Real Property

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.

How to Add Vacation Homes to Your Texas Estate Plan

Published on: March 10, 2022 | By David W. Miller

As the weather starts to get warmer, people begin planning for their summer vacations plans. For those individuals with a vacation, or second, home, these vacation plans might seem easier. There are many benefits to owning a vacation home: always having a place to stay and long-lasting family memories. However, there are detriments on the estate planning front that come from having a vacation home if individuals do not plan accordingly. Below are ways to incorporate vacation homes into estate plans, so families are prepared for the future.

Deciding What to Do with the Property After You Pass Away

When it comes to vacation homes, one critical aspect of the estate planning process is to decide what to do with the property after the owner dies. For most individuals, this will be leaving the property to someone else in their will. If they decide to gift the property, owners should think carefully about who they wish to receive per the will. Many times, parents will want to give the home to their children. But this can be more complicated when they want to gift it to all of their children, rather than a single individual.

Texas Estate Planning for Eco-Friendly Property

Published on: July 13, 2021 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Eco-friendly homes are those that are built using environmentally conscious materials and appliances. In recent years, eco-friendly building in Texas has shifted from one-off construction to budding communities of sleek, sustainable housing.

Eco-friendly property owners all have one thing in common: Each of them has taken the initiative to plan for their future—as well as that of the environment. The next natural step for any eco-friendly property owner is effective estate planning.

Like any property owner, eco-friendly property owners should always have a will in place to establish how their assets will be distributed and under what conditions. Leaving a sustainable legacy is, after all, a great accomplishment to be proud of. Make sure your estate plan reflects your sustainable living ideas.

The Most Important Information about Property Deeds

Published on: February 6, 2020 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Property deeds are used to convey real property from a grantor (seller) to a grantee (buyer). For a deed to be legally operative, it must include the identification of the grantor and grantee, and the adequate description of the property.

Property deeds can be classified into several categories. Investopedia’s recent article entitled “Understanding Property Deeds” explains that a property deed is a written and signed legal instrument that is used to transfer ownership of real property from the then-owner (the grantor) to the new owner (the grantee).

Every state has its own requirements, but most deeds are required to have some essential elements to be legally valid:

What’s the Best Way to Hold Title to Real Property?

Published on: December 6, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

There are different types of property. What we informally call real estate, is known in the law as “real property.” That includes any property that is made of land and any structure that sits on it. That also can include assets that appear on that piece of land, like crops, water, livestock or other natural resources.

The ownership of real estate takes several different forms, and each has different requirements for transferring ownership, obtaining financing, paying taxes and collateralization. How the property is owned is based on its title, which is used to convey ownership.

Investopedia’s recent article, “5 Common Methods of Holding Real Property Title,” explains that each title method has its pros and cons, depending on a person's specific situation and how they want ownership to pass after death, divorce, or sale. The most common of these methods of title holding are joint tenancy, tenancy in common, tenants by entirety, sole ownership and community property.

What’s the Best Way to Title a House with Two Owners?

Published on: May 15, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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, says The Washington Post in a recent article, “What you need to know about holding title to a home with a loved one.” Before you sit down at the closing table to finalize the purchase of a home, or if the house is being re-titled to align with an estate plan, it’s important to understand the different ways that a home can be owned with another person.

There are three primary ways to title property between spouses. Joint tenancy is the least common and typically must include the language “with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common.” Spouses typically acquire title as “tenants by the entireties,” which only applies to spouses in a limited number of states.

What are the Taxes When Inheriting an Out of State Vacation Home?

Published on: August 15, 2018 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

When the family vacation home is passed from one generation to the next, there are certain tax issues to be aware of, particularly the step-up in basis. However, there may also be state taxes.

The first part of understanding the tax responsibility when you plan on giving it to your family vacation home to adult children who live out of state, is to understand the definition of “basis” and “step-up in basis.” These terms refer to income taxes and are used to determine any gains or losses on the sale of the property.

When you die, property that you own or control is valued as of the date of death. The children who inherit the property take it with that value as their basis. The first thing is to determine the parent’s basis in the property. You should then look at how the basis of inherited property is handled. Generally, the basis of property inherited from a decedent is one of the following:

The Houston Family Home Hand-Off

Published on: April 30, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

What follows are issues to consider, and, in those rare cases where a transfer can make sense, how to do it the right way.

Are you thinking about handing over the family home to your loved ones early? Proceed with caution. Although the hand-off can be a blessing to some, there are consequences you should consider before passing on the house keys.

This challenge was the subject of recent article in The Wall Street Journal titled the “Dangers of Giving Your Home to Your Children.”

Getting the Biggest Bang in Houston for Your Inherited Property Buck

Published on: April 23, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Perhaps the more important detail of this story is that the home was sold in an estate sale by heirs who appear to have let the property go for considerably less than market value.

Inherited property brings with it certain important responsibilities, and that goes double and triple for executors or trustees. The gifted property can be an immense gift and boon to your future. Even if it’s not going to be a home to live in and is just an asset to sell, what a windfall it can be!

There are all sorts of liabilities, insurances, and special transactions that might become important when a piece of real property is at stake. However, foremost at issue for heirs is selling it at the right value. Indeed, responsibility for understanding the real estate market or knowing whom to trust when selling real estate is something an heir takes on.