Frequently Asked Questions

Most people benefit from both, and the two do different jobs. A will designates a guardian for minor children (Tex. Est. Code § 1104.053), names an executor, and directs who receives what — but property passing under a will reaches the beneficiaries only after the will is admitted to probate, which is a public court record. A revocable living trust holds title during your lifetime and distributes at death without probate, keeping the transfer private and providing for management of the assets if you become incapacitated. What decides between them is usually not the size of the estate but its composition. Real property in a second state is the clearest case: land is governed by the law of the state where it sits, so a Texas will generally requires a separate ancillary probate in that state, while property titled into a trust does not. A business interest, a blended family, or a beneficiary who should not receive money outright also point toward a trust. Two cautions matter more than the choice itself. A trust governs only what has actually been retitled into it — an unfunded trust produces the cost of a trust and the probate of a will. And neither document controls assets that pass by beneficiary designation or survivorship agreement, which are nontestamentary and move by contract regardless of what the will says (Tex. Est. Code § 111.052), so retirement accounts and life insurance have to be coordinated with the plan rather than assumed into it.

Review the plan every three to five years, and after any of these: marriage, divorce, the birth of a child or grandchild, a large change in what you own, the death of a named beneficiary or executor, or a move to another state. Divorce deserves particular attention, because Texas law fixes only half the problem. Once a marriage is dissolved, the will is read as if the former spouse — and each of that spouse's relatives who is not also your relative — had died before you, which cancels their gifts and their appointment as executor (Tex. Est. Code § 123.001). That statute reaches the will. It does not reach a 401(k), a pension, or an employer life-insurance policy, because those pass by contract to whoever is named on the beneficiary form, and federal ERISA preemption means the plan administrator pays the named beneficiary. An ex-spouse who was never removed from a retirement beneficiary form is one of the most common and most expensive estate-planning failures we see, and it is invisible until the account owner dies. A move out of state matters for the same structural reason: Texas is a community property state, and a plan drafted around community property may not do what you intended once you are domiciled somewhere that is not.

If you die without a will (called dying 'intestate'), a fixed statutory formula decides who inherits — not your family, and not you. The result surprises most people, because Texas splits the estate by property type. Community property passes entirely to the surviving spouse only if every one of the deceased spouse's children is also a child of that spouse; if there is a child from an earlier relationship, the deceased spouse's one-half of the community estate passes to the children instead (Tex. Est. Code § 201.003). Separate property splits even further: with children, the surviving spouse takes one-third of the personal property and only a life estate in one-third of the land, with the rest descending to the children (§ 201.002). In practice this is the blended-family trap — a surviving stepparent can end up co-owning the family home with stepchildren, with no authority to sell it alone. Intestacy also costs more, because there is no will to admit: the heirs must prove who they are through a court determination of heirship (Tex. Est. Code ch. 202), which typically requires an attorney ad litem appointed to represent unknown heirs, plus disinterested witnesses. And because a parent designates a guardian for minor children by will or written declaration (Tex. Est. Code § 1104.053), dying intestate leaves that decision entirely to a judge who never met your family.

A durable power of attorney authorizes a person you designate (your 'agent') to make financial and legal decisions for you, and — this is the part that matters — to keep making them after you lose capacity. An ordinary power of attorney dies the moment you become incapacitated, which is exactly when it is needed. Texas makes a power of attorney durable only if it meets specific requirements: it must be signed by you (or at your direction in your conscious presence), it must state that the authority is not affected by your subsequent disability or incapacity — or that it becomes effective on that incapacity — and it must be acknowledged before a notary or other officer authorized to take acknowledgments (Tex. Est. Code § 751.0021). A document missing the durability language or the acknowledgment is not durable, and a family usually discovers that at the bank. Texas also addresses the refusal problem directly: a person presented with a valid durable power of attorney generally must accept it or state a statutory ground for refusing in writing (Tex. Est. Code §§ 751.201–751.212), and a court can compel acceptance and award attorney fees against a party that refused without a permitted ground. Without a durable power of attorney, the alternative is a court-supervised guardianship — a public proceeding with a filing, a physician's certificate, an attorney ad litem, and continuing court oversight, costing far more than the document would have. Healthcare decisions travel on a separate instrument, the medical power of attorney (Tex. Health & Safety Code ch. 166).

In Texas the document is called a Directive to Physicians and Family or Surrogates, and the Advance Directives Act supplies the statutory form (Tex. Health & Safety Code ch. 166, § 166.033). It states whether you want life-sustaining treatment continued or withheld if you have a terminal or irreversible condition and can no longer communicate. It is not the same instrument as a medical power of attorney: the directive records your instruction about end-of-life treatment, while the medical power of attorney names a person to make the full range of healthcare decisions for you (§ 166.164). Most Texas plans include both, along with a HIPAA authorization, because an agent who cannot lawfully obtain medical records cannot make an informed decision. Without a directive, Texas does not simply defer to whoever is present — the Act supplies a ranked list of surrogate decision-makers, beginning with a spouse, then adult children, then parents (§ 166.039). That default is where families fracture, because adult children who disagree have equal standing and the hospital is left holding an unresolvable dispute. Naming one agent, in advance, prevents that.

