[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Real Estate Profits. I'm Griselda, and today we're taking your business from busy to brilliant. You're watching NOW Media Television.
Hello and welcome to Real Estate Profits. I'm your host, Griselda Abuselman. And on this show, we uncover the strategies, the insights and tools you need to maximize the value of your real estate investments.
Today we're diving into a critical topic that many property owners overlook, and that is estate planning.
Our guest, DNA High Easton, is licensed in both Texas and Massachusetts and brings a wealth of expertise in estate planning, probate, guardianship, trust administration, and business law. With a background in social work, she approaches the law with empathy and compassion, helping families navigate some of life's most challenging moments. DNA, I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to the show.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. Now, many property owners avoid planning for the future because it either feels overwhelming or uncomfortable or they're just not ready and it catches them by surprise. But without estate planning, families are left with uncertainty, sometimes legal battles and much financial stress, right? Yep.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Absolutely.
Yeah.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Now, now tell us, DNA, why is estate planning especially important for people who own real estate? It's important for everybody, but especially those of us that own real estate.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Well, the problem is that when people, they don't plan for estate planning, their property can get stuck in probate. Right. And property being stuck in probate is probably the worst things that can happen because, as you know, the mortgage company is still going to want their money. Right. Utility bills are still going to need to get paid. And so when there's no proper estate planning that's being done, the property gets stuck in a system that can take up to years to get out of. And what happens is you actually need to get somebody known as an executor of the estate, if you have a will or an administrator of the estate, if there is no will, to be able to move that property out of the deceased person's name into the names of their family members or the people that would inherit the property. So if you do not have an estate plan in place, your house can essentially, or even your land can get stuck in probate for years to come. And that makes it really challenging to do anything with it.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So tell us more about that. So what could happen to someone's property? You mentioned a will or a trust. What if they don't have a will or a trust in place?
Other than what you've mentioned, what else could happen in that case?
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Well, the Danger is it can lead to a high level of conflict amongst family members, Right? Because when there is no will in place or there's no trust in place, what happens is somebody's going to have to appear before the judge through the probate process to seek permission to be able to take all of the deceased party's assets out of the estate and give it to their loved ones, right? So when that happens, a lot of people are going to want to step up to say, well, I want this and I want this and I want this. And so it leads to a lot of conflict amongst family members, which is really, really daunting and really sad, because when you're grieving over a loved one, you do not want to be fighting with your family members that are still here and left behind, Right?
And it can take years to do it. So what happens is, if you do not have an estate plan in place, whether that's a will, whether that's a trust, what's going to happen is that you apply for the probate court, you're going to have to pay an attorney, right, a lot of money to be able to take the money out of the estate. What that does is it dissipates the estate even more so than it needs to be because you have to pay a lawyer to be able to take the property out and give it to the loved ones. And then there's, you know, at least here in Texas, there's another process where you have to hire something, somebody known as an attorney ad litem, who's going to have to do an investigation to determine who the. All the heirs of the estate are, which then adds more money and takes more money out of the estate, right? And then it's just a bigger process that doesn't need to be done unless people just say, hey, listen, I am going to do an estate plan so I can avoid all of this. There's also a lot of issues with blended families, right? If there's people that are owning real estate and they are married, let's say there's a husband and a wife and they have. Texas is known as a community property state, which means that two people own property, part of the whole of the house. And if you die without a will or without a trust in place, what's going to happen is each spouse is going to own 50% ownership of that property. But if they have children outside of the marriage, before they got married, then that means that those children are going to own part of that property as well, which then creates a lot of conflict A lot of confusion, and it's just a dangerous, terrible situation to put your families in if you can avoid it.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And like you say, right, everyone's grieving, they're going through all of this, you know, sad moments. And I believe they don't do it because they just don't plan for the unexpected. Right. No one wants, you know, somebody to pass. Nobody plans for that. But if you don't plan, like you say, a lot of burden and a lot of financial stress.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Now tell us about the positive side. How does estate planning make things easier for families when those sad, unexpected moments happen?
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Well, it's so beautiful to see people who are in a position and willing to do an estate plan. The sad thing about it is a lot of people will do it because they've experienced something bad. They've experienced what it's like to not have an estate plan. So they know I want to provide that piece to my family, so that way they don't have to go through what I did. But I've had an experience recently where there's one of my clients, she's like one of my favorite clients, and she keeps coming back because she has things that she wants to change over the course of time. That's the beauty of estate planning, is you're not forced into one thing at one time. You can always change it during your lifetime.
