If you’re buying or selling real estate in the Lone Star State, you’ll likely come across a document called a warranty deed. You may be wondering: What is a warranty deed in TX? Why does it matter? How does it affect your rights? In simple terms, a warranty deed is a promise. It guarantees that the person selling the...
Continue ReadingAll adults should have a will. It’s important to know what makes a will valid in Texas. Your Texas last will and testament allows you, rather than the state, to determine what should happen to your assets if you pass away. But if you do not follow Texas will requirements, the document will not be valid. Key Takeaways All...
Continue ReadingIf you have lost a loved one before, you know just how difficult it can be to manage their estate and affairs in the aftermath of their passing. Matters can become even more complicated if your loved one did not leave behind a comprehensive estate plan. Everyone will die someday—this is just an unavoidable fact of life. And while...
Continue ReadingIn the quiet moments after the loss of a loved one, you are not just grieving; you are piecing together the story of a life through stacks of papers and old files. Your focus is on honoring their memory and supporting your family. Then, you find it: a deed to a vacation home near Austin or mineral rights to...
Continue ReadingYou are handling the final affairs for a loved one, a complicated task that requires patience and focus. Just as you begin to get a handle on the primary estate administration, you learn that the real estate they owned in Texas requires a separate court process. This news is often immensely frustrating. You are already grieving, and the thought...
Continue ReadingIn many cases, this is what happens if you die without a will in Texas: complications and conflicts. Even more disturbing is that the state ends up determining what happens to your estate rather than you. When you have no will in Texas, you provide no definitive legal assurance regarding what your wishes are, and you give your loved...
Continue ReadingEstate planning law and legal documents sometimes state that property should be distributed per stirpes, meaning that when someone dies before someone they would inherit from, their descendants should receive their inheritance. This practical rule is designed to account for what someone would have wanted to happen to their property if, for example, their child dies before them, but...
Continue ReadingWhen someone dies, their assets are usually divided into two legal categories: probate and non-probate assets. But what are probate assets? And what does it mean when something is categorized as non-probate? Whether an asset is considered probate or non-probate property will determine how it will be distributed after a person’s death. In this post, the Austin probate attorneys...
Continue ReadingWhen someone creates a trust, they must appoint a person or institution to manage the trust’s assets and carry out its terms: a trustee. In short, a trustee is legally responsible for managing trust assets for the benefit of someone else. They must act with honesty, care, and loyalty to ensure they manage the trust in the best interests...
Continue ReadingWhen it comes to estate planning, most people have the same goal: to make things as stress-free and straightforward as possible for the people they love. That’s exactly what a Transfer on Death Deed (TODD) can help you do, especially if you own real estate in Texas. At Massingill, our superpower is making the complex simple, and TODDs are...
Continue Reading