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529 Plan Changes for the FAFSA Form and What It Means for Grandparents (and Grandaunts)
February 9th, 2022
For grandparents who want to leave a legacy to their grandchildren (or grandaunts, such as myself, who wants to help out with the costs for grandnieces and grandnephews), the gift of a 529 college savings plan is an option. Not only can opening a 529…
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The Common Trust: Providing for All Your Children's Needs
January 6th, 2022
Parents strive to make their children feel equally valued as reflected in the fact that, when setting up an estate plan, parents typically divide their accounts and property equally among their children. But while parents strive to treat their childr…
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Categories: Estate Planning
What Happens to Your Social Media Accounts at Your Death?
December 13th, 2021
According to Statista, more than 295 million people in the United States use social media.[1] If you are an avid social media user, have you considered what will happen to your accounts when you die? If you have spent time creating, uploading, and sh…
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Categories: Estate Planning
Five Tips for Talking to Your Parents about Estate Planning
November 22nd, 2021
Conversations about death and dying are rarely fun. Most people avoid them because they invoke feelings about our inevitable demise. Broaching this subject and talking to your parents about estate planning can be particularly difficult. Adult childre…
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Why You Might Want to Go through Probate
November 15th, 2021
Avoiding probate is a common goal for individuals deciding how they want their money and property to be handled when they pass. It is a worthy one and is regularly promoted by estate planning attorneys across the nation. However, probate is not an in…
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First Responders: Questions to Consider to Best Protect Their Loved Ones
November 8th, 2021
A first responder are those who have specialized training and who usually arrive first at the scene of an emergency, whether that be an accident, natural disaster, terrorism, or even a pandemic. Included in the list are law enforcement officers, fire…
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Categories: Estate Planning
Is Our Home Community Property or Separate Property, and Why Does It Matter?
November 1st, 2021
When two people get married, the property they obtain during their marriage is called marital property. This includes anything from real property like homes and rental properties, to stock options, investment accounts, heirlooms, and employment incom…
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Categories: Estate Planning
Tags: Community property
How Life Insurance Can Be Part of Your Estate Plan
October 25th, 2021
Life insurance may not seem to have a bearing on how to dispose of assets in your estate, but you might like what you find if you look a bit deeper. Life insurance can be an integral, indispensably important part of a well-thought-out estate plan.
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Categories: Estate Planning
Probate: How an Estate is Administered in Court
October 11th, 2021
To process a decedent’s will it must go through a function called Probate, a method which judicial officials, including probate judges, process property. State laws may vary but the general process stays genuinely the same across the country.
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Why a Letter of Intent is Crucial
August 30th, 2021
A letter of intent (LOI) can be a valuable piece in your estate planning, and although it is an informal letter, it can more fully represent your financial and personal intentions after you die. Everyone knows they need to make a will, but this lesse…
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Categories: Estate Planning
Attorney Jana McCreary
Houston Estate Planning Attorney Jana R. McCreary has been an attorney for over twenty years, a career move she made after working for over a decade with adults and children with intellectual disabilities and mental illness. Graduating summa cum laud… Read More