And that's a benefit, right? That's a positive moment for sure. But in her experience, her daughter lost her father, and so there was no estate plan in place. And so she watched her daughter suffer and decided, I'm not gonna do that to my child. And so now she created a trust and put everything in place. And I was able to do what I do personally, which are called my family meetings, where I sit down with all family members to be able to discuss after. Obviously, I get permission first to discuss what the estate plan looks like. So what it does is it avoided all the conflict that could potentially happen because nobody knew anything. Right? And so that's the positive thing that has happened for me, even recently. I was able to sit down with all of the kids, and they were in a blended family. So her husband and his children were able to sit down and discuss what both of their estate plan looked like. So that way, what it did is it put everybody on the same page. Everyone was not going to be in conflict. And if there was any potential conflict at that moment, we were able to address it. Because the issue that a lot of people have is if they don't have an estate plan in place and somebody passes away, they're all fighting over what they think they deserve or what they want in the estate.
So if we can avoid that at all costs, that's a positive experience that I've had. Excuse me, I've had recently with one of my clients, and I have a lot of experiences like that because people are willing to have that sit down with an attorney and go through and have an estate plan put in place for them.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure you have many beautiful, compassionate stories of where you help them, and it just makes things so much easier. Right. I mean, unfortunately, the loved one has passed, but everything is left according to their wishes.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Right, exactly.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: No fighting. There's no misperceptions. There's none of that. Now, what's a common misconception people have about estate planning and real estate in general?
[00:08:01] Speaker B: That it's automatically going to be what's known as rights of survivorship. So that's legal language to say that if one party has and owns part of a house and the other party also owns part of the house, that it's going to automatically transfer to the other party. And in Texas, that is not the case. There are some states, I will say, and as I'm licensed in Massachusetts, I can say that we have rights of survivorship language on our deeds where if somebody does pass away, it will automatically transfer their ownership rights to the surviving owner. But here in Texas, we do not have that. It is so sad for me to have to talk to a lot of people who think that just because they were both on the deed of a property that they automatically own 100% of that property or when their person has passed away. And that is not the case here in Texas, unfortunately. And so that's a common misconception I have to constantly tell people. And so we have to try to find ways to prevent that from happening. Right. We need to be able to say that, yes, there might be no rights of survivorship language on your deed, but we can create mechanisms in place to allow for the surviving owners to have 100% ownership rights if somebody were to pass away.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Right, Absolutely. And like you say, it is different in every state. Right. Every state has their own jurisdiction, their own laws, and it is different. So you need to make sure that you have someone experienced, like yourself to guide them through that, you know, sometimes complicated process.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Yep. Yeah. Now, for someone just starting out and, let's say, buying their first home or, you know, just getting started in real estate investing, what's the first step they should take to protect the real estate legacy.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Well, I always say that if you get into a home, congratulations, first and foremost, because in this economy, it's crazy, right? And even acquiring any type of property, but the first thing you want to do is protect your assets, right? You just spent thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands into investing in this real estate. So what we need to do is protect it.
And so to protect it, this is where the estate planning comes in. There's different mechanisms you can put in place. And some people will say, I want my family to go through probate because I want the judge to be aware of what's happening and kind of have some kind of control, some element of control over it, even though I'm gone. And that's creating a will. Some people will say, well, I want to put it in a trust because I want to avoid probate altogether. I do not want the court involved. I want it to be quick. I want it to be private. I don't want anybody to know what my assets look like. And obviously, we know that deeds are public record. However, they don't need to know all the logistics of how much you paid and how you want the distributions to be in a trust. And here in Texas, we have something called a transfer on death deed.
That is another document that is super powerful here in Texas where you can actually transfer your ownership rights upon your death to whoever you would like it to be. And that's another mechanism that avoids probate.
It's a faster process. All you have to do is apply and file it with the property records in the state of Texas here. And. And it's just another way to avoid probate at all costs. And a lot of people are saying, well, I don't have. I don't have enough money to create a trust, but I still want to protect my property. But the key is you need to find a way to protect your property because you do not want to be in a situation where you pass away or even you become incapacitated, and there's no legal options to be able to protect that property because you can't do anything once you're gone. And you won't be able to do anything if you. You don't have the capacity to make decisions in that moment.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for sharing all those great insights. We'll be right back. But up next, how to keep real estate in the family without the unnecessary stress that DNA just mentioned. We'll be right back. We'll be right back with more ways to optimize scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. We're back. Hi, I'm Griselda and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. Let's keep building smarter together.
