Imagine you are a commercial landlord in Harris County. Your tenant has an option to buy the property at the end of the lease, and the relationship has soured. You want the tenant out. A district court grants a temporary injunction that blocks you from pursuing eviction. You decide to wait it out, figuring trial […]
Most people sign a durable power of attorney with incapacity in mind. They want someone they trust to manage their affairs if they no longer can. Few stop to think that the same document, once signed and recorded, can also decide how and where a plaintiff serves them with a lawsuit. In Texas, a statutory […]
When a Texas homeowner dies and the mortgage is still outstanding, the debt does not die with the borrower. The lender’s right to foreclose does not die either. What changes is who owns the house. And under Texas law, ownership shifts the instant the homeowner takes her last breath — title passes by operation of […]
Guardianship proceedings in Texas can become battlegrounds almost overnight. When a family is already divided over who should care for a vulnerable loved one, court orders restricting one parent’s participation can feel like attacks rather than protections. And when a parent believes the appointed guardian is failing the ward, the impulse to keep filing motions […]
As probate attorneys, we see a lot of wills that just don’t cut it. We see everything from wills that fail to name executors, that fail to mention anything about death or dying, that fail to have witness signatures, etc. While we get that folks like to save a few dollars and skip the estate […]
Last minute estate plan changes often result in disputes. These disputes often involve situations where a elderly and newly widowed parent remarries or finds a new romantic partner quickly after their spouse’s death. There are often questions by the adult children about whether the new spouse or partner gained influence over the parents’ finances, particularly […]
The Texas legislature created business courts to handle litigation cases involving business matters. The jurisdiction and scope of cases the courts can hear has not been fully fleshed out yet. Since many probate estates and trusts include family-controlled partnerships and LLCs, this begs the question as to whether these disputes should be litigated in probate […]
Married couples often rely on bank or brokerage representatives to handle the paperwork when they set up their accounts. The spouses may sign forms and then discuss the types of accounts or authorizations after they have already signed the forms. This begs the question as sto what happens when there is evidence that boxes on […]
Your parent dies and you and your sibling are on good terms. There is a will. You agree that the will is valid. Your sibling is named as the executor in the will. To help facilitate and speed up the probate of the will, you sign a waiver consenting to the will being probated. This […]
Imagine entrusting your elderly mother with Alzheimer’s to a nursing home, only to learn she was seriously injured after wandering into the room of another resident. This heartbreaking scenario is all too common in Texas. While some resident altercations may be unpreventable, nursing homes have a duty to assess residents’ risks and implement proper safety […]