Estate Planning

experienced Texas attorney

Estate Planning

CONTACT INFO

info@vangilderlaw.com

916 Main StreetBastrop, Texas 78602

(512) 303-4747

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Bastrop Estate Planning and Wills Lawyers

Our estate planning and wills lawyers will customize a cost-effective plan to take care of your wishes and to minimize the burden on your family after your passing. Maybe all you need is a simple Will. Or maybe a Living Trust would best suit your needs. Maybe you need both.

Do you worry about what will happen to your property after you die?

Do you want to minimize the cost and burden on your surviving family members?

Do you have specific family members in mind to receive specific property from your estate?

Do you want to determine which of your heirs receive any property from your estate (or maybe who receives nothing)?

If the answer to any of those questions is “yes,” then you should take care of estate planning before it’s too late. Any of us could “get hit by a bus” on any given day. Even if you’re young and in good health, a little estate planning goes a long way.


Estate planning brings peace of mind in knowing your loved ones have been taken care of. No one wants to burden their family with costly and complicated court proceedings that can be necessary when a person dies without a Will or a Living Trust. The result can be an unfair or unexpected distribution of your assets in a way you never intended.

A Will or a Living Trust can be used in most cases to make the process as inexpensive and as easy as possible for the family. It is sometimes possible to structure your estate so that all your assets are distributed without your family needing to probate your estate at all!


The Bastrop estate planning and wills lawyers at the Law Office of Derek Van Gilder have helped hundreds of families and individuals to plan for what happens after death. Wouldn’t you rest easier knowing that you’ve taken care of your family so they will not be scrambling to take care of those matters during their time of mourning?


If you don’t already have a Will or a Trust, what are you waiting for? The cost of having a legal and proper Will and/or Living Trust prepared is just a fraction of the cost your family will bear in litigating your estate in the probate court if you pass on without a will. The potential for costly probate court litigation increases significantly if you’re married and you have one or more children from outside the marriage.


In many cases, a simple will can cover all your needs–allowing you to determine how your property will be divided among your spouse, children, and or others to whom you wish to provide for. A simple Will is often sufficient for people with minimal assets, unmarried people, couples with no children, and people who have a Living Trust in place.

If you have significant personal assets, or if your financial situation is more complicated, a Living Trust may be a good option for you. In many cases, a Living Trust will allow your heirs to avoid any probate of your estate altogether–resulting in a simpler, less expensive, and seamless distribution of your assets.


No one likes to think about their own death. However, everyone should have a Will and/or Living Trust in order to control how their assets are distributed and to minimize the stress, cost, and complications that will be borne by their family. No adult is too old or too young to start estate planning. Your loved ones will be relieved that you planned ahead and made the necessary arrangements for them.

Do I Need a Will?

The answer for most people is “absolutely!” A Will makes things so much simpler and less expensive for the surviving family members.


A Will allows you to specify exactly what happens to your property. You can determine who gets what. You can even determine who gets nothing if (you wish).


Wills are the most fundamental and best-known estate planning tools available. They have been in use since ancient times. In addition to determining exactly what happens to your property, you can even determine who will be the Executor of your estate—thereby placing that responsibility on the person who is best suited to handle it.

Another excellent reason to have a Will is because a person who dies without a Will has no say-so as to what happens to his or her estate. When there is no Will, the estate’s property is strictly distributed under the Texas rules of intestate succession as set out in the Texas Estates Code. That’s right. Texas law controls when there is no Will. The results can be harsh and unforgiving.

The cost of having a Will professionally prepared is minimal compared to the cost to the surviving family members in having to litigate the estate in the probate court when there is no Will. The process can be time-consuming and expensive. It often results in hostility among the heirs who find out their inheritance will be quite different than expected.


Our Wills attorneys can walk you through the process and then prepare a customized Will just for you and your particular needs and circumstances

ESTATE PLANNING

Do I Need a Living Trust?

Our estate planning and trust lawyers can evaluate your particular needs and circumstances to determine whether your estate would benefit from having a Living Trust.

Avoiding Probate

If you are relying solely on a Will to handle your estate, it will almost certainly guarantee that your estate will go through the probate—which can be expensive and can potentially last for months or years, depending on the complexity of the estate and whether the Will is contested. Whereas, if you have a Living Trust you can avoid the need for probate altogether if the Trust is fully funded (meaning all of your accounts and assets have been transferred to the Trust).

Security During Trustmaker’s Lifetime

A Will does not take effect until you die. But what happens if you become incapacitated before you die? Several medical conditions can potentially render you legally “incompetent” (such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, severe stroke, brain injury, etc.). If you’re relying solely upon a Will, it provides no security for your assets as long as you’re alive.


On the other hand, a Living Trust takes effect immediately when it is created. It designates a Trustee to manage the Trust’s income, financial assets, and property while you are still alive and that management will continue after your death.

Privacy

When a Will is probated, the actual Will is filed in the probate court and it becomes a public record—meaning anyone can see it. A Trust Agreement is a private document. It need not be filed in the probate court or in any public records, thereby maintaining the privacy of the Trustmaker and the beneficiaries of the Trust.

Common Benefits of Living Trusts

Living Trusts, whether revocable or irrevocable, offer several potential benefits, including (but not limited to):

Control over distribution and preservation of assets;

Potential federal tax savings;

Preservation of assets and income of the Trust for the benefit of its beneficiaries;

Continuity over the management of the income and assets of the Trust beginning during the Trustmaker’s lifetime and continuing after death;

Control over the distribution of income of the Trust (for example, paying educational expenses for children or grandchildren);

Control over the distribution or sale of Trust assets;

Privacy; and

Do you worry about what will happen to your property after you die?

Types of Living Trusts

A Living Trust can be revokable or irrevocable. There are pros and cons for each. A common requirement of both types of trusts is that the assets (including real estate and personal property) must actually be transferred into the ownership of the Trust. In other words, the Trust becomes the owner of the assets while the creator of the Trust is still alive. A Trust is created with the formal signing of a Trust Agreement.

Benefits of Revocable Living Trust

There are many potential benefits specific to a revocable Living Trust, including:

The Trust can be modified or terminated at any time before the Trustmaker dies;

The Trustmaker can serve as the Trustee, managing the assets and income of the Trust;

The Trustmaker can be the sole beneficiary (or one of several beneficiaries) of the Trust;

If the Trust is terminated, the Trust’s assets simply revert back to the Trustmaker;

Uses and Benefits of an Irrevocable Trust

Irrevocable Trusts are used almost exclusively where there is a large estate and primarily for the purpose of reducing federal taxes. When you transfer an asset to an irrevocable trust, it has the same effect as gifting the asset to an heir of your estate. Some benefits of an irrevocable trust include:

Locking in the exemption for your estate before it decreases;

Prevents appreciation of Trust assets from increasing your taxable estate;

Protection from creditors;

Trustmaker can be the sole beneficiary or one of several beneficiaries of the Trust; and

Can make you eligible for means-tested benefit programs, such as Medicaid.

Limitations of Irrevocable Trusts

In exchange for the federal tax benefits and protection from creditors, a Trustmaker must surrender much of the control over an irrevocable Trust. As the name suggests, an irrevocable Trust cannot be terminated or even modified after it is created—except in very limited and rate circumstances.


The Trustmaker cannot be the Trustee of an irrevocable Trust. That means a third-party Trustee must be appointed to manage the assets and income of the Trust—usually being a professional Trustee.


Consult with one of our Living Trust lawyers to determine if a Living Trust would benefit you.

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