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And we're here with DNA High Easton. And in this segment, it's about keeping property in the family without the conflict that too often arises.
Passing down real estate should feel like a blessing. Without planning, it can quickly turn into a source of stress and sometimes even a nightmare.
So when families inherit property, emotions run high and decisions can create division. But with the right planning, families can preserve both their assets and most importantly, their relationships.
So, DNA, why does real estate often cause conflict within families when someone passes on?
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Because there's no preparation when somebody passes on. Right. You know, family members will work really hard their entire lives to purchase property, land. And so a lot of times the kids more often than not feel a sense of entitlement. They feel a sense of pride to be able to say, like, my family worked for this house and they want to inherit it. Right? But when you have multiple children who also take that same stance, then that's what kind of leads to conflict, right? Because they're in a situation where they want to continue with that legacy and continue with what their parents have stored. Started off and say, okay, well, if they can do it, I can do it too. Or they want to build off of that level of wealth to be able to put their families in a better situation.
So that whole experience can really create a lot of conflict amongst a lot of family members because they have that kind of entitlement, Right? I mean, I recently had a conversation with somebody who was expecting that, you know, he was going to receive the house because that's what what his father told him. But he didn't put it on paper. He didn't create an estate plan. So even though we know, right, that for a real estate transaction to be valid, it has to be in writing. And so just orally hearing somebody say, like, oh, yeah, son, you're going to get the property, it's not enough. And unfortunately, there's other children outside of the marriage that had happened before him and his mother had gotten together. And now he has to share that property with family members that have no interest in getting to even know who his father was. And that's the danger. Right. So this is why the power of estate planning is so important if you own real estate, because you are not doing it just for yourself to have that peace of mind that you know exactly where the real estate is going to go. But it also is the best gift you can give your family members who are still here because they will avoid all that conflict. They, they will know exactly what they're going to have, and then they're not going to lose potential family members. Because you and I both know that when people are fighting, especially while they're grieving, it makes it really hard for people to come back and say, oh my gosh, let's be a sister again or a brother again or let's go hang out because they're so hurt by what their sibling has done to be able to get access to said property.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Absolutely.
I've seen families, you know, completely united and then they go through something like this and completely fall apart for years and sometimes the rest of their lives, which is really sad. Yeah.
Yep. But now you mentioned wills and trusts. How does planning ahead with wills and trust help prevent all of this painful family matters?
[00:16:21] Speaker B: Okay, let's talk about it. This is my favorite topic, right?
So a will, I consider it kind of like a, like a, one size catch all fail safe, right? It's, it's not the best way to be able to transfer your real estate, but it is a better way than not planning at all. Right? So it allows you to outline how you want your wishes to be in the event that you pass away, how your debt is going to be paid. It will make it clear to your family members because they can't fight against it. I mean, sometimes they try to. Right. But at least you have an option to say, I want my property to go to said person. Right? So that's the power of a will.
A trust is even more powerful because a trust is basically an entity, right? Where you can outline all of your wishes, all of your desires on how you want your property to be distributed upon your passing. But the beautiful thing about a trust is you can also do it upon you becoming legally incapacitated. So sometimes, right, a will is great for if you, if, if you die, but it doesn't outline what you need if you become incapacitated. That's where, like, a durable power of attorney comes into play, or a medical power of attorney. You can do the same thing in a trust. And the beautiful thing also about a trust, it's completely private, right?
Private.
The court doesn't have a say. So the administration can go a lot faster. Your family can receive the property a lot faster. And that is the beautiful thing about having a trust.
