What are the Fiduciary Responsibilities of an Executor?

When setting up your estate plan you will need to make a lot of decisions regarding what will happen to your assets after you are gone. One of the decisions that will have an immediate impact on how things are handled following your passing is naming an executor of your estate. This is the person (or firm) that is responsible for managing the assets of your estate. They will also be the ones to ensure all your assets Read More

Choosing Between a Will and Trust for Your Estate Plan

Creating an estate plan that works for you means choosing the right tools for the job. By determining the goals you would like your estate plan to achieve, you can much easier wade through the often confusing world of estate planning. While wills and trusts are both great ways to dispose of assets, they are different instruments with different purposes. In fact, you may use both in the same estate plan, depending on Read More

Ensure You’re Taking the Right Steps to Avoid Title Issues in Your Next Closing

Real estate is a very important purchase and one that should be done with caution. By ensuring that you have the right documentation in place, you can help to avoid many of the issues that could come up during your closing. Here’s what you need to know about title insurance and other steps you can take to avoid potential problems during your next real estate closing. The Importance of Documentation in a Real Estate Read More

The Ins and Outs of Choosing an Executor for Your Estate Plan

Choosing an executor for your estate plan isn’t an easy task - often, we’re inundated with emotions that tell us to pick the one who deserves it or the one who wants it most. Although you may be tempted to give the job to your closest loved one, picking an executor should be much more of a qualitative decision. The management and administration of your estate is a very important job, so you’ll need to choose the Read More

What Types of Trusts Can I Use in My Estate Plan?

Estate planning provides many options for different types of trusts, which each provide its own benefits. The common goal of a trust is to transfer assets to a loved one or charitable organization, for their own benefit. Trusts can also be useful in protecting parts of your estate from liability or probate, avoiding a costly litigation process, and potentially saving some money on taxes. Revocable Read More

Ensure You’re Using Contracts for Your Texas Residential Construction!

Texas protects homeowners in the form of strong homestead laws, which are designed to create stricter guidelines that make it more difficult for homeowners to lose their homes due to claims from creditors (with some exceptions). While these laws are very beneficial to homeowners, contractors in Texas must be sure to follow proper procedures to ensure they have the right to pursue necessary legal avenues in the case Read More

What Goes Into a Great Partnership Agreement?

A partnership agreement is a great way to bring two different viewpoints together into an effective business plan. Unfortunately, these partnerships can often become strenuous when a business faces hardship. When business owners decide that the partnership is no longer working out, the litigation of a business divorce can get messy quickly - and even more so without a rock-solid partnership agreement. Before you Read More

How to Include Digital Assets in Your Estate Plan

Digital assets have become a significant part of almost all of our lives. We want our loved ones to be able to recover what’s important to us, such as photos saved to the cloud or important documents saved on our computer, but because security is also an important concern, we want to ensure that we can do it safely. Thankfully, just as technology has become a more central part of our lives, estate planning has become Read More

Don’t Let Your Estate Plan Lag Behind

Remembering to update your estate plan is crucial. If your estate plan doesn’t reflect your current intentions, there’s not much reason to have one. In fact, it may be a detriment - an estate plan that works against your best wishes isn’t very productive. We generally recommend revisiting your estate plan once every two years. Before you call it a day and toss all those documents back into a drawer, there are a few Read More

What Documentation Do I Need to Start My Business?

It can be easy to get lost in the myriad of paperwork needed to get your business up and running. It is important, however, to make sure your business is completing the necessary paperwork for formation and operations. Documentation serves both your business and Texas law by providing basic information about your company and an outline of how it operates. Which type of documentation you need is dependent on which Read More