Estate Planning · Dallas, TX
Estate Planning Attorney in Dallas, TX
Overview
Estate Planning representation in Dallas and North Texas
Estate planning is one of the few legal problems you can solve before it happens. A few documents, prepared correctly and signed with the right formalities, spare your family from months of expense and uncertainty at exactly the moment they have the least capacity to handle it.
If you die without a will in Texas, the Estates Code decides who inherits — and the result surprises people regularly, particularly in blended families and in marriages where community and separate property are mixed. A properly drafted will avoids that, and pairing it with a statutory durable power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, a directive to physicians and a HIPAA authorization covers the situations where you are still here but unable to act for yourself.
Texas also offers tools that keep things simple: independent administration, which lets an executor administer an estate with minimal court supervision; probating a will as a muniment of title where no debts require administration; and transfer on death deeds that pass real property outside probate entirely. We also handle probate itself when a loved one has died — with or without a will. Note that Texas generally requires a will to be filed for probate within four years of death, which is one of several reasons not to put the paperwork in a drawer and forget it.
What We Handle
Estate Planning matters we take on
If your situation is not on this list, ask anyway — the consultation is free and we will tell you where it belongs.
- Last wills and testaments, including contingent and pour-over wills
- Statutory durable powers of attorney
- Medical powers of attorney and directives to physicians (living wills)
- HIPAA authorizations and declarations of guardian
- Revocable living trusts and testamentary trusts
- Special needs planning for a family member with a disability
- Transfer on death deeds and enhanced life estate (Lady Bird) deeds
- Independent administration and dependent administration probate
- Probate as a muniment of title
- Small estate affidavits and heirship determinations
- Guardianship of a minor or an incapacitated adult
- Updating plans after a marriage, divorce, birth or move to Texas
The Process
How a estate planning matter moves forward
- 01
Planning Conversation
We talk through your family, your property, who you trust to act for you, and anything unusual — a business, a blended family, a child with special needs, property in another state.
- 02
Drafting the Documents
We prepare a plan built around your situation rather than a form, and walk you through each document so you understand what it does before you sign it.
- 03
Signing & Safekeeping
Texas has specific execution formalities, including for self-proving affidavits. We handle the signing correctly and explain where the originals should live.
- 04
Review & Probate Support
Plans need revisiting after major life changes, and we are here for your family later if the estate needs to be probated or administered.
Why Herrera Bautista PC
Why clients hire us for these cases
- 01
Plain-language explanations
You should be able to describe your own estate plan to your family. We draft carefully and explain it in language that does not require a law degree.
- 02
Planning that anticipates the fight
Because we also handle probate and civil disputes, we draft with an eye toward the arguments that actually arise later between heirs.
- 03
Practical, not oversold
Not everyone needs a trust. We will tell you when a will and a transfer on death deed will do the job for a fraction of the cost.
Client Feedback
What estate planning clients say
Sample feedback shown while our Google Business Profile is being set up.
“We had wills from another state that would not have worked here. They rewrote them for Texas and explained the community property side in a way we both understood.”
H. & P. CortezPlano, TXEstate Planning “I expected to be sold a trust I did not need. Instead I was told a will and a transfer on death deed would do the job, and that is what we did.”
B. LindquistDallas, TXEstate Planning “My father passed without much paperwork and I had no idea where to begin. They handled the probate and kept me updated at every step.”
Y. SalazarMcKinney, TXEstate Planning
Questions about a estate planning matter?
Tell us what happened and we will tell you where you stand. Consultations are free, confidential, and available in English and Spanish.
FAQ
Estate Planning questions we hear
General information only — every case turns on its own facts. For an answer about your situation, call us.
The Texas Estates Code's intestacy rules determine who inherits, and the outcome depends on whether property is community or separate and whether you have children from a prior relationship. A surviving spouse does not automatically receive everything — children, and in some situations parents or siblings, can take a share. Intestate estates also tend to cost more to administer because heirship must be established in court.
For many Texas families a well-drafted will is enough, because Texas offers independent administration and probate here is comparatively efficient. Trusts earn their cost in specific situations: privacy, property in multiple states, planning for a beneficiary who cannot manage money, special needs planning, and management of assets during incapacity. We will tell you honestly which category you are in.
Generally four years from the date of death. After that window, a will typically cannot be admitted to probate in the ordinary way, and the estate may pass under intestacy rules instead — with limited exceptions. If you are holding a will for someone who has passed, do not wait.
It is a streamlined Texas procedure. Where there is a valid will and no unpaid debts other than those secured by real estate, the court can admit the will as a muniment of title without appointing an executor, and the order itself transfers the property. It is faster and less expensive than a full administration when the estate qualifies.
Texas does recognize handwritten (holographic) wills and does not require notarization for them, but homemade documents are where inheritance disputes come from — ambiguous language, missing residuary clauses, improper witnessing, and provisions that conflict with beneficiary designations on accounts. The cost of having it drafted properly is almost always less than the cost of litigating it later.
No. A power of attorney ends at death — that is precisely where a will and the probate process take over. This is a common misunderstanding, and it is why the two documents belong together in the same plan.
Related practice areas
- Family LawDivorce, conservatorship, child support, modifications and protective orders — handled with steadiness.Learn more
- Civil LawContract, property and consumer disputes — resolved by negotiation where possible, by litigation where necessary.Learn more
- Commercial LawFormation, contracts, leases and business disputes for Dallas-area companies and their owners.Learn more
Start with a free consultation.
One conversation is usually enough to know whether you need an attorney and what your options are. There is no cost and no obligation.
- Free Consultation
- Licensed in Texas
- Multi-Practice Legal Team
- Serving Dallas & Surrounding Counties