Your estate refers to your financial legacy, which means all the assets and properties that belong to you at the time of your death. This is what you will leave for your loved ones, and probate is the legal mechanism for transferring these assets. Estate planning allows you to ensure your wishes will guide the process when the time comes, which makes it a highly personal matter that is also highly complex. Whether you are interested in implementing the estate plans that are right for you or are facing a probate case, an experienced Gatesville estate and probate lawyer at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard can help.

Inheritance Laws in Texas

If you do not engage in estate planning prior to your death, your estate will move through the probate process, but the inheritance laws in Texas will determine exactly how your assets will be distributed and to whom. The state’s priority is your spouse, children, parents, and siblings in that order, and your wishes will play no role because you left no instructions in the form of a last will and testament. 

With a will and any other estate planning tools that apply to your case in place, you help streamline the complicated probate process. In addition, you can save your loved ones considerable time and legal expenses. 

Finally, there is the related emotional burden to consider. After losing someone near and dear to them, you can expect your family members to go through a very challenging transition. Your estate planning efforts can help reduce the risk that conflicts will arise and demonstrate how much your heirs mean to you.

The Assets that Are Probated

Everything you own that does not have a beneficiary assignment, such as retirement accounts or life insurance policies, or that isn’t held in trust, will proceed through the probate process. Additionally, property that has a distribution on death designation flows directly to the person named and also avoids the probate process.  

Those assets that will be probated include your cash, bank accounts, investments, real estate that you own in your name alone, and anything else of value. It’s important to remember that family heirlooms and other items with sentimental value also fall into this category.

Your Will

A primary estate planning tool is your will. This is a legal document that you create. Its primary task is outlining your assets and how you want them to be divided between your loved ones upon your death. In your will, you can also address the matter of guardianship of your minor children. This involves naming the person or couple whom you’d like to fill the role of your children’s legal guardian in the unlikely event they lose both their parents before reaching adulthood. 

Ensuring that Your Will Is Legally Valid

When it comes to probate, it’s important to keep in mind that it tends to be a clunky process, and there are a range of legal issues that can arise. This makes working closely with a trusted estate and probate lawyer from the start advised. 

A key concern is ensuring that your will is legally valid. Once this is established, you can expect the wishes you outline to be upheld. For a will to be legally valid, you must have been at least 18 years old when you created it and must have been of sound mind. This means that you had the capacity to recognize what you were doing and its ultimate impact, which is called having testamentary capacity. 

Administratively, all the following must apply:

• Your will must be in your own handwriting or be either typed or printed.
• Your will must be signed by you.
• If your will is typed or printed, you’ll also need the signatures of two witnesses.
• You are not required to have your will notarized, but doing so allows you to include a self-proving affidavit. This helps to ensure validation and allows your will to skip a step in the probate process.

 Naming an Executor

In your will, you can name an executor of your estate and can expect the court to assign them the role. Your executor will take the steps necessary to guide your will smoothly through the probate process. And in so doing, they accept the responsibility of upholding your estate and your heir’s financial best interests throughout. 

Discuss Your Estate Planning Needs with an Experienced Gatesville Estate and Probate Lawyer

Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is an accomplished Gatesville estate and probate attorney who appreciates the opportunity to help you put well-considered estate plans in place. This can afford you and your loved ones the peace of mind that comes from knowing you are not leaving the future to chance. Learn more by contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 today.