When we speak to clients who have elderly parents, grandparents, or friends, one of their biggest concerns is that their loved ones will be taken advantage of through financial abuse. Financial abuse is incredibly common among elder individuals, and the most important thing that others can do is closely monitor…
As an estate planning firm, we get questions from many clients and potential clients about where to start when thinking about beginning the estate planning process. The process can feel daunting, and more than anything, our clients want the peace of mind that their family members will be taken care…
At McCulloch & Miller, we specialize in estate planning for clients of all walks of life – those with families, those without; those with complicated assets, those without; those who are older and approaching the end of their lives, those who are not. More commonly, we are meeting with millennials…
At McCulloch & Miller, we often get questions from our clients about when it might be the right time to work on creating a living will. To answer this question, it is important to first understand what a living will entails and what effect it might have on you and…
When clients and prospective clients come to us for their estate planning needs, their first priority is often asking us to help them write their wills. What many clients don’t know, however, is that wills are only one option clients have at their disposal. Trusts are another tool that can…
In the final days of 2022, the U.S. Congress passed a federal law known as the SECURE Act 2.0. This law addresses retirement accounts and distributions throughout the country and was signed by the president in late December. While this law primarily affects how Americans manage their personal retirement accounts,…
There are many terms in the field of estate planning that have become ubiquitous in the field, however, their meaning is often misunderstood. Trustee, beneficiary, executor, and fiduciary are some of these terms. The personal term “fiduciary” comes from the type of duty that a fiduciary owes to a beneficiary…
We have long expressed the importance of estate planning for everyone, regardless of status or income. One substantial step in estate planning is having a clear will that avoids dispute or probate issues. For most people, a will turns out to be a relatively straightforward document with little contention. For…
Many people familiar with Texas estate planning have heard of the “executor” of an estate. It is colloquially understood that an executor is a person assigned by a trustee to manage their final wishes and financial matters after the death of the trustee. Being chosen as the executor of an…
As control of the federal government changes, sometimes every two years, the tax laws often change as well. Recently, new tax laws have gone into effect, which may significantly affect many Texans’ management of their assets and estate. A recently released legal trade publication discusses some of the recent tax…