than one state. Real property is administered where it sits. Owning land in another state can mean a second, separate probate there. This is one of the clearest cases where a trust genuinely earns its cost.

Estate Planning That Anticipates a Challenge

Some families know a dispute is coming. A child who will be treated differently, a second marriage, a family business with one child working in it, an heir with an addiction, a relative already circling.

This is where our litigation practice earns its place. We draft for defensibility: careful documentation of capacity, a considered decision about whether a no-contest clause helps or hurts, trust structures that limit what a disappointed beneficiary can reach, and a record that will hold up if it is ever tested.

We also handle the other side of that fight — will contests, trust disputes and breach of fiduciary duty claims. Having tried these cases is what tells us where plans actually break.

Working With a Texas Estate Planning Attorney

A lawyer is the best source of information on all matters relating to the transfer of property. A Texas attorney is required to stay current with changes in estate planning law, and can answer your questions so you understand the options rather than just signing documents.

We serve clients throughout Texas, with offices in Houston, Fort Worth and Austin. Estate planning does not require you to come to us — most plans are completed with one meeting by phone or video and a single signing appointment.

Consultations are free, and we will give you a straight answer about what you actually need. Often that is less than people expect. Call (844) 878-0700 or use the form on this page.

Frequently Asked Questions About Texas Estate Planning

Do I need a will if I do not have much money?

Yes. A will does more than divide assets. It names the guardian for your minor children, names the person who will administer your estate, and can direct independent administration — which is what keeps a small estate from being consumed by the cost of settling it. Small estates are the ones that can least afford a supervised administration.

Do I need a living trust in Texas?

Often not. Texas independent administration makes probate here comparatively fast and inexpensive, so the probate-avoidance argument for a trust is weaker in Texas than in states like California. Trusts do genuinely help when you own property in multiple states, want privacy, need to control how a beneficiary receives an inheritance, or expect a challenge. We will tell you honestly which applies to you.

What happens if I die without a will in Texas?

Texas intestate succession law decides who inherits, and the result surprises many families, especially blended ones. The court also appoints the administrator, typically under dependent administration with full court supervision and higher cost.

How much does estate planning cost in Texas?

It depends on what you need, and we quote a flat fee before any work begins so there is no uncertainty. A straightforward will-based plan with powers of attorney costs a fraction of what a contested administration costs. Ask us at the consultation and you will get a number, not a range.

Can I write my own will in Texas?

You can, and it may be legally valid — Texas recognises handwritten wills. But validity is not the same as workability. Home-made and template wills routinely omit the independent administration direction, are not self-proved, or contradict beneficiary designations. We are usually the ones who see the result, years later, in court.

How often should I update my estate plan?

Review it after any marriage, divorce, birth, death, significant change in assets, or move to or from Texas. Otherwise every three to five years is sensible. An out-of-date plan can be worse than none, because everyone relies on it.