A revocable living trust package in Texas typically runs about $2,000 to $5,000 or more, compared with roughly $500 to $1,500 for a will-based plan (a will paired with a financial power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, a HIPAA authorization, and a directive to physicians). The trust costs more because it does more: assets titled into it pass to your beneficiaries outside of probate, it provides for management of those assets if you become incapacitated, and the transfer stays private rather than becoming a public court record. The cost most families overlook is funding. A trust only controls what has actually been transferred into it, so real property must be deeded into the trust and that deed recorded with the county clerk before the trust has any effect on the house — an unfunded trust delivers none of the probate savings it was bought for, and the estate ends up in probate anyway. Whether a trust is worth the premium over a will depends on what you own and where: real property in more than one state, a business interest, a blended family, or a beneficiary who should not receive money outright all push toward a trust. WG Law works from a flat fee quoted up front after a consultation, so the full cost is set before drafting begins. Our Texas estate planning cost guide breaks out the line-item ranges, and estate planning is led by Taylor Willingham, who has served more than 10,000 estate-planning clients.

A revocable living trust is a legal arrangement where you transfer your assets into a trust during your lifetime. You remain in full control as the trustee and can change or revoke the trust at any time. When you die, the assets in the trust pass directly to your beneficiaries — without probate. It also provides for management of your assets if you become incapacitated.

An irrevocable trust cannot be changed or revoked once created (with limited exceptions). Because you give up control of the assets, they are generally protected from creditors and may be excluded from your taxable estate. Irrevocable trusts are used for asset protection, estate tax planning, Medicaid planning, and charitable giving strategies.

Yes — assets held in a properly funded trust pass to your beneficiaries outside of probate. However, a trust only controls assets that have been transferred into it ('funded'). Assets not in the trust at your death may still go through probate, which is why proper funding is as important as creating the trust itself.

Probate is the court process that proves a will is valid, gives someone legal authority to act for the estate, settles debts and taxes, and transfers what remains to the beneficiaries. Texas is unusually favorable here, because 'probate' is not one procedure — it is four, at very different costs, and the right question is which one the estate actually qualifies for. A muniment of title is the cheapest: where there is a valid will and no unpaid debts other than those secured by real estate, the court can admit the will as a muniment (Tex. Est. Code § 257.001), a single order that transfers title with no executor appointed and no administration at all. A small estate affidavit handles a modest intestate estate without a will (Tex. Est. Code ch. 205). An independent administration is the workhorse — the executor qualifies, then administers the estate largely free of court supervision, without posting bond or seeking approval for each transaction, either because the will directs it or because the beneficiaries agree (Tex. Est. Code § 401.001). A dependent administration, where the court approves individual actions, is the most expensive and is generally reserved for contested estates or estates with difficult creditors. Timing constrains the menu: a will must generally be admitted within four years of death (§ 256.003), after which the practical options narrow to a muniment of title or a determination of heirship. Identifying the cheapest lawful path before anything is filed is usually where the money is saved, and probate matters at WG Law qualify for a free case review.

A straightforward independent administration typically runs 6–12 months, and the length is set by statutory waiting periods rather than by court backlog. The opening moves are quick — many Texas courts hear the application within a few weeks, after which letters testamentary issue and the executor has authority. Three deadlines then govern the middle of the case. Notice to creditors must be published within one month after letters are issued (Tex. Est. Code § 308.051). An inventory, appraisement, and list of claims is due within 90 days of qualification (§ 309.051). And where the executor gives an unsecured creditor permissive notice, that creditor has 121 days from receipt to present the claim or it is barred (§ 308.054). That claim window is the real floor on the timeline: distributing before it closes exposes the executor personally if a valid claim arrives afterward, so a careful executor waits it out even when the estate is otherwise ready. From there, the variables are practical — selling real property, valuing a business interest, or resolving a tax issue each add months. Muniment of title and small estate affidavit matters finish far faster, often in one to three months, because no administration follows the order. Dependent administrations and contested estates run one to two years or longer, since each significant action requires a court application and order.

