Practical tools, articles, classes, and guides to help Texas families understand estate planning decisions before problems arise.
You don’t need to read everything here. Start with the question or resource that fits what you’re trying to accomplish.
What are you trying to figure out?
Getting Started with Estate Planning
Understand the basic documents and decisions that make up a Texas estate plan.
Wills or Trusts
Understand what each does and when a living trust may or may not make sense.
Second Marriages & Blended Families
Protect a surviving spouse while preserving intended inheritances for children from earlier relationships.
Special Needs Planning
Learn how an inheritance can be structured for a person receiving needs-based benefits.
Avoiding Probate in Texas
Learn what probate is, what does and doesn’t avoid it, and how ownership and beneficiary designations affect the result.
Planning for Incapacity
Learn how powers of attorney, medical directives, and asset arrangements help someone act if you cannot.
Long-Term Care & Asset Protection
Understand long-term-care risks, Texas asset protections, and planning options.
Beneficiaries, Accounts & Property Ownership
See how deeds, account ownership, beneficiary forms, and survivorship provisions can override what a will says.
Not Sure Where to Start? Use the Texas Probate Risk Workbook
The complimentary Texas Probate Risk Workbook helps you organize important family, property, account, and beneficiary information while identifying common estate-planning risks that Texas families often overlook.
It’s a useful first step if you are creating an estate plan, reviewing an older plan, or simply trying to determine what questions you should be asking.
Texas Estate Planning Articles & Guides
Read plain-English explanations of common Texas estate-planning questions, including probate, trusts, beneficiary designations, incapacity, property ownership, long-term care, and planning for family circumstances.
- What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Texas?
- Three Documents Every Retired Texan Should Have Besides a Will
- Do You Need a Living Trust in Texas?
- What Happens When a Spouse Dies and the House Is in One Name?
- What Your Children Need If You Become Incapacitated in Texas
Watch or Attend an Estate Planning Class
Wills & Trusts: How to Avoid the 3 Biggest Mistakes
A free presentation explaining common problems involving wills, trusts, deeds, and beneficiary designations.
5 Threats to Your Family’s Assets
A paid workshop addressing lawsuits and creditors, taxes, market losses, long-term-care costs, and probate risks.
Estate Planning & Asset Protection Classes in Waco
Harvey teaches estate-planning and asset-protection classes through McLennan Community College Continuing Education and periodically offers other live programs.
Books and Guides by Harvey L. Cox
Common Estate Planning Mistakes People Make
A practical guide to common estate-planning mistakes that can cause unnecessary expense, delay, confusion, and unintended results.
The No-Nonsense Guide to Texas Estate Planning
A Texas-focused introduction to wills, trusts, powers of attorney, probate, beneficiary designations, and other basic estate-planning decisions.
Harvey also writes legal history and church history through Silver Pen Publishing.
Need Help with Your Own Situation?
General information can help you identify the issues, but estate plans depend on your family, property, goals, beneficiary arrangements, and existing documents.
If you would like to discuss your Texas estate plan with Harvey, you can schedule a private consultation.