Estate Planning

Using Revocable Trusts to Avoid Ancillary Probate for Dallas Investors With Multi-State Rentals

Published on: October 31, 2025 | By Thomas W. McCulloch

Using Revocable Trusts to Avoid Ancillary Probate for Dallas Investors With Multi-State Rentals

Dallas investors often own rentals in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Colorado, or beyond. When you pass, each state wants its own probate for local real estate—a slow, expensive loop called ancillary probate. A revocable trust can bypass that loop entirely. With the right deed work and a clear management plan, your trustee takes over in a day, not months.

Move Title Now, Not Later

A trust only helps if it holds title before you die. Prepare and record deeds transferring each property—using the exact legal description—into your revocable trust. Keep lender notices on file; most due-on-sale clauses do not trigger for transfers to a living trust, but follow your mortgage terms. Update insurance policies and property-tax accounts to reflect the trust as owner so bills and claims route correctly.

Estate Planning for High-Rise Condominium Owners in Uptown and Victory Park

Published on: October 24, 2025 | By Thomas W. McCulloch

Estate Planning for High-Rise Condominium Owners in Uptown and Victory Park

High-rise living brings amenities, views, and rules. If you own a condo in Uptown or Victory Park, your estate plan must fit building policies, HOA bylaws, and lender expectations. A little preparation prevents probate delays, HOA fines, and unhappy neighbors—while preserving value when it is time to sell or transfer.

Gather The Building Paperwork First

Collect the declaration, bylaws, rules and regulations, resale certificates, and any current special-assessment notices. Save parking and storage licenses, move-in/move-out procedures, and elevator reservation rules. Place insurance declarations and flood coverage (if applicable) in the same folder. Your executor or trustee needs these documents to prove authority and follow building protocols from day one.

Choose A Transfer Structure That Works In Practice

A revocable living trust lets your successor trustee manage the condo immediately—pay assessments, approve tenants, and coordinate moves—without waiting for court orders. If you rely on a will, be sure it requests independent administration and waives bond, which speeds Dallas County probate. Confirm that your lender allows transfers to a trust; most do, but paperwork matters in a high-rise with strict management.

Estate Planning For Austin Artists With Gallery Consignment And Merchandise Revenue

Published on: October 9, 2025 | By David W. Miller

Estate Planning For Austin Artists With Gallery Consignment And Merchandise Revenue

Austin artists build value through originals, prints, merchandise, and a reputation that lives online. When an artist dies or becomes disabled, confusion over consignment contracts, online shops, and intellectual property can freeze income and scatter the archive. A focused estate plan protects your work, pays your bills, and guides your heirs so the art keeps moving into the world.

Inventory The Work And The Rights

Begin with a simple spreadsheet that lists each original, series, or edition. Add title, medium, dimensions, date, current location, and whether the piece is consigned or sold. For limited editions, record edition size and numbers already sold. Note where high-resolution files live and who has access. This one document becomes the map your executor and gallerist use to keep sales going without guessing.

Using Family Limited Partnerships To Hold Hill Country Acreage Near Austin

Published on: October 7, 2025 | By Thomas W. McCulloch

Hill Country acreage carries memories, water, and wide horizons—but it also carries management challenges. Multiple siblings, roaming property lines, county taxes, and seasonal income make succession tricky. A Family Limited Partnership (FLP) can centralize control, protect against creditor chaos, and hand the land to the next generation with fewer court trips. When you set up the structure correctly, fences stay fixed and family ties stay strong.

Understand The Roles Inside An FLP

An FLP has two parts: a general partner (often an LLC you control) that manages daily decisions, and limited partners (you and your family) who hold economic interests. The general partner signs grazing leases, approves hunting contracts, hires fence crews, and pays taxes. Limited partners receive distributions and reports. That split lets you guide the ranch while training the next leader without handing over the keys too soon.

Put The Land, Water, And Minerals On Paper

Before you transfer title, gather every deed, survey, and easement affecting the acreage. Confirm water rights, well permits, and pipeline or roadway easements. If minerals exist, decide whether the FLP will own them or reserve overrides. A clean schedule of assets goes into the partnership agreement so no one later claims that “the back pasture” was excluded. Precision today prevents family disputes tomorrow.