No — and the assets that skip probate do so because they move by contract, not by will. Life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities, and pay-on-death accounts pass to the person named on the form; the Estates Code expressly validates these provisions and classifies them as nontestamentary (Tex. Est. Code § 111.052). The practical consequence catches people out: the beneficiary form outranks the will, so a will leaving 'everything to my children' does not redirect an IRA that still names a former spouse. Assets titled into a funded trust also bypass probate, as does real property passing under a Lady Bird or transfer on death deed (Tex. Est. Code ch. 114). Joint bank accounts are the genuine trap. In Texas, survivorship is not created by calling an account joint — the statute says a right of survivorship may not be inferred from the fact that an account is a joint account, or from a 'JT TEN' or 'joint tenancy' label (Tex. Est. Code § 113.151(c)). It requires a written agreement signed by the party who died, stating in substance that the sums vest in the survivor. Where the signature card was never completed correctly, the deceased owner's share belongs to the estate and goes through probate no matter what the survivor was told at the bank. What is left — property titled solely in the decedent's name with no beneficiary designation and no valid survivorship agreement — is the probate estate, and a short review of how each account is actually titled is usually enough to size the matter before anything is filed.

For almost every executor, yes. A person may represent their own individual interest in court, but an executor or administrator is handling other people's property — the beneficiaries' — and Texas courts have held that a non-lawyer cannot represent the estate's interests. As a practical matter, most Texas probate courts require an applicant seeking letters testamentary to appear through an attorney. The deeper reason is personal liability on fixed deadlines. Once letters are issued, notice to creditors must be published within one month (Tex. Est. Code § 308.051); an inventory, appraisement, and list of claims is due within 90 days of qualification (§ 309.051); and an executor who receives a proper demand for an accounting has 60 days to respond (§ 404.001). An executor who misses a deadline, pays the wrong creditor first, or distributes the estate before the claim period closes can be held personally responsible for the shortfall — the liability follows the individual, not the estate. Timing also decides which doors stay open: a will must generally be admitted to probate within four years of death (§ 256.003), and after that the options narrow to a muniment of title or a determination of heirship. A short review at the outset usually identifies the cheapest lawful path — muniment of title, small estate affidavit, or independent administration — before any filing fee is spent. Probate matters at WG Law qualify for a free case review, and probate administration is handled by Therese Gutierrez and Philip Burgess.

Yes, but the window is narrow. A will admitted to probate may generally be contested within two years of the admission date (Tex. Est. Code § 256.204). To have standing you must be an 'interested person' — typically an heir, a devisee under a prior will, a spouse, a creditor, or someone with a property right in the estate (Tex. Est. Code § 22.018). Recognized grounds include lack of testamentary capacity (the testator did not understand they were signing a will, what it contained, or the natural objects of their bounty), undue influence, fraud, forgery, and improper execution. A will contest is a formal adversarial proceeding in the probate court — the outcome depends on documentary evidence, depositions, and often medical records from the period surrounding the signing.

Undue influence occurs when someone substitutes their own will for the testator's by overpowering the testator's free agency. Under Texas common law, three elements must be proved: an influence existed and was exerted; it overpowered the testator's mind at the very moment the will was executed; and it produced a will the testator would not have made but for that influence. Courts look at the totality of the circumstances, not a single fact. Common patterns include sudden isolation from family in the months before a will change; growing physical or financial dependence on a new beneficiary; secrecy surrounding the lawyer and the signing; and a late-life revision that reverses long-standing estate plans in favor of the influencer. Because memory, witnesses, and records fade, the sooner an investigation begins the stronger the case.

Texas law provides specific grounds for court-ordered removal of an executor (Tex. Est. Code § 361.051), including: failure to return an inventory within 90 days of qualification (§ 309.051); failure to render an accounting after a proper demand — executors have 60 days after demand to comply (§ 404.001); misapplication of estate assets or a credible threat of misapplication; and gross misconduct or incapacity. An independent executor can also be removed under § 404.003 on a showing of disregard for the interests of the estate. For trustees, removal grounds are governed by Tex. Prop. Code § 113.082 and include a serious breach of trust, unfitness to administer, or failure to cooperate with co-trustees. Removal proceedings are filed in the probate court where the estate is pending; a formal demand letter backed by a removal petition often produces compliance without a full hearing.

Executors, administrators, and trustees owe the highest duty the law imposes — a fiduciary duty — to the estate's beneficiaries. That duty includes loyalty (placing the estate's interest before their own), prudent management of assets (Tex. Prop. Code § 117.004 sets the prudent investor standard for trustees), impartiality among beneficiaries, full accounting transparency, and timely distribution. Common breaches include self-dealing (selling estate property to a related party below market value), hiding or misappropriating assets, paying excessive or unauthorized fees, investing estate funds improperly, and delaying distribution without justification. A successful claim can produce removal of the fiduciary, a surcharge equal to the harm caused, or both. The claimant must show a duty, a breach, and resulting loss — financial records and transaction histories are the core evidence.

A no-contest clause (also called an 'in terrorem' clause) is a will provision that disinherits any beneficiary who challenges the will in probate court. If a named heir contests the will and the challenge fails, the clause triggers an automatic forfeiture of whatever inheritance they would have received. Texas enforces no-contest clauses under Tex. Est. Code § 254.005 — but with a statutory protection: a contestant who had just cause for the challenge and acted on reasonable grounds is shielded from the forfeiture penalty, even if the contest ultimately fails. Courts assess whether the challenger had a genuine evidentiary basis (such as documented capacity concerns or evidence of undue influence) before applying the forfeiture. No-contest clauses are most common in wills where the testator anticipates family disagreement or wants to deter a particular heir from disrupting the estate plan. Whether the clause applies depends heavily on the specific facts and the strength of the challenger's evidence.

