Family Law

• Divorce
• Guardianship
  These allow you to appoint someone you know and trust to make your personal health care and financial decisions even when you cannot. If you are incapacitated without these legal documents, then you and your family will be involved in a probate proceeding known as a guardianship and conservatorship. This is the court proceeding where a judge determines who should make these decisions for you under the ongoing supervision of the court.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Historically speaking, the federal estate tax is an excise tax levied on the transfer of a person's assets after death. In actuality, it is neither a death tax nor an inheritance tax, but more accurately a transfer tax. There are three distinct aspects to federal estate taxes that comprise what is called the Unified Transfer Tax: Estate Taxes, Gift Taxes, and Generation-Skipping Transfer Taxes. Legal planning to avoid or minimize federal estate taxes is both a prudent and an important aspect of comprehensive estate planning.
• Wills
  Your last will and testament is just one part of a comprehensive estate plan. If a person dies without a Will they are said to have died "intestate" and state laws will determine how and to whom the person's assets will be distributed. Some things you should know about wills...
• Trusts
  Depending on the situation, there may be many advantages to establishing a trust, including avoiding probate court. In most cases, assets owned in a revocable living trust will pass to the trust beneficiaries (or heirs) immediately upon the death of the trust-maker(s) with no probate required. Certain trusts also may result in tax advantages both for the trust-maker and the beneficiary. Or they may be used to protect property from creditors, or simply to provide for someone else to manage and invest property for the trust-maker(s) and the named beneficiaries. If well drafted, another advantage of trusts is their continuing effectiveness even if the trust-maker dies or becomes incapacitated.
• Power of Attorney
  Formally called a "Directive to Physicians" in Texas, a living will allows you to state your wishes in advance regarding what types of medical life support measures you prefer to have, or have withheld/withdrawn if you are in a "Terminal Condition" (without reasonable hope of recovery), or an "Irreversible Condition" and cannot express your wishes yourself. Oftentimes a living will is executed along with a Durable Power of Attorney for Health care, which gives someone legal authority to make your health care decisions when you are unable to do so yourself.
• Probate
  Mr. Graham received his J.D., cum laude, from Baylor School of Law (1972), and BBA from Baylor University (1971). He is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law in Texas. Mr. Graham's professional activities include: Fellow of, and past Regent of, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; Past Supervisory Council Member of the American Bar Association's Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, Co-Chair of the Digital Signature Committee; Past President of the Texas Academy of Probate and Trust Lawyers; Past Chair of the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Texas; and Fellow of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Lawyers.

Finance Law

• Tax Law
  Trusts come in many "flavors," they can be simple or complex, and serve a variety of legal, personal, investment or tax planning purposes. At the most basic level, a trust is a legal entity with at least three parties involved: the trust-maker, the trustee (trust manager), and the trust beneficiary. Oftentimes, all three parties are represented by one person or a married couple. In the case of a revocable living trust, for example, a person may create a trust (the trust-maker) and name themselves the current trustees (trust managers) who manage the trust assets for their own benefit (trust beneficiary).