{"id":1053,"date":"2014-02-10T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/?p=1053"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:35:12","slug":"dont-wait-to-plan-your-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2014\/02\/10\/dont-wait-to-plan-your-estate\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Wait to Plan Your Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">*This article is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.*<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Back in December, I gave a presentation on estate planning at the Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show Commodity Symposium.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2013\/07\/Amarillo-Presentation.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-996 aligncenter\" alt=\"Amarillo Presentation\" src=\"http:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2013\/07\/Amarillo-Presentation-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2013\/07\/Amarillo-Presentation-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2013\/07\/Amarillo-Presentation-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2013\/07\/Amarillo-Presentation.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The High Plains Journal recently wrote an article outlining the presentation and the advice that I provided to participants.\u00a0 Importantly, I discussed the false premise that many people believe&#8211;if one spouse dies without a will, all assets are transferred to the surviving spouse&#8211;and explained the problems that could be caused by intestate distribution of assets.\u00a0 Additionally, I advised people to prepare an inventory checklist to ensure that all important documents and information are easily accessible if needed by your family and provided a list of documents and information to consider.\u00a0 Finally, I discussed the basic forms to consider including a will, trust, medical power of attorney, power of attorney, and advanced healthcare directive.\u00a0 To read the article, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hpj.com\/archives\/2013\/dec13\/dec23\/1218TXCommodityJMLsr.cfm?t=Ag-law-specialist:-Don't-wait-to-plan-your-estate\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*This article is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.* Back in December, I gave a presentation on estate planning at the Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show Commodity Symposium. The High Plains Journal recently wrote an article outlining the presentation and the advice that I provided to participants.\u00a0 Importantly, I discussed the false premise that many people believe&#8211;if one spouse dies without a will, all assets are transferred to the surviving spouse&#8211;and explained the problems that could be caused by intestate distribution of assets.\u00a0 Additionally, I&#8230; <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2014\/02\/10\/dont-wait-to-plan-your-estate\/\">Read More &rarr;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2444,"featured_media":996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-estate-planning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Don&#039;t Wait to Plan Your Estate - Texas Agriculture Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2014\/02\/10\/dont-wait-to-plan-your-estate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don&#039;t Wait to Plan Your Estate - Texas Agriculture Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"*This article is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.* Back in December, I gave a presentation on estate planning at the Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show Commodity Symposium. The High Plains Journal recently wrote an article outlining the presentation and the advice that I provided to participants.\u00a0 Importantly, I discussed the false premise that many people believe&#8211;if one spouse dies without a will, all assets are transferred to the surviving spouse&#8211;and explained the problems that could be caused by intestate distribution of assets.\u00a0 Additionally, I... 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