Estate Planning for Blended Families

February 1, 2010

The question I get asked most often is, “What happens to my property when I die if I don’t have a will?”  Unfortunately, that is not always a clear cut answer.  While the states have attempted to make the distribution of assets as fair as possible, many are surprised with the answers I give.  The [...]

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Estate Planning is for all “Adults”

November 9, 2009

When it comes to estate planning, we get asked several questions repeatedly: (1) Do I own enough to justify the cost of an estate plan; (2) Is an estate plan really necessary; and (3) I’m young, do I need to think about estate planning now?  The simple answer to all three questions is yes, yes, [...]

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The Business Proposition called “Marriage”

October 12, 2009

As I sit here and write  I am riding in a car with an old college girlfriend, reflecting on the weekend I just had.  We are on our way back from Houston, where we had a brief visit to celebrate the recent marriage of a mutual girlfriend from college.  The party was nice; it was [...]

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Putting Social Media into Perspective

August 18, 2009

If you’re like me, you’re not quite sure what to think of “Social Media”.  It’s kind of scary, but then again, what isn’t when it’s new?  What fears do we have about these phenomena that are called Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, instant messaging. (Wait, is IMing outdated?)  Is it fear of venturing into unchartered territories?  [...]

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Gestational Agreements Explained

August 5, 2009

One of the greatest joys, thus far, in my legal career, has been the ability to create families.  My firm’s partnership with a local surrogacy agency provides me with this opportunity on a regular basis.
I am sure that many of you are familiar with the concept behind a gestational agreement, whether through a peculiar story [...]

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A Texas Tale

August 1, 2009

I was on a men’s retreat a couple of months ago.  We would break out into our small group of twelve and talk about what we had just learned in the big group, what we thought.  The men’s ages ranged from twenty-something to 60-something.  We got to talking about high school and cars and and [...]

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Assess the Situation…then ACT!

July 30, 2009

Art Garfunkel (yes, from Simon & Garfunkel) once said, “everything worth doing starts with being scared.”  This made me wonder how many worthwhile actions are abandoned each day because someone is consumed by that fear.  In essence, do we sabotage our own success?  In my opinion, a certain amount of fear is good in most [...]

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Easing the Fear; Bringing Relief

July 27, 2009

This weekend I celebrated with old friends at my 10-year high school reunion.   This was the first time I had seen several of my classmates since graduation day.   Ten years ago I didn’t know what career I would have, or where I would live, but I knew I wanted to make a difference.
As I look [...]

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Estate Planning In the Face of Death

July 21, 2009

It was a cold, wet day when Yvonne and I presented at the Ecumenical Center, a great place smack in the middle of the South Texas Medical Center that opens its doors to many groups:  patients, caretakers, family members and organizations.  The local ALS Association had invited us to present basic estate planning to its [...]

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Buy-Sell Agreements And Your Sanity

July 19, 2009

For decades they’ve made a good living, smooth sailing at times, struggling at other times, making payroll for staff but not themselves sometimes.  Their child, now forty-something and a shareholder in the company, decided to declare bankruptcy but didn’t bother to disclose that to mom and dad until after the fact.  Actually, he was rummaging [...]

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