Not in the way most families expect, and this is the single most costly misunderstanding in elder law. Medicare Part A covers post-hospital skilled nursing facility care for up to 100 days per benefit period (42 U.S.C. § 1395d(a)(2)(A)), and only after a qualifying inpatient hospital stay — time spent in the hospital under 'observation' status does not count toward it. Even within those 100 days the coverage is not full: days 1 through 20 are paid in full, while days 21 through 100 carry a daily coinsurance the resident owes. Coverage also requires that the person still need daily skilled nursing or rehabilitation and be improving; once the assessment says the condition has plateaued, Medicare stops paying even if days remain. What Medicare never covers is custodial care — help with bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, and moving — which is precisely the care most nursing home residents need, and which commonly runs $6,000 to $8,000 a month in Texas. That gap is paid privately until savings are exhausted, or by Medicaid for those who qualify. Long-term care insurance and the VA Aid and Attendance benefit fill part of it for some families. Medicaid is the program that actually pays for extended custodial nursing home care, and qualifying for it without impoverishing a spouse is the work of Medicaid planning.

A single Texas applicant for long-term care Medicaid may keep no more than $2,000 in countable resources. Texas is also an income-cap state, so gross monthly income above $2,982 (2026) disqualifies the applicant outright — no matter how modest that income is — unless the excess is redirected into a Qualified Income Trust, informally called a Miller Trust, which restores eligibility rather than defeating it. The exemptions are where the planning happens. Not counted: the homestead during the applicant's lifetime (subject to an equity limit), one vehicle, personal belongings and household goods, an irrevocable prepaid funeral plan, and certain small-face-value life insurance. For a married couple the federal spousal-impoverishment rules do the heavy lifting (42 U.S.C. § 1396r-5): the community spouse who remains at home keeps a protected share of the couple's countable resources up to $162,660 (2026) plus the exempt homestead and vehicle, and is guaranteed a minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance of $4,066.50 a month (2026), which can be drawn from the institutionalized spouse's income. Medicaid planning means lawfully restructuring countable resources into exempt ones and into income for the healthy spouse — using tools like a Medicaid-compliant annuity, which converts a countable lump sum into an income stream without being treated as a gift. What it does not mean is giving assets away, which triggers the transfer penalty described below. These figures are indexed and change annually; the ones above are current for 2026 and should be confirmed at the time of application.

A Lady Bird Deed — an enhanced life estate deed — lets you keep complete ownership and control of your home for life, including the right to sell it, mortgage it, or revoke the deed outright, while naming who receives it automatically at your death, outside of probate. The control is what distinguishes it from a traditional life estate deed, where the remainder beneficiaries acquire a present interest and their signatures are needed to sell or refinance. It also matters for elder law specifically. Because the property passes outside the probate estate, it is generally beyond the reach of the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, which Texas administers against the probate estate of a deceased recipient under federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b)) — so the state can recoup benefits paid, but not from a homestead that never entered probate. Creating the deed is also not a transfer for look-back purposes, because you have given nothing away during your lifetime. Two practical points: the Lady Bird Deed is a creature of Texas title practice rather than of statute, unlike the transfer on death deed, which the Legislature created and governs by statute (Tex. Est. Code ch. 114) — both avoid probate, and which one fits depends on the property, the lender, and how the title company will treat it. And because these deeds bypass the will entirely, an outdated one silently overrides an updated estate plan, so the deed and the plan have to be reviewed together.

When someone applies for long-term care Medicaid, the state reviews every asset transfer made in the preceding 60 months (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c)(1)(B)(i)). Anything given away or sold for less than fair market value during that window creates a penalty period of ineligibility. The arithmetic is what surprises families, because the penalty is not measured in the value transferred — it is measured in time. Texas divides the total transferred by the state's daily private-pay rate, $262.37 as of September 1, 2025, and rounds down to whole days. Giving a child $120,000 therefore produces roughly 457 days — about 15 months — during which Medicaid pays nothing, and the money is already gone. Worse, the penalty clock does not start when the gift is made; it starts when the applicant is otherwise eligible and receiving care, which is the moment the family can least afford it. This is why transferring the house to the children is so often the most expensive move available. Ordinary gifts count, including tuition or wedding help for a grandchild, and the federal annual gift tax exclusion is irrelevant here — it is a tax rule, not a Medicaid rule. Some transfers are exempt, including transfers to a spouse, to a blind or disabled child, to a caregiver child who lived in the home and provided care that delayed institutionalization for at least two years, or to a sibling with an equity interest who resided there for at least a year. Planning done before the look-back window matters protects the most, but crisis planning after a parent has entered a facility still protects a substantial share — the tools change, not the possibility.

