Estate Planning Resources

Articles and guides to help you understand your options for protecting your family and your assets in Texas and North Carolina.

What are the Inheritance Rights of Half-Siblings When Someone Dies Without a Will?

The article explains how Texas intestacy laws treat half-siblings, full siblings, and step-siblings when someone dies without a Will and how a Will or Trust can provide different inheritance instructions.

Designing a Trust if Asset Protection is Your Goal

The article explains how independent trustees, discretionary distributions, broad beneficiary classes, indefinite trust terms, and careful administration can strengthen asset protection trusts in Texas and North Carolina.

Trapped Inside Your Body: Would you Choose to Live?

Ian Berg’s story illustrates why advance directives should clearly address life-sustaining treatment, quality of life, and decision-making when someone cannot communicate.

What is the Difference Between Per Capita, Per Stirpes, and Per Capita with Representation Distributions?

This article explains how per stirpes, per capita, and per capita with representation distributions divide an estate among children, descendants, and other heirs under the examples discussed.

Choosing the Right Healthcare Agent: Lessons from The Pitt

Using a storyline from The Pitt, this article explains how advance directives, medical powers of attorney, and co-agents can affect healthcare decisions in Texas and North Carolina.

How a Spendthrift Trust Safeguards Inheritances

This article explains how spendthrift trusts can protect beneficiaries’ inheritances from misuse and certain creditor claims, including their creation and limitations under Texas law.

Secure Your Legacy: How Proper Estate Planning Protects Your Retirement Accounts

This article explains how to structure see-through trusts for retirement accounts and compares conduit and accumulation trusts based on tax efficiency, control, and asset protection.

Who Can Serve as Executor in North Carolina?

This article explains an executor’s duties, North Carolina’s eligibility and disqualification rules, and who may administer an estate when someone dies without a Will.

Who Makes Medical Decisions if there is no Health Care Power of Attorney in North Carolina?

North Carolina law establishes a priority order for medical decisions when a person lacks capacity and has no valid Health Care Power of Attorney, but an HCPOA allows that person to choose a trusted health

The Problem with LegalZoom (And Other Do-It-Yourself Estate Planning Solutions)

The article examines LegalZoom’s outdated Texas estate-planning information, including errors about oral wills and pet trusts, and explains the risks of using DIY documents without attorney advice.

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