Estate planning is a process many adults put off until it is unfortunately too late. Making your wishes known to your family in a clear and legally documented way can provide peace of mind when thinking about your passing or any potentially incapacitating future events. Our knowledgeable and caring estate planning legal team can prioritize protecting your legacy and your hard-earned assets. Estate planning is a dynamic process that we will help you with step by step. The Brannon Law Firm crafts confident and clear estate plans that minimize taxes, protect future generations, and ensure your plans are carried out to your specifications.
Complete Estate Planning
You and your family can rely on our professional estate planning attorney to guide you through every step. In our initial meetings with clients, we evaluate their specific needs and discuss future goals for their estate plan. We will prepare drafts of all documents for you to review and can answer any questions you may have. No matter the size or scope of your estate, we are ready to help you with the following:
Wills - A last will and testament can name beneficiaries to your estate, designate guardians for minor children, protect assets, and name a trusted individual to execute your last wishes. We can draft a will that puts into writing the details of your estate and your last wishes.
Powers of Attorney - Designating a trusted individual to act on your behalf to make legal, financial, and/or healthcare decisions if you become incapacitated protects your assets and ensures your care will be handled appropriately and to your wishes. This person will be responsible for making tough healthcare decisions, paying your bills, filing required tax returns, and selling property as needed. A medical power of attorney designates a trusted individual to make medical and healthcare decisions in accordance with your wishes, including any religious or moral beliefs, when you are incapable of making those decisions for yourself.
Trusts – There are several types of trusts our team can set up to avoid probate, distribute assets, and protect your legacy. With a trust, you have to ability to plan for your dependents with special needs, safely put aside money for your children’s or grandchildren’s college tuition, avoid taxes, and help your heirs avoid the probate process after your death. These trusts include: living (revocable) trusts, irrevocable trusts, asset protection trusts, charitable trusts, special needs trusts, and more.
Lady Bird Deed or Enhanced Life Estate Deed – Texas law allows real property owners to automatically transfer property to a beneficiary upon the property owners death. Much like a life insurance policy, this type of transfer does not have to go through the probate process, making it faster and often cheaper than leaving property to a beneficiary in a Will. A Lady Bird Deed still allows the property owner full rights to the property up until their death, including the right to live on the property, lease, mortgage, or sell the property, and so on.
Transfer on Death Deeds - These types of deeds are very similar to a Lady Bird Deed with a few key differences. For instance, a person acting as Power of Attorney for the property owner can sign a Lady Bird Deed but cannot sign a Transfer on Death Deed. Additionally, property bequeathed with a Transfer on Death Deed is still subject to claims filed against the estate for up to two years.
Tax Impacts – The law around how properties and assets are taxed in the event of death can be complicated. It is stressful for your family to have to deal with estate taxes or the infamous “death tax.” Let our caring estate planning attorney help you plan accordingly to preserve your assets and avoid hefty taxes whenever possible.
Elder Law – We help you plan for the possibility of long-term care, protecting current and inherited assets and protecting your rights and safety if living in a nursing home or assisted living facility.
Reviewing Your Estate Plan
Estate plans need to be reviewed and modified as you pass through different stages of life. After building your initial estate plan, we recommend reviewing and updating those documents any time you have a major life event or approximately every three to five years. Some events that may require changes to your estate planning documents include marriages, births, divorces, or deaths. When your minor children become adults, you may want to change how trusts or wills are structured. Starting a new business is also an important reason to update estate plans. Having these plans up to date keeps you and your family prepared for the unexpected.
Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorneys
Our knowledge and experienced estate planning lawyer puts us in the perfect position to help you clearly plan for you and your family’s future. Building a personal connection with you is a top priority so that we understand everything your estate needs. Contact us today to start to process of protecting your estate.
“We found attorney Kristin Brannon at a critical time when we were tackling an overhaul of our estate planning. We could not be more pleased with the counsel she provided and the speed with which she responded to our initial inquiry. Ms. Brannon is a lovely and very knowledgeable person who truly understands how overwhelming making monumental decisions can be. She is easy to work with, very efficient, and always attentive to our concerns and questions.”