Nursing home care in Texas commonly runs $6,000 to $8,000 a month, and Medicare does not pay for custodial long-term care — so the bill falls on the family until Medicaid eligibility is reached. Texas Medicaid limits the applicant to about $2,000 in countable assets, but the protections built around that number are what actually save families. For a married couple, the community spouse who stays home keeps a protected share of the couple's resources up to the 2026 spousal resource allowance of $162,660, and the homestead is not a countable asset during the applicant's life. If monthly income exceeds the 2026 cap of $2,982, a qualified income trust — a Miller trust — restores eligibility rather than defeating it. Two traps do the real damage. The first is timing: Medicaid reviews every transfer made in the five years before application, and a gift is converted into a penalty by dividing it by the 2026 Texas daily private-pay rate of $262.37, so giving a child $120,000 buys roughly 457 days of ineligibility — about 15 months with no Medicaid payment and the gift already gone. Simply handing assets to the children is usually the most expensive move available. The second trap is the house: even though the homestead is protected during life, Texas can seek recovery against the probate estate after death under the federal Medicaid estate recovery program (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b)), which is why the home is generally passed by a Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deed that keeps it out of the probate estate entirely while leaving the owner free to sell or mortgage it. Crisis planning still protects a substantial share after a parent or spouse has already entered a facility, but planning before the look-back window matters protects far more. Elder law and Medicaid planning are led by Taylor Willingham, author of five books on estate planning and elder law; because this work is individualized, we quote a flat fee after a consultation. Our Texas Medicaid planning cost guide works through both the penalty-period and spend-down examples in detail.

A Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed allows Texas homeowners to name a beneficiary who will automatically receive the property at the owner's death — without probate, and without giving up any control during the owner's lifetime. Like a Lady Bird Deed, a TOD Deed can be revoked or changed at any time.

A Texas divorce is uncontested when both spouses agree on all key terms: division of marital property and debts, and — if children are involved — custody, visitation, and child support. Because there is nothing to litigate, an uncontested divorce is significantly faster and less expensive than a contested proceeding, and typically does not require either spouse to appear in court.

Texas requires a mandatory 60-day waiting period from the date the divorce petition is filed before a final decree can be entered (Tex. Fam. Code § 6.702). In practice, most uncontested divorces are completed 60–90 days after filing, assuming all required documents are in order and both parties are cooperative.

Yes — individual homeowners have an independent right to enforce recorded deed restrictions under Tex. Prop. Code § 202.004(a), regardless of whether the homeowners' association acts. Remedies include injunctive relief to stop the violation, civil damages of up to $200 per day for each day the violation continues after you give the owner written notice (§ 202.004(b)), and attorney fees under § 5.006 if you prevail. Two defenses can defeat an otherwise valid claim even when the restriction is clear. First, the four-year statute of limitations runs from the date the violation first occurred — not from the date you discovered it or the date you complained — so delay can permanently extinguish your right to court relief. Second, the abandonment doctrine (recognized by the Texas Supreme Court in Wilmoth v. Wilcox, 1987) can make a restriction legally unenforceable if it has been widely and openly violated for years without enforcement. What the restriction actually says also matters: in Tarr v. Timberwood Park Owners Ass'n, 556 S.W.3d 274 (Tex. 2018), the Texas Supreme Court held that 'business or commercial purposes' language did not unambiguously prohibit short-term rentals, because guests use the property residentially. A restriction requiring 'single-family residential use only' and explicitly barring leases of fewer than 30 days is much stronger. If you have identified a violation, the first step is confirming how much time has passed since the first violation and reviewing the exact wording of the recorded restriction.

Total probate cost is the sum of court filing fees (commonly a few hundred dollars, set by each county), the cost of publishing required notices, and attorney fees, which depend on the type of administration and the complexity of the estate. An independent administration of a straightforward estate with a valid will is the least expensive path; a dependent administration, a will contest, or an estate with many creditors or out-of-state property costs more because it requires more court involvement. Because every estate is different, we quote fees after reviewing the specific situation — and for probate matters we offer a free case review.

A straightforward independent administration typically takes 6–12 months from filing to final distribution. The earliest steps move quickly — Texas courts often hold the initial hearing a few weeks after the application is filed — but creditor-notice periods, asset valuation, and the sale of any real estate extend the timeline. Disputed wills, dependent administrations, and estates with tax issues can take a year or more.

Generally, a will must be admitted to probate within four years of the person's death (Tex. Est. Code § 256.003). After four years, the options narrow significantly — a late application requires showing you were not in default in failing to file sooner, and in many cases the only remaining tool is a muniment of title or a determination of heirship. Filing promptly preserves the most options and the least cost.