And people don't know this, but obviously with a will, it's public record. Anybody can go up and look up anybody's will and see who gets what. And so that's kind of where the danger comes in, with people knowing too much of your information. But a trust is totally private. There are other mechanisms by which and, you know, avenues by which you can protect your assets and your real estate. But. But those are the main two that a lot of people know about. But obviously, when you speak to an attorney, they can talk about what your specific estate looks like and how we can be able to transfer said assets that are in the best possible way for you and your families. Because for me personally, the way that I do business is I want to make sure that I get to know the people involved as well as their value system. Because the values and who's involved and who you want to give your property to. That is so super important with what your estate plan is going to look like if you become incapacitated or you pass away.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Right? Absolutely. And a lot of this goes. I mean, obviously we're talking here, real estate and estate planning, but in your will, right, if you have children. Right. I have teenagers, for example, and that also goes into them. Like, you know, in the case that my husband and I would both pass on, what would happen to my children. So it's very, very important that you talk through all of those details to make sure that your wishes are met.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Right, Absolutely.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Now, what are the. I'm sorry, go ahead.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: No, I was just gonna say absolutely, you're absolutely right. Couldn't say better myself.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah, someone's gonna take care of my children. Right. And now, according to our will, it's whatever my husband and I have decided. And that's what would happen with them for their, obviously, everyone's best interest. Now, what are the most common mistakes families make when handling inherited property?
[00:19:37] Speaker B: This is a multifaceted question.
A couple mistakes. When they receive inherited property is, number one, they think that they don't have to go to probate. Right. Like, they think that just because my family member gave me a will. I know what the will says. It's automatically mine. No, you actually have to go through the probate court to be able to receive title to the house. It doesn't automatically happen. So there's a common misconception that people think that, well, just because I have a will, I don't have to do anything with it besides just keep it for myself. And I know that the house belongs to me, but you have to go through the proper legal channels to actually transfer that house into your name. Right. Another common misconception is that people obviously, if there is no will, they think, oh, well, I'm family. I'm automatically going to get it anyways. I don't have to do anything for it. No, you have to still go through the probate process to be able to transfer the house or the property into your name. Those are two very, very big ones. Now, if people end up receiving the property and they go through the probate process and everything is good, they think, okay, well, everything is fine. I'm good. I always tell people, make sure you contact your appraisal district to make sure that they know that you also have received the property into your name and that you can be able to qualify for the homestead exemption here in Texas because you want to make sure you can save on property taxes. So there's things like, you know, we got to take the extra step. So I always say, if you believe that you are going to be inheriting property, you need to make sure that you speak, at least consult an attorney, because at least we can be able to kind of look at the entire big picture and make sure that you are protected when you inherit said property.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Absolutely. So now let's talk about a happy story.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Can you give us an example of how proper planning created peace of mind instead of all of this conflict for a family?
[00:21:37] Speaker B: Yes. I have so many. I mean, my. My stories are sad, but they have a happy element. Right. So there was a family they had found me with right before their mother was going to pass away. I do a lot of deathbed. I call them, like, bedside wills and trusts.
So they had contacted me.
She was very, very sick. And so she didn't have any estate plan. So we were able to create an estate plan for her as she was kind of in the hospital.
And it gave her an opportunity to feel like she had a say in what she wanted to give to her children.
And we were able to get an estate plan properly in place where her family knew exactly what was going to happen. They weren't going to be in conflict with one another because she was able to tell them what she wanted with obviously me standing by her side. And we were able to get everything in place. So that way she did not have to spend thousands of dollars to go through the probate process. That was a very, very happy moment for me. I get very excited when people, it's never too late, right. The only time I say it's too late is if you've passed away. Right. Or you become incapacitated, because then that means we have to go through the probate court to get you a guardianship appointment, which is a totally different avenue, but can cost a lot of money and take a lot of time.
So it's really, really exciting for me when people will do the estate plan even if there's no impending doom. Right. If they can sit there and say, I, I want to be able to protect my property, I want to be able to protect my children, what can I do to ensure that happens? That brings me a lot of joy. And I can't even tell you how many stories I have for the happy moments when people are willing to do that.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Fantastic. And thank you for sharing that fantastic story. Now, DNA, if our viewers want to learn more or reach out to you directly, how can they get a hold of you or connect with you online?
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Well, they can find me on my website at hi Easton.
They can call my office at 281-895-1721. My name is so unique, you can pretty much find me anywhere, right?
They can find me on Instagram and as well as TikTok. They can find me, you know, email.
Contact
[email protected] I encourage people to call. I encourage people to just, even if they have a question, sometimes it's just as simple as what do I do here? And I'm willing and wanting to answer that because I believe education is so powerful, especially in this area of law.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Absolutely. And thank you so much. So coming up, we're going to talk more about how to avoid losing your property to probate, which DNA has mentioned here. We'll see you back.
We'll be right back with more ways to optimize scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. We're back. I'm Griselda and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. Let's keep building smarter together.
