El Paso / New Mexico Estate Planning and Probate

Ensure Your Loved One Is Provided For: Estate Planning

Wills and Trusts • Living Wills • Powers of Attorney • Probate

 From simple wills to complex plans, the estate planning attorneys at Hobson, Stribling & Carson, LLP, are prepared to help. Each of our estate planning and probate lawyers have more than 20 years of experience. Two are board-certified in estate planning and probate by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Contact our El Paso law office to schedule a consultation.

Showing Your Family You Care through Estate Planning

The process of communicating your wishes is not difficult, especially with the help of a knowledgeable estate planning attorney. Your Hobson, Stribling & Carson attorney will meet with you personally to learn about your family and what you would like to achieve with your plan. We will then advise you about the many tools available to meet your goals. Working together with you, we will develop a customized plan that is appropriate for your goals, your family needs, the type of assets you wish to protect, and your budget.

During the planning process, we may discuss:

• Wills and revocable trusts:
  • Is a will or revocable living trust best for your circumstances?
  • How and when will your heirs receive your assets?
  • Are your beneficiary designations coordinated with your plan?
• Strategies to reduce estate taxes:
  • Gifting
  • Irrevocable life insurance trusts
  • Bypass and marital trust planning
  • Charitable planning
  • Considerations for non-resident and non-citizens (including qualified domestic trusts)
  • Post-mortem techniques such as disclaimers
• Disability planning:
  • Medical powers of attorney
  • Statutory durable powers of attorney (for financial decisions)
  • Living wills (directives to physicians)
  • HIPAA privacy notices
  • Special needs or supplemental needs trust to allow a beneficiary to retain governmental benefits
• Long-term care and Medicaid planning:
  • Miller trusts
  • Protection of your home
  • Annuities
  • Irrevocable trusts
  • Ladybird deeds
  • Reverse mortgages
• Asset Protection
  • Formation of corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and other entities
  • Partition and exchange agreements
• Business succession planning
  • Buy-sell agreements
  • Employment agreements
  • Life insurance planning
• Premarital agreements and post-marital agreements
  • Property characterization (separate property and community property)
  • Creditor protection
  • Defining rights of each spouse and the spouse’s family members in assets for the benefit of children from prior marriage
• Planning for successive generations
  • Education trusts
  • Family limited partnerships
  • Generation-skipping trusts

Probate, Estate Administration, and Ancillary Probate

Probate. The process of probating a will in Texas is not as expensive and time-consuming as it is in many states. The cost of Texas probate is often less than the cost of preparing and transferring property to a living trust. As your probate lawyers, we can assist you with probating a decedent’s will. We can also guide you through the legal and administrative details involved in handling and distributing the estate.

Ancillary Probate. We work with families and attorneys from other states when a decedent who was not a resident of Texas or New Mexico owned real property in Texas or New Mexico. Leila Safi Hobson is licensed as an attorney in Texas and New Mexico.

Intestacy. If the decedent died without a will (intestacy), there are other methods of having the decedent’s assets transferred to the heirs. The recommended method will depend upon the assets, liabilities and family members of the decedent. The methods that will be considered may include:

• Application for determination of heirship and appointment of administrator
• Small estates affidavit
• Affidavit of heirship

Estate Administration. During the process of estate administration, we will discuss details such as:

• Inventory filing
• Notices to creditors
• Notices to charitable organization beneficiaries
• Executor’s or administrator’s fee
• Fiduciary duties
• Tax return filings (income tax and estate tax)

We invite you to contact our El Paso law office for any estate planning or probate need. Our office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. We are conveniently located one block off Interstate 10 at Executive Center.

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Hobson, Stribling & Carson, LLP

4110 Rio Bravo Street, Suite 220
El Paso, TX 79902
Telephone (915) 351-9886 • Fax (915) 351-9887
Map and Directions • E-Mail Us

From our law office in El Paso, the estate planning and elder law attorneys of Hobson, Stribling & Carson, LLP, serve the legal needs of the people of West Texas and southern New Mexico, in communities such as El Paso, Ruidoso, Las Cruces, Alamogordo, and Deming in El Paso County, Dona Ana County, and Otero County.