A muniment of title is one of the least expensive probate procedures in Texas because it skips the appointment of an executor and the formal administration. When the estate has a valid will, no unpaid debts other than those secured by real estate, and no need for ongoing administration, the court can admit the will as a 'muniment of title' (Tex. Est. Code § 257.001) — a single court order that transfers title. It involves one filing and typically one hearing, so it costs and takes far less than a full administration.

Estate-planning fees depend on what the plan includes. A will-based plan with powers of attorney and healthcare directives costs less than a revocable living trust package, which in turn costs less than planning that involves special needs trusts, business interests, tax-sensitive estates, or Medicaid asset protection. We work from flat fees quoted up front after a consultation, so you know the full cost before any work begins.

A will is the most affordable way to put an estate plan in place, and at WG Law it is billed as a flat fee quoted up front — not by the hour — so you know the cost before any drafting begins. The price depends on how complete the package is: a simple will costs less than a will paired with a financial power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, a HIPAA authorization, and a directive to physicians, which is the combination most Texas families actually need. Free online templates exist, but a will that is improperly signed or witnessed can fail entirely under the Texas Estates Code and force your family into a costly heirship proceeding — so the attorney-drafted flat fee usually costs far less than fixing a defective do-it-yourself will later. Estate planning is led by Taylor Willingham, who has served more than 10,000 estate-planning clients.

Two separate payments come out of a Texas estate. The executor (or administrator) is entitled by statute to a commission of five percent of the cash the executor actually receives and pays out during the administration, capped at five percent of the estate's gross fair market value (Tex. Est. Code § 352.002). That commission is not allowed on cash that was already in the deceased's bank accounts at death, on life-insurance proceeds, or on distributions paid out to heirs and beneficiaries — so on many estates the true commission is modest. Separately, the estate pays the probate attorney's reasonable and necessary fees for handling the proceeding (Tex. Est. Code § 352.051); those fees track the type of administration and the complexity of the estate, and an independent administration of a straightforward estate with a valid will is the least expensive path. WG Law quotes probate fees after reviewing the specific estate, and probate matters qualify for a free case review before you commit.

Long-term nursing home care in Texas commonly runs $6,000 to $8,000 a month or more, and Medicare does not cover custodial long-term care — which is why a single family member's care can drain a lifetime of savings within a few years. Medicaid does pay for long-term care once a person qualifies, and lawful Medicaid planning is about restructuring assets in advance so a spouse and family are not left impoverished. The key constraint is the five-year (60-month) look-back: transfers made for less than fair market value during that window can trigger a penalty period (see the Medicaid & Elder Law answers above), so the earlier planning starts, the more can be protected. Tools include the Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deed to shield the homestead from Medicaid estate recovery, qualified income trusts, and spousal-protection strategies. Elder law and Medicaid planning are led by Taylor Willingham, author of five books on estate planning and elder law. Because this is complex, individualized work, we quote a flat fee after a consultation.

For most families, an estate plan is drafted and signed within about two to four weeks. The timeline is driven less by the law than by decisions only you can make — who serves as your executor, who is guardian for minor children, who acts as your agent under a power of attorney, and how assets should be divided. A typical sequence is a consultation to map your goals, a drafting period of one to two weeks, a review of the documents, and a signing appointment. Texas requires a will to be signed before two credible witnesses who subscribe their names in your presence (Tex. Est. Code § 251.051), and the powers of attorney and directives are notarized at the same signing. Urgent situations — a family leaving on a trip or a new diagnosis — can be turned around faster; plans involving trusts, business interests, or Medicaid strategy take longer because they require more design. WG Law works from a flat fee quoted up front, so the scope and cost are set before drafting begins.

The path determines the timeline. A muniment of title (Tex. Est. Code § 257.001) is the fastest court option — often a single hearing a few weeks after filing, with the estate resolved in roughly one to three months, because no executor is appointed and there is no administration to wind down. A small estate affidavit (Tex. Est. Code § 205.001) is similar in speed for qualifying intestate estates under the statutory limit. An independent administration (Tex. Est. Code § 401.001) — the most common form — usually runs 6 to 12 months, because even though the executor can act without court approval for most steps, the estate must publish notice to creditors within one month of receiving letters (§ 308.051) and let the creditor-claim period run before final distribution — a creditor given the optional direct notice must present the claim within about four months (before the 121st day, § 308.054) or it is barred. A dependent (court-supervised) administration takes the longest, commonly a year or more, because the executor needs court approval for most actions and each step is set on the court's calendar. Contested matters — a will contest or an heirship dispute — add time on top of any of these. Filing promptly also matters: a will must generally be admitted within four years of death (Tex. Est. Code § 256.003).

