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Your New Year’s Estate Planning Checklist

Your New Year’s Estate Planning Checklist | TAW Law Texas

A Practical Framework for Aligning Your Estate Plan With Your Life & Goals

A new year creates a natural checkpoint and valuable perspective for estate planning. With that can come clarity on what has changed, what no longer fits, and what may have been overlooked.

After all, estate plans don’t just fail because they have been poorly drafted. They can also fall out of step as laws shift, assets change, and family circumstances evolve. By the time problems start to surface, options tend to be limited, less predictable, and more costly.

This 2026 checklist is intended for Texans who are ready to reassess their estate plan with fresh eyes and a more deliberate lens. It breaks down how to:

Changing Powers of Attorney in Texas: A Step-by-Step Guide

Changing Powers of Attorney in Texas: A Step-by-Step Guide | TAW Law Texas

Practical Ways to Update Agents, Authority & Documents Before   Problems Snowball

Powers of attorney (POAs) can operate quietly in the background of a Texas estate plan for years. When certain life changes occur, however, an existing power of attorney may no longer work or fit the current needs. 

At that point, Texans may need to evaluate whether their existing agent, authority, or structure still aligns with today’s realities—and they may need to make various updates to close gaps and ensure outdated powers don’t create more problems in the future. 

Here’s why, looking at: 

How to Simplify Texas Probate for Your Heirs 

How to Simplify Texas Probate for Your Heirs | Probate Attorney

Find Out How to Set Beneficiaries Up for Success & Smoother Transitions

Probate can be wildly different from one case to the next—and it can start to unravel fast when unclear plans, oversights, and conflicting interests are involved. With that, Texas probate can be extended, stressful, and contentious, exemplifying why it has a reputation as a costly, challenging process. 

That doesn’t have to be a foregone conclusion, however. 

You can take steps now to address some major roadblocks and thorny issues, so they don’t complicate probate later. Here’s how, with more on:

This guide highlights key insights in under ~4 minutes.

Beyond the Basics: Critical Questions Financial Advisors Should Ask But Do NOT

Beyond the Basics: Critical Questions Financial Advisors Should Ask But Do NOT | TAW Law Texas

How to Uncover Deeper Insights & Deliver More Optimal Solutions from the Perspective of an Estate Planning & Probate Attorney

Questions can build stronger relationships between financial professionals and their clients. 

Most of the time, however, these questions don’t go far enough. They usually just scratch the surface without unpacking all of the information necessary to uncover the nuances of clients’ needs, hidden risks they could face, and untapped opportunities for better results.

Beyond the numbers, asking about certain relationships, expectations, and investments can unleash all-new insights about: 

  • Current oversights 
  • How to bridge any gaps between existing plans and established financial goals
  • What may really best serve their clients, both in the short- and long-term 

Often, this information doesn’t come to light with typical intake and check-in questions. Instead, it typically takes more pointed questions that most financial advisors are simply NOT asking

Are You Ready for the Great Wealth Transfer?

Are You Ready for the Great Wealth Transfer? | Estate Planning Attorney Austin, TX

What You Don’t Know Could Cost You More Than Just Money

Trillions of dollars are going to exchange hands over the next 20 years. That’s not happening in glitzy casinos or on trading room floors. It’s going to occur across generations and within families. Those who aren’t ready could lose out massively when it comes to estate taxes, building generational wealth, and preserving more hard-earned assets for the future. 

They could also be setting the stage for high-stakes misunderstandings and bridge-burning family conflicts that could have been prevented with thoughtful strategies and a few key pieces in play ahead of time.

Here’s why, with a deeper look at:

6 Essential Facts About Estate Tax Exemptions Sunsetting in 2026

6 Essential Facts About Estate Tax Exemptions Sunsetting in 2026 | Estate Planning Attorney Todd Wilson

The Sooner You’re Aware of the Facts, the Better. Here’s Why.

High stakes and dwindling time have put federal estate tax exemptions in the spotlight, making it an increasingly hot topic that legacy-minded individuals shouldn’t ignore. That’s because 2025 is fast approaching, and it’s set to be the last year for elevated estate tax exemptions. 

For many Texans, that could mean millions in available estate tax exemptions are no longer available as of 2026 — and that previous estate plans and strategies may no longer be as effective as they once were. For some, it may also result in new exposures and gut-wrenching estate taxes if key moves and updates aren’t made before 2026 (July 2025 Update: A new law has permanently raised estate tax exemptions to $15 million in 2026).

Elaborating on that, this helpful resource can walk you through the essentials of sunsetting estate tax exemptions, sharing more on:

Whenever it’s time for more information and personalized answers in a confidential setting, simply contact TAW Law Texas

A Blueprint for Family Business Estate Planning & Estate Tax Minimization

A Blueprint for Family Business Estate Planning & Estate Tax Minimization | TAW Law Texas

Discover the Strategies & Tools That Can Sustain Family Businesses Following Death

Family businesses in Texas can be set up for multi-generational success with comprehensive estate planning. Regardless of company size and industry, key legal instruments can be put in place to reduce future exposures, facilitate smoother transitions, and retain more assets for the beneficiaries set to take over the family business.

That can preserve a lifetime of hard work for the next generation, safeguarding legacies while setting a family-run company up for decades-long success.

Highlighting how that can work, the following details: 

How to Prepare for Sunsetting Estate Tax Exemptions Before 2026

How to Prepare for Sunsetting Estate Tax Exemptions Before 2026 - Austin Estate Planning Attorneys

In Less Than 19 Months, Estate Tax Exemptions Will Likely Change. Are You Ready?

UPDATE (July 2025): A new law has permanently raised estate tax exemptions to $15 million in 2026.

Millions in estate tax exemptions could vanish forever on Jan. 1, 2026. With that, you could lose potential opportunities to mitigate certain estate tax obligations. You may also be unknowingly subjected to higher estate tax rates if you haven’t put the right plans in place before these changes occur. 

To avoid these consequences, here are:

This 3-minute guide shares some simple, yet powerful, strategies for getting your estate ready for major tax law changes coming soon while there’s still time to put judicious plans in place. 

Whenever you’re ready for more information or personalized counsel and solutions, simply contact TAW Law Texas

A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Texas Trusts 

A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Texas Trusts | TAW Law TX

Discover What Types of Trusts Are Better Suited for Different Types of Businesses & Objectives

Trusts can be indispensable tools for forward-thinking small business owners. Across nearly every industry, trusts for small businesses in Texas can be highly effective devices for asset protection, succession planning, retirement income strategizing, estate tax mitigation, and so much more. 

That may mean that some small business owners can benefit from setting up multiple trusts, all with unique objectives. That doesn’t, however, narrow down the options or point you in the right direction when it’s time to set up a trust for your small business in Texas.

To help you with that, this guide on trusts for Texas small businesses shares more on: 

This guide can walk you through the various options for small business trusts, explaining how each device works, the potential benefits, and the types of small businesses that could benefit from them.