Passing real estate to beneficiaries can be more complicated than you might think. If you own property, there are several steps you must take in order to ensure your property passes down to your chosen beneficiaries. In general, real estate will go through the probate process, but there are a…
Estate planning has evolved greatly over the past century, and it continues to change with each passing year. For example, estate planning attorneys must regularly adapt client plans to changes in tax laws. Keeping up with changes to the legal field and their implications for estate planning is a task…
According to the National Association of Realtors, the pandemic has brought on an unprecedented amount of home sales in Texas and throughout the United States. As home sales increased, mortgage rates hit record lows, encouraging quarantined home buyers to jump-start their searches. Those who have bought or sold a home…
Because estate planning is often perceived as a complicated process, Texans assume there are other options that are an acceptable substitute for an estate plan. One such example of this is joint tenancy. Joint tenancy is a legal arrangement in which two or more people own a property together with…
Many instances of estate planning disasters start when well-meaning people try to use a simple solution for what is ultimately a complicated problem. It’s better for all concerned to meet with an estate planning attorney who can present strategies that will achieve goals, rather than attempt a do-it-yourself plan that…
There are many inheritance scenarios, where people hope that a simple solution will save them time and money. Unfortunately, that’s not always the way estate or tax laws work. A woman received joint ownership of her father’s house about a decade ago. Her father is still living there, and so…
Sounding more like their great grandparents than their parents, millennials say they’d rather buy real estate than invest in markets. However, they might be heading in a dangerous direction. When Bankrate asked more than 1,000 Americans where they would prefer to invest money—long-term funds that they don’t need for another…
If you’ve got a fair amount of equity in your home and no other way to cover a healthcare cost or if the bills are coming in faster than your retirement accounts can manage, it might be time to consider a reverse mortgage. For retirees in a financial tight spot,…
How home ownership is titled, or how it is described on the title to the house, can have far reaching implications that may not come into play for decades. Deciding how the owners of a home will hold title to it, is a much bigger decision than most people think,…
Life insurance can be useful in paying off debt, covering funeral costs and serving as a useful resource so that estate proceeds or any one person’s savings don’t have to be tapped. Life insurance may be the least sexy part of the transition from one farming generation to another, but…