The ideal answer is years in advance, because Medicaid reviews every asset transfer made in the five years (60 months) before an application, and gifts or below-market transfers inside that window can create a penalty period during which Medicaid will not pay for care (see the Medicaid & Elder Law answers above). Planning early — before care is needed — preserves the most options, including the Lady Bird deed to protect the homestead and spousal-protection strategies. But it is rarely too late: even after a spouse or parent has entered a nursing home, lawful 'crisis' planning can still protect a substantial share of the assets by restructuring what remains, so the family is not left impoverished. Once an application is filed, the state generally has 45 days to decide it — 90 days if a disability determination is required (42 C.F.R. § 435.912). The planning work itself — gathering records, restructuring assets, and preparing the application — typically takes a few weeks to a few months depending on complexity. Elder law and Medicaid planning are led by Taylor Willingham, author of five books on estate planning and elder law, and we quote a flat fee after a consultation.

Both do different jobs. A will names guardians for minor children, names your executor, and directs how assets are distributed — but assets passing under a will go through probate. A revocable living trust lets assets pass to your beneficiaries outside of probate, keeps the transfer private, and provides for management of your assets if you become incapacitated. Many Texas families use a will for guardianship and a 'pour-over' backstop, plus a funded trust to avoid probate on their major assets. The right combination depends on your assets, your family, and your goals.

Both let a Texas homeowner pass real estate to a beneficiary at death without probate, and both can be changed or revoked during life. The practical differences: a Transfer on Death Deed is a statutory form (Texas Real Property Transfer on Death Act, Tex. Est. Code ch. 114) that is widely recognized and easy to revoke. A Lady Bird Deed (enhanced life estate deed) is a common-law tool that can offer advantages for Medicaid estate-recovery planning. Which one fits depends on whether Medicaid planning is a concern, how your title insurer treats each, and your overall plan — a question worth asking an attorney rather than guessing.

In an independent administration — the most common form in Texas — the executor can inventory assets, pay debts, and distribute the estate with minimal court supervision, which makes it faster and cheaper. A dependent administration requires the executor to get court approval for most actions, including paying claims and selling property. Texas strongly favors independent administration, and a well-drafted will requests it; dependent administration is usually reserved for contested estates or situations where the heirs cannot agree.

A muniment of title applies in a narrow but common situation: there is a valid will, the estate has no unpaid debts other than those secured by real estate, and there is no need for an executor to manage ongoing affairs. In that case the court can transfer title with a single order (Tex. Est. Code § 257.001). Full administration is required when there are debts to settle, assets to manage or sell, a need to collect money owed to the estate, or any dispute. An attorney can tell you which path your estate qualifies for after a brief review.

Leaving assets directly to a child who receives SSI or Medicaid can disqualify them from those means-tested benefits. The standard solution is a special needs trust (also called a supplemental needs trust). A third-party special needs trust — funded with your assets, not the child's — holds the inheritance for the child's benefit without counting as their resource, so it supplements rather than replaces government benefits. An ABLE account (26 U.S.C. § 529A; Texas runs the Texas ABLE program) can hold a limited amount in the person's own name without affecting eligibility. Which tools fit depends on the child's situation and the size of the inheritance.

At 18 a child becomes a legal adult, and a parent no longer has automatic authority over medical, financial, or legal decisions — even for a child with a significant disability. Guardianship (governed by the Texas Estates Code) is one option, but Texas law requires courts to consider less-restrictive alternatives first, such as a Supported Decision-Making Agreement (Tex. Est. Code ch. 1357), powers of attorney, or a representative payee. The right path depends on the young adult's capacity; planning ahead of the 18th birthday avoids a gap in authority.

Guardianship is a court proceeding under Title 3 of the Texas Estates Code in which a judge gives one person (the guardian) legal authority over an adult (the ward) who can no longer safely make their own decisions. Texas recognizes two types: guardianship of the person, which covers where the ward lives and their medical and daily care (Tex. Est. Code § 1151.051), and guardianship of the estate, which covers their money and property — and a court can grant full authority or authority limited to only what the person actually cannot do (Tex. Est. Code §§ 1101.151–1101.152). Because a guardianship removes fundamental rights, the bar is deliberately high: the court must find by clear and convincing evidence that the person is incapacitated, that a guardianship serves their best interest, and — critically — that less-restrictive alternatives and available supports and services were considered and found not feasible (Tex. Est. Code § 1101.101). Those alternatives include a Supported Decision-Making Agreement (Tex. Est. Code ch. 1357), a durable power of attorney, and a representative payee; a Collin County court will expect to see they were genuinely ruled out. The application must include a physician's certificate of medical examination dated within the prior 120 days (§ 1101.103), and the court appoints an independent attorney ad litem to represent the proposed ward's own expressed wishes (§ 1054.001). A guardianship over an adult in Plano or elsewhere in Collin County is filed in the county's statutory probate or county court at law and typically takes a few months from filing. You are not always legally required to use a lawyer, but Texas courts generally require the person applying for guardianship over another adult to be represented by an attorney, and the medical-certificate, notice, and alternatives-analysis requirements are exacting — which is why nearly all families use counsel. At WG Law, guardianship and its less-restrictive alternatives are handled by Taylor Willingham (elder law) and, for families planning around a child with special needs, Carla Alston, who is herself the parent of an adult son with Down syndrome and autism.

