Estate Planning

Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning in Texas

For experienced and responsive client service in estate planning, contact McCulloch & Associates in Houston. Texas trusts and estates attorney Thomas W. McCulloch has 30 years of experience meeting the asset preservation, long term care, estate planning or probate avoidance goals of many families.

The particular contours of your estate plan will reflect your family's financial circumstances, wealth preservation strategies and any applicable special needs, such as family business succession planning or the future care of a disabled child. Texas Law has recently been changed to allow individuals to remember their pets in their wills through a trust. McCulloch and Associates can help you structure such a trust that will ensure the continued care of your beloved pet upon your death. For most families, however, the following estate planning instruments are usually regarded as fundamental:

• Last will and testament to specify the distribution of your assets and your personal representative
• Medical power of attorney to designate a person you can trust to make medical treatment decisions on your behalf in the event of an emergency
• General durable power of attorney, to designate a person you can trust to manage your finances or make other important financial decisions for you when you cannot do so yourself
• Texas Designation of Guardian Before Need Arises can simplify difficult and expensive guardianship proceedings in the event of your incapacity
• Advance health care directive to physicians to specify the circumstances under which life support should be continued or terminated

Other estate planning instruments, such as special needs trusts, revocable living trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable remainder trusts, Miller Trusts, Pet Trusts, or more sophisticated tax planning devices, can be advisable under certain circumstances to meet particular objectives, but the powers of attorney and health care directives described above are basic estate planning tools.

At McCulloch & Associates, we can provide estate-planning services for people in all circumstances. For families with aging parents and imminent life care planning needs, we integrate advice about wills and trusts with broader planning for strategies looking to a higher quality of life and independence for persons who might otherwise be faced with spending their last years and dollars in a nursing home. In many situations, we can help you identify and access the range of long term care services your elderly parent or loved one might require. Private insurance, trust income, government programs, community-based programs, Medicaid, or Medicare supplements might be available or appropriate.

For additional information about estate planning, or about our ability to integrate senior care alternatives with conventional wills and trust instruments, contact a lawyer or our staff elder care coordinator at McCulloch & Associates in Houston.