Elder Law, Estate Planning and Probate

HRJ 38 and Governor’s Letter are Deceitful

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on July 1, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: I just received a letter from Gov. Abbott saying the Democrats were pushing a law to make a state income tax. This is terrible. I don’t want to pay a state income tax. Lack of state income tax is one of the benefits left to living in Texas. Why would the Democrats be pushing…

Protecting Assets after a Second Marriage

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express-News and other Hearst Newspapers on May 6, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: My parents had three children, and eventually they divorced. When in his 70’s my father remarried. She had two daughters from her first marriage. She and dad had a lawyer draw up Wills at the same time, which said that the first to die between them would get everything, and…

Estate Planning Workaround idea needs work

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on April 29, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: I like life hacks and I like doing things myself. I graduated from college. I am smart. I own a ranch and live on the land with my family. I figured out a way to avoid getting legal documents like a trust and a financial power of attorney and want to get your opinion on it…

Will Liability Iceberg Sink Finances?

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on April 23, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: Now in my mid-80’s I have many friends, but I happily live alone. Sometimes I help my friends financially. Sometimes I help the adult children of my friends financially. I co-signed a note for the adult child of one of my friends when they needed to get a car. I thought I…

How to protect yourself from a spouse’s debt

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on April 15, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: My friend has a question about how to protect herself from being burdened with her fiancé’s loan debt (over $100K) once they get married. What is the best way to protect herself from having to pay it off if something where to happen to him? Prenuptial Agreement? Some other…

Delinquent Property Taxes under Mortgage or Probate

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on April 8, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack:I know you have written suggesting property tax deferral is not a wise long-term planning tool, but I have a question about using it in a different way. As someone over 65, for the past few years I have deferred taxes during the early part of the year and paid them out over…

Are Handwritten and Form Wills a good idea?

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on April 1, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: My friend was very ill and had no Will. I got a printed form for her, and she filled it out and signed and dated it. I witnessed it, and we had a notary notarize it. It says I should be executor. A few weeks later, she died. Her husband owned a house. When he died a year…

Foreign investments highly complicate Wills

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on March 18, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: Ours is an international family. We are United States citizens and have businesses and property in the US and in Mexico. My wife inherited separate property from her family in the Philippines. We guess it is time to get serious about the legal implications of these…

What Texas laws says about accessing decedent’s safe deposit box

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on March 4, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: I am the only child of my parents, and the only heir in the Will. My mother has been gone several years, and my father died last month. I have a photocopy of his Will which says that I am to be Executor. He told me that the original is in his safe deposit box. While I have…

Can a Video be used as a Will?

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on February 18, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: My grandmother while in ICU stated that she wanted all she owned including her house to go to me and my bother in law. This was caught on cell phone video. She was later released into hospice care and died 20 days later, therefore never had to opportunity to put it in…

Life Estate Deed by Agent must Preserve Estate Plan

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on February 11, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: I am the beneficiary on my father’s life estate deed of his home. He passed in October 2018. I am wanting to sell the house and have not filed a warranty deed to put the house in my name. Also, the life estate deed is via POA because my father had alzheimers and at the…

Reverse Mortgages: Age Limits and High Costs

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on February 4, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: I am over 65 but my wife will not be 65 for another 5 years. I have been told both must be over 65 in order to qualify for a reverse mortgage. My financial standing is very good. What can I do to get a reverse mortgage? NSC

Reverse mortgages are a special type of home…

Superstitious roadblocks to proper estate planning

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on January 28, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: My husband and I are in our 60’s. We have been married for a few years, but it is not our first marriage. We are a blended family. I think we need to do our estate planning. My husband does not want to think about doing the estate planning. He did it with his first wife…

When the Nursing Facility Keeps Resident’s Original Legal Documents

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on January 21, 2019.

Dear Mr. Premack: I live in San Antonio. My mom is self-pay at a nursing home outside of Houston. I am agent for my mom under her Durable Power of Attorney — but the nursing home insisted they keep my mom’s legal documents. I need to do some business for her, as her agent, and I did not…

Care facilities should never practice law

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on January 14, 2019. 

Dear Mr. Premack: Since 2013 I have been the agent for my uncle, who lives in Texas, under both his Financial and Medical Powers of Attorneys. I live in Mississippi. My uncle had to move to an assisted living place in 2018 and a friend of his just emailed me that after moving into the…

Keeping land in the family for generations

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on December 28, 2018.

Dear Mr. Premack: I received 100 acres of land from my dad 30 years ago. I want this land to stay in my family as long as I can. I want my four grandchildren to inherit the land equally, but I also want my two kids (the grandchildren’s parents) to be able to live on the land while my kids…

This is why a person should never die intestate

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on December 18, 2018. 

Dear Mr. Premack: A married man and woman own a house in Texas, and raise their four children there. He dies in 1981, intestate, while in Oklahoma. There is no legal action taken when he dies. Surviving wife continues to live in the Texas house. Oklahoma law gives one half of all real…