A small estate affidavit is a streamlined alternative to probate for modest estates. Under Tex. Est. Code ch. 205, it is available when the decedent died without a will, the estate's assets (excluding the homestead and exempt property) are worth $75,000 or less, there is no pending application for an administrator, and the assets exceed the debts. It cannot be used to transfer most real estate other than the homestead. When those conditions are met, it is far faster and cheaper than a full administration.

When a person dies intestate (without a will), Texas may require a determination of heirship (Tex. Est. Code ch. 202) — a court proceeding that formally identifies the legal heirs and their shares under the Texas intestacy statutes. The court typically appoints an attorney ad litem to represent unknown heirs. Heirship is often paired with an independent administration or, for real estate, an affidavit of heirship. It adds time and cost compared with having a will, which is one of the strongest reasons to put a plan in place.

Forming a Texas LLC starts with filing a Certificate of Formation with the Texas Secretary of State — the form requires the LLC's name, its registered agent, and the organizer's signature (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 3.005). The $300 state filing fee and the paperwork are straightforward, and online filing services can handle that part. What they cannot do is help you design the business. Texas gives LLC members extraordinary flexibility to customize governance, profit allocation, and management structure through a company agreement (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 101.052); an LLC formed without a tailored agreement runs on default statutory rules that rarely match what co-owners actually expect. An attorney is worth the cost when: (1) there are two or more owners — every multi-owner business needs a buy-sell agreement and a clear governance structure before a dispute arises; (2) the business involves intellectual property, where ownership and licensing terms must be set from the start; (3) the industry is licensed or regulated; or (4) the owners are considering an S-corporation tax election, which has payroll and deadline requirements a filing service won't flag. Business formation at WG Law is led by Carla Alston — a tax attorney with an LL.M. in Taxation from NYU School of Law — and Philip Burgess. We work from a flat fee quoted up front after a consultation.

Texas calls it a 'company agreement,' though most business owners know the concept as an operating agreement. Under Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 101.052, the company agreement governs a Texas LLC's internal affairs, and the statute gives members wide latitude to customize it. A well-drafted agreement for a multi-owner LLC addresses: how ordinary and major decisions are made (manager authority vs. member vote vs. unanimous consent); how profits, losses, and distributions are allocated; what happens when an owner wants to transfer their interest or exit the company; buy-sell provisions triggered by an owner's death, disability, or divorce; capital contribution obligations and what happens if a member cannot fund their share; and how the LLC winds down if the owners decide to dissolve it. Even a single-member LLC benefits from a written company agreement: courts are more likely to respect the liability shield when records show the LLC was operated as a separate legal entity and not as an extension of the owner's personal finances. The agreement is where the structure becomes real — a generic template rarely addresses the scenarios that actually matter until one of them happens.

Yes. Every Texas LLC and corporation must continuously maintain a registered agent — an individual or entity with a physical Texas street address authorized to accept service of process and official correspondence from the Secretary of State (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 5.201). An owner can serve as their own registered agent as long as they have a Texas street address and are reliably available during business hours; many owners use a professional registered agent service for privacy (keeping their home address out of public state filings), consistent availability, and compliance reminders. Failing to maintain a registered agent puts the entity in bad standing with the state, which can cost the company the right to bring a lawsuit in Texas courts until the standing is restored — and in extreme cases, a business owner can be personally served with a lawsuit they never received notice of because the agent of record was invalid.

Cryptocurrency has no beneficiary designation and no institution your family can call — if no one has the private keys or seed phrase, the assets are effectively lost forever. A complete plan inventories your digital assets, provides secure (not plaintext-in-the-will) access instructions to your fiduciary, and grants legal authority to access them. Texas has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Tex. Est. Code ch. 2001), which lets you authorize your executor or trustee to access digital accounts — but the legal authority is useless without a practical key-recovery plan, so the two must work together.

An LLC and an S-corporation are not mutually exclusive — 'S-corp' is a federal tax election, and an LLC can elect to be taxed as one. A Texas LLC gives liability protection with flexible management and pass-through taxation by default. Electing S-corp tax treatment can reduce self-employment tax once the business earns enough to justify a reasonable salary plus distributions, but it adds payroll and compliance requirements. The right choice depends on your income, number of owners, and growth plans — it is a tax and liability question worth running past an attorney and accountant together.

Texas allows a series LLC, which lets a single parent LLC create separate 'series,' each able to hold its own assets and shield them from the liabilities of the other series. Real-estate investors with multiple properties often use it to isolate risk without forming a separate company for each property. It must be set up correctly — with separate records and accounting for each series — for the liability shield to hold, so the operating agreement and ongoing bookkeeping matter.