Posts
Why You CANNOT Buy Real Estate Without Title Insurance
By David Goodhart | May 17, 2023
You cannot buy real estate without obtaining title insurance. I say this at least once a day to clients interested in buying real estate. In my 30 years of practicing real estate law, I have seen so many title problems. Buyers who find out – after closing – that their seller failed to pay their property taxes, or had anRead More
Affidavits of Heirship
By David Goodhart | May 8, 2023
Affidavits of Heirship When a loved one passes away, the answer to the question of who gets the decedent’s stuff is not so obvious if the loved one died without a Last Will & Testament. If I had a dime for each time a surviving spouse said they automatically inherited their spouse’s interest to their estate simply by virtue ofRead More
Disclaimers of Real Estate
By David Goodhart | February 21, 2023
Believe it or not, you don’t actually have to accept property you inherit from a loved one. While most people do accept property left to them by their parents, for example, in a Will, there are many situations where a person might not want to take title to inherited property. The inherited property might be relatively low in value yetRead More
Texas LLCs – Preferred Entity of Choice
By David Goodhart | May 12, 2020
If you’re wondering why everyone (and their mother) have hopped onto the LLC bandwagon as their preferred liability-free entity of choice in Texas, you don’t have to look too far back in time beyond 2006. While LLCs have been in existence since the early 1980’s, LLCs, like many of there sister liability-free entities, suffered from the dreaded Texas Franchise Tax.Read More
Texas Durable Power of Attorney
By David Goodhart | January 10, 2019
It’s pretty clear why you would want a Last Will & Testament. After all, you want to tell the world what to do with your possessions when you pass away. What happens, however, if you don’t pass away, but are incapacitated for a period of time because of, say, an accident or illness? What happens to your possessions then?Read More
Texas Living Will
By David Goodhart | December 20, 2018
Oftentimes, a difficult subject to discuss with your loved ones is the topic of whether you want your doctors to artificially keep you alive in the event you are in a persistent, vegetative state, or whether you would prefer that they simply “pull-the-plug” and allow you to die naturally. This is not an easy decision, but it’s one thatRead More
Texas Transfer on Death Deeds
By David Goodhart | December 1, 2018
There’s good news for Texas estate planners and all Texans who are looking to avoid probate. Many of you may not know that since September 1, 2015, our legislators down in Austin passed a new law permitting the use of what is commonly known as a Transfer on Death Deed. Similar to other estate planning forms and probate legalRead More