Crafting Succession Plans for East Austin Duplexes and ADUs

Published on: October 3, 2025 | By David W. Miller

East Austin’s duplexes and backyard ADUs mix rental income with neighborhood character. They also create unique succession questions when an owner dies or becomes incapacitated. If you plan now, tenants keep paying, contractors keep showing up, and your heirs receive a property that is easy to manage or sell. A practical plan treats your rentals like a small business with clear instructions and the paperwork to match.

Identify What You Own And How It’s Titled

Start by listing each unit—front house, back house, garage apartment, or detached ADU—and confirm how title is held. Some East Austin owners condominiumize a duplex into two units with separate legal descriptions and HOA documents. Others keep one lot with multiple dwellings. Your deed, survey, and any condo declaration determine what your executor can sell and how buyers will finance the deal. Put copies of these records in a single folder so your fiduciary is not hunting through email during probate.

Keep Permits, STR Licenses, And Leases Current

If a unit operates as a short-term rental, save the license, renewal dates, and any City correspondence about occupancy rules or noise complaints. For long-term tenants, file signed leases, addenda, pet agreements, and security-deposit receipts. Make sure every lease states where rent should be paid if you die and who manages the property in the interim. When documents are current, rent keeps flowing and title companies relax when a sale is planned.

Estate Planning for Dallas Physicians—Guarding Against Malpractice Creditors

Published on: August 29, 2025 | By Thomas W. McCulloch

Estate Planning for Dallas Physicians—Guarding Against Malpractice Creditors

Your calling serves patients, but it also exposes wealth to risk. Even with strong insurance, a single claim, business dispute, or personal guarantee can threaten savings. A Dallas-ready estate plan builds layers of protection while keeping life simple for your family.

Start With the Protections Texas Already Gives You

Texas homestead laws shield your primary residence within acreage limits. Qualified retirement plans and many IRAs receive powerful statutory protection. Max out those vehicles, keep beneficiary forms current, and store statements where your spouse or executor can find them. Simple steps form a sturdy first line of defense.

Separate Your Professional and Personal Worlds

Operate through the right entity—a professional association (PA) or professional LLC (PLLC). Keep clean books, separate accounts, and minutes for major decisions. Sign contracts as an officer of the entity, not in your personal capacity, and avoid commingling. For investments, consider a limited partnership with an LLC as general partner to add charging-order protection and limit creditor leverage.

Buy Insurance Like a Realist, Not an Optimist

Carry malpractice limits that match your specialty’s risk. Add an umbrella policy for non-practice liability, and price tail coverage when changing jobs or retiring so past care remains covered. Insurance buys time for your asset structure to work and supplies defense dollars when emotions run high.

Title Assets With Purpose and Clarity

In a second marriage, use marital agreements to sort community from separate property. A community-property survivorship agreement can move certain accounts directly to your spouse, while a trust can preserve other assets for children. Avoid casual personal guarantees on practice loans; one signature can pull protected assets into a creditor’s reach.

Build Protective Trusts the Right Way

If you want to help family during life, consider irrevocable trusts that keep assets outside your estate yet accessible for them—such as a spousal lifetime access trust (SLAT) paired with life insurance in an irrevocable life-insurance trust (ILIT). Make gifts in ordinary times, not after a claim appears. Courts scrutinize timing; steady, well-documented planning carries credibility.

Safeguard the Practice and Income Stream

Create or update a buy-sell agreement with partners so a disability or death does not freeze distributions or voting. Fund that agreement with life and disability coverage to provide liquidity. Confirm that accounts receivable, equipment leases, and EHR contracts have succession language so billing and operations continue smoothly during transitions.

Prepare for Incapacity and Protect Privacy

Sign medical and financial powers of attorney so a trusted agent can manage accounts, apply for benefits, and authorize care if you cannot. Add explicit digital-asset permissions for EHR portals, billing software, and cloud storage. Inventory passwords and 2FA backups in a secure vault your agent can access. Speed matters when payroll and schedules depend on your systems.

Keep Your Plan Current

Review everything every two years or after major changes in compensation, insurance markets, or practice ownership. Update beneficiary forms, confirm entity filings with the Secretary of State, and refresh your list of accounts and policies. Small maintenance keeps the shield strong.

Put a durable, physician-smart plan around your family and your practice. To design a protection strategy that balances simplicity and strength, call McCulloch & Miller, PLLC at (713) 903-7879 and start building your safety net today.