Hello. Welcome back to Real Estate Profits. In this segment, we're talking about one of the most dreaded processes and in real estate, and that's probate.
For many families, probate feels like a confusing, expensive and sometimes really drawn out ordeal. But the truth is, with the right steps, you can completely avoid it.
Probate often creates delays, stress and unnecessary costs, leaving families feeling like the courts, not them, really are the controllers and owners of the property. But estate planning can prevent that, and DNA is here to tell us how.
So sue DNA, what exactly is probate and why does it matter for property owners?
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Very, very, very important question.
So probate is the process by which somebody needs to essentially get permission from the court to appoint themselves to have the legal authority to transfer assets to loved ones and, and to pay off any debts. That's kind of the simplest way that I can kind of explain it, right? So you have to make sure that either there is a will, and if there is a will, you are known as the executor of the estate, which is saying that you have the legal authority to go before the judge and say, hey, listen, this person who just passed away appointed me to be able to handle all of these things that I need to do to transfer all the assets, pay all the debts, and give the property transfers to my loved ones and take care of the children, or at least figure out where the children need to go. So that is the executor. And what happens is if there is no will, then you have somebody known as an administrator, which is basically somebody who does the exact same job. They just have to take the extra steps to be able to be appointed because there's been nobody appointed for the estate. So this is kind of the power in having an estate plan is that at least if you have an estate plan with the probate process, it's still going to be annoying because you have to actually apply and you still have to spend money with an attorney to be able to transfer everything that needs to be transferred to go before the judge. But at least it eliminates the extra steps that you would have to take if you were appointed as an administrator of the estate. Now, there's a lot of different levels involved with the probate court. There's something known as an independent administration, which essentially means you are going to do and transfer assets independently of the court after you get appointed as the executor of the estate. Or you can have something known as a dependent administration, which essentially means that you have to go before the judge every single time you want to do something with the estate to get permission to do it. So the power of estate planning is that you can avoid your families having to go through the dependent administration side, which is getting permission every single time. Because obviously when you have to go before the judge every single time you need to do something that costs a lot of money and legal fees, which will take away the assets that are within the estate to give to your family members.
So probate is.
Could be a very long. It can be a very drawn out process, it can cost a lot of money. So there's other ways, obviously that we can talk about that I've mentioned where we can discuss what are ways that I can avoid probate. Because probate is a great tool. If you don't have anything, a.k.a. i mean, if you don't have a will, it's a harder tool, but it's still a way to transfer assets to family members. And if you do have a will, it's still a great tool to be able to transfer assets to family members. But there obviously are other ways that we can do that to avoid probate altogether.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Yeah. So you mentioned many of the risks already and thank you for that. How long does the probate process usually take and why does it cost so much stress for everybody?
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Well, that's a really, really hard question to ask or answer just because I always say it just depends on the court that you're in. It depends on the jurisdiction that you end up filing, the venue that, AKA the court that you end up filing with. Because if their docket is extremely, extremely crazy with a lot of people that are filing, then it could take a really long time.
If there's a lot of people that are fighting over even being appointed as the administrator or the executor of the estate, then it can take a very long time because it becomes a contested litigated case, meaning that people are fighting over who's going to be appointed.
If we are applying for the probate court and there's a lot of extra steps that need to be taken just because something wasn't done correctly in a will, because people do DIY wills, then it can take a long time. So it's really hard for me to say definitively how long the probate process can take. If you do things correctly, it can be. You can be in and out of the court within three months, but the process itself can take up to a year. So it's really hard. A lot of people say on average it can take like nine months to a year to complete the entire probate process if you have to go through it. But it's really hard for me to say. That's why I typically, I typically tell people I don't do timelines, but I will tell you, generally speaking this is kind of what we're looking at, but it really depends on what state you're filing in and what the court system looks like.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So it really depends, right? Absolutely.
Now, for property owners, anybody just having even one home doesn't have to be multiple assets, but what can they do right now? What can our viewers watching this show do right now to. To keep their real estate out of probate?
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Well, the first step is to watch the show.
Second step is to contact an attorney. An attorney is going to give you the proper guidance to be able to say, how can I protect my assets? And there are ways to protect it, especially if you own property in different states.
