In Texas, attorneys are not required by the court for estate planning purposes; however, navigating the process without an attorney can end up costing more time and resources given the many steps that are involved in estate planning. If you are debating whether or not to hire an estate planning attorney for your Texas estate, there are several reasons to consider calling a trusted firm to offer you advice.
Navigating Procedural Hurdles
In Texas, a decedent’s estate plan must generally go through probate. This means that a probate court must decide that the decedent’s will or estate plan is valid before the heirs are entitled to receive the decedent’s assets. The more complex a person’s estate, the more time-intensive this process can be.
Probate court can be a difficult forum to navigate. Filing your documents at the right time, in the correct jurisdictional court, and with the right information is a complicated process. Because it is so easy to miss a step when appearing before a probate court, it is helpful to have an attorney who can ensure everything goes smoothly the first time around.