Pet Trusts for Austin Families

Published on: August 21, 2025 | By David W. Miller

Your pets are family. You want them fed, loved, and safe even if something happens to you. A pet trust turns that wish into a binding plan, providing money, care instructions, and oversight that lasts for your pet’s lifetime. With a few decisions today, you can guarantee tomorrow’s care.

Why a Trust Beats “My Friend Will Take Them”

Good intentions fade under busy schedules and tight budgets. A trust makes care a legal duty and funds it with real dollars. You name a caregiver, a trustee to manage the money, and a backup for each role. Because the law enforces the arrangement, food, grooming, and vet bills get paid on time. Your pets keep routines that feel safe and familiar.

Choose the Right Team for Your Animals

Pick a caregiver who truly wants the job and can handle your specific pets. A high-energy herding dog needs a different home than an elderly cat or a pair of parrots. Then select a trustee with financial sense to approve expenses, keep receipts, and file tax returns. Separating money management from daily care creates checks and balances. Add a trust protector who can replace either person if standards slip.

Keeping a Greenbelt Home in the Family—Austin Conservation Easements and Estate Planning

Published on: August 9, 2025 | By Thomas W. McCulloch

Your Austin-area homestead may border a greenbelt or sit on acreage that frames hill-country views. If you want your children to inherit that land without pressure to subdivide or sell, a conservation easement can help. This voluntary agreement limits development while preserving tax benefits and long-term family control.

What a Conservation Easement Actually Does

An easement is a recorded restriction that runs with the land. You give up certain development rights—like dividing acreage or increasing building footprints—in exchange for permanent protection. A qualified land trust or government entity holds the easement and enforces its terms. You still own the property, live there, and can sell it; future buyers must respect the same limits.

Tax and Probate Benefits You Can Capture

An easement often lowers market value by limiting development, which can reduce estate taxes for larger holdings. Lower value can also bring down property taxes if the appraisal district recognizes the reduced highest-and-best use. From a probate perspective, clearly defined restrictions reduce fights among heirs about building guest houses, adding short-term rentals, or carving off a lot to sell. The rules are on paper, not up for debate.

Using Transfer on Death Deeds for Harris County Rental Homes

Published on: August 9, 2025 | By David W. Miller

Using Transfer on Death Deeds for Harris County Rental Homes

Rental properties create steady income, but probate can freeze that cash flow when an owner dies. A Transfer on Death (TOD) deed provides a simple, low-cost way to pass Harris County rentals to your chosen beneficiaries without a court process. You keep full control during life, and your heirs receive clean title with a recorded death certificate.

Why TOD Deeds Fit Rentals So Well

You want tenants to keep paying and maintenance to continue without interruption. A TOD deed lets rent checks keep rolling because your beneficiary steps into ownership without waiting for letters testamentary. Unlike joint tenancy, a TOD deed does not give current control to your beneficiary, so you can refinance, sell, or change your mind at any time. That flexibility makes it ideal for landlords who plan to hold property long-term.

Choosing the Right Beneficiaries

Name individuals, a trust, or even an LLC you control. If you own multiple rentals, you can file separate TOD deeds with tailored beneficiaries for each address. Consider naming alternates in case a primary beneficiary dies first. When minors are involved, route title through a trust so a trustee—not a court—manages repairs, leases, and taxes until children become adults.

Updating Beneficiary Designations After Divorce in Houston

Published on: August 4, 2025 | By Thomas W. McCulloch

Divorce resets more than your day-to-day life. It also rewrites who inherits your money if you die tomorrow. In Texas, beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement plans, and bank accounts often control who gets paid—sometimes even over your will. You can protect yourself by reviewing every designation and aligning it with your new estate plan.

Why Designations Beat Your Will

When you die, insurers and plan administrators pay whoever is listed on the beneficiary form. They do not read your will first, and they do not guess what you meant. If your ex-spouse still appears on a policy, a payout can slip away from your children or your trust. Texas law revokes some ex-spouse designations automatically, but exceptions and federal plans complicate that rule. Treat each form as if it were a mini-contract that needs a fresh signature.

Prioritize the Big-Ticket Accounts

Start with life insurance, 401(k)s, IRAs, and brokerage accounts, then move to payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) designations on bank and investment accounts. Update beneficiary elections for health-savings accounts and deferred compensation, too. For employer plans governed by ERISA, the plan’s rules control; you may need spousal consent if you remarry. Create a checklist and mark each account as you update it so nothing slips through the cracks.