I'm going to tell you, people don't know this, but when you do not have an estate plan in place, and, and typically it's going to be a trust to be able to put your property into, that means that your loved ones and the family members left behind after you pass away are going to have to probate in every single state that you own real property, which is wild if you think about it. Right. Because that means that you're going to have to pay an attorney in every single state that you own property to be able to transfer your assets. Now, I will say every state has a different law, which is why attorneys have to be licensed in different states. So there might be ways that you can find a way to not have to go through probate. But I'm going to tell you, generally speaking, if you do not have an estate plan in place that will include a trust, at least to be able to transfer your property into, then you're going to have to have your family members probate your real estate to transfer those assets to them. And it gets costly.
This is where extra conflict can come in. It takes an, in an extreme amount of time, and that's what makes it really dangerous. So that's what they can do. Talk to an attorney.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: Absolutely. Contact DNA or anyone that you really, you know, have access to and feel comfortable with. But exactly what you mentioned is when our financial advisor came to my husband and I saying, you own property in multiple states, this could be a nightmare if, you know, an accident would happen or anything would happen. So at that point, Right. Two, three years ago is when we started our estate planning.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: We.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: But you're right, right. Having everything done in one state is complicated.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: But when you put four or five states into the picture, it can get really, really messy and super expensive, too.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: It's going to be expensive regardless. Right. I mean, like, when you, when you have property in different states. I mean, you, you're trying to build, build your wealth, which is fantastic, but you're going to have to get an attorney regardless in every single state to be able to transfer the assets to wherever you want it to go if you decide to do a trust. And, but I always tell people the value that you're going to get to get an attorney early instead of having to get an attorney on the tail end with probate is just, it's monumental and it's amazing because you're going to protect your, your loved ones from having to go through that probate process, which can create conflict. And then who knows if they're all fighting over different property in different states because they all want those assets, by the time somebody actually gets that property, all of the, the value that you're fighting over could be gone because you have to pay all the attorneys fees to be able to say, because there's administration costs, right? There's applications and all of those things. So the administration cost could be so high that your family could lose the property anyway. So you want to just kind of be, be smart about thinking, okay, I may not want to talk about probate or estate planning right now, but what can I do to give my family the best gift? Gift, which is peace of mind and the gift of the actual property.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Right? How do, how do they keep all of that hard work, right, that, you know, you've been working through all of their lives?
And I'll be very honest, for everybody watching the show, right, it's about, you know, protecting your estate, protecting your real estate. I'll be very honest that when my financial adviser came to me, it was also about protecting my children. Right. In the absence of my husband and I, what would happen to my children now? He grabbed my attention seriously. And, you know, within a few weeks, we had our will, our trust on estate plan. So watching this show, please make sure that you take that first step. Call DNA. Obviously, she's provided all of her contact info and make sure that you get started with that first step, which may seem overwhelming, but once you get going, her team and DNA can just simplify the process for you.
Now, obviously, how does it protect families? You've given us a lot of good, great strategies and tips. How does having a trust or estate plan ultimately protect the family that you love?
[00:34:25] Speaker B: You know what? It is the best thing that you can do for your family, not only just your family members that are maybe adult children, but even younger children. Right. Because children cannot inherit property if they're under the age of 18. So having an estate plan in place is going to make sure that your children are protected because if you do not have something in place, you are then going to make somebody have to apply with the probate court, which is essentially seeking a guardianship over your child on top of trying to transfer your property, which, as you know, can take a lot of money and a lot of time. In a guardianship, somebody will have to serve as a guardian over their children until someone is at least until they turn 18, which, as you can imagine, is going to cost a lot of money and it's going to take a lot of time because they have to make sure that the children are being protected. So I always say I do something called a kids protection plan. It's the best thing that I could have done. And it's essentially as a social worker, I was taking children or I was keeping parents away from children. And so now I've seen what that impact has had. Now, obviously that was in a different context because of abuse and neglect, but here I'm protecting children with receiving a legacy from their parents and their family members and also making sure that they have a place to go to, not just property wise, but at least have a guardian or potential guardian who can be able to look after them if something happens to their parents or their loved ones. So the power of estate planning is so big because you're not just protecting your real estate, you're protecting your children, you're protecting your legacy and you're making it so that people will not have to take away from your estate. I mean, that's the goal, right? We spent, you know, decades building a legacy, decades building property, decades being able to build a safe environment for your families. And we want to make sure that we can do everything that we can to protect it.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. So up next, we'll talk about how not planning ahead is not only costing, you know, significant amount of money, like DNA has mentioned, but there's also that emotional cost that's involved.
