Good afternoon my name is Ira and I have been a member of the Houston Lawyer referral service for more than 10 Years and an attorney for more than 30 years. I would like to visit with you today about the importance of having a Will.
The main reason to have a Will is to pass the assets and property that are part of your estate to your family with the least amount of cost and difficulty as possible. If you don’t have a Will the process for passing your estate and your assets is costly and very time consuming. That process is called Judicial Determination of Heirship and you have to have witnesses who have to come to court and testify. So in order to avoid all of that you should have a Will prepared.
You don’t have to have an attorney to prepare a Will, you can prepare your own Will. A Will that is written entirely in the handwriting of the person making the Will is called a holographic Will. And Texas recognizes Holographic Wills as being perfectly Valid. So don’t type it on a computer and print it and sign it, that would not be a holographic Will.
You need to take a piece of paper and a pen and write it entirely in your own handwriting.
The importance of having a Will is not how much money or how many assets you have, it’s just as important to have a Will if you have limited assets as it is if you have a lot of assets. The primary factor is to be able to get your estate that you have spent your life accumulating to your family with the least amount of difficulty and expense.
If you want more information or need help in preparing the document, you can call the Houston Lawyer referral service. Thank you.