Stay tuned. We'll be right back.
We'll be right back with more ways to optimize scale and succeed. This is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. We're back. I'm Griselda and this is Real Estate Profits on NOW Media Television. Let's keep building smarter together.
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Now for our final segment with DNA. Hi, Easton. We're looking at the emotional cost of avoiding estate planning.
Beyond the financial implications, families can often face regret, guilt, and unnecessary stress when these conversations don't happen in due time.
So planning ahead isn't just about the money. It's about peace of mind. As she has told us time and time again, it's about clarity and leaving your loved ones with confidence instead of chaos.
So, DNA, why do so many people avoid estate or legal planning until it's a little too late?
[00:38:21] Speaker B: Fear.
Fear is the biggest thing, right?
They don't want to talk about it because if they start talking about it, then they think it's going to actually happen.
That's a really big thing.
If they start talking about it, they also don't know kind of where who they want to give their assets to. That's a really big reason why people don't end up estate planning, you know, kind of in a certain period of time or even who they want to be guardians of their children. They don't know there could be a conflict amongst even the parents of, okay, well, who would serve as our guardians. And so that creates kind of a hurdle for why people are not willing and able to do an estate plan. So, but fear is the biggest one.
And avoidance, right? When people are afraid of things, they avoid it like it's nobody's business. And so when they have to start having those conversations, they get really afraid of what does this look like? I don't want to be gone. I don't want to think about me being gone. I just want to be here, live my life, do the things that I want to do, and be happy. And so that's a really, really, really big reason for why a lot of people are not willing to have an estate plan, or at least the actual even talk about it, right?
[00:39:39] Speaker A: Absolutely. And like everyone says, right, we're all going to pay taxes and we're all going to move on to another life someday, right? So it's better to be prepared right now. What kind of emotional and financial stress does this create for families?
[00:39:56] Speaker B: Well, I mean, the saddest thing about this is the emotional stress that is Involved is going to be so much worse if you don't plan. And I always say that the financial stress that's going to be involved is so much worse if you don't plan. Because like I've discussed earlier, that if you do not plan, then you're creating potential conflict amongst your family members, which is huge when people are grieving. And when people are grieving, they are going to act differently than how they normally have because they're grieving over a loved one. Right? That's where anger sets in. Sadness, depression. Depression, rage, bitterness, resentment. Things that they probably never felt before. They're going to feel those things because they're upset that the loved one just died and they're now having to fight with a family member over what property they think they should have.
That's the emotional side of it. The financial side is that if you do not plan, then what's going to happen is you're going to have to pay multiple attorneys, as I discussed, at least here in Texas, to get an attorney ad litem appointed. You have to pay a fee for that. You have to then pay for attorneys fees to do the probate process. It takes a lot longer to do an entire investigation, which is going to cost more money. You have to do a lot more steps. And so the financial burden that you would be placing on your family members if you do not plan is going to be so high versus if you do.
And so the emotional component, along with the financial component of okay, those two combined, because you and I both know when emotions and finances are involved. This is why we have lawyers. This is why there is litigation in general. So if we can find a way to avoid having you, you all, as viewers, litigate your issues, it can allow you to keep living your life. Now, obviously, you're going to still grieve, because that's the natural thing that we all do when we lose a loved one or someone even becomes incapacitated. But at least you're putting your families in a situation where they do not have to fight amongst each other to get something.
You know, because when you're fighting, you're creating a huge wedge amongst your family members. And then you're not able to really move on because then you're angry about what your family members did or didn't do during that process.
And then you just lost your loved one. And then you might not even have the assets to show for it. So let's find a way to plan. Let's find a way to sit you down at the table. Talk about what assets you have, and then we can kind of move forward. And I will say this. A lot of people do not think that they own enough things to even sit down with an attorney. That is not the case. You own a bank account. That's a reason you can sit down with an attorney. You might have a car, you might not.
You have clothes on your back, you have shoes on your feet. Feet. Literally, anybody can do an estate plan. And that's another misconception that I feel like a lot of people don't really. They don't really think that they need to. But you always. If you have something that you own, you should be creating an estate plan for it.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Absolutely. So it gives you peace of mind, not just to the owner, but to all the loved ones involved as well. So now let's really grab everybody's attention with this question.
Can you share a story of a family who struggled because there was no plan in place? And what did they have to go through?
[00:43:15] Speaker B: I have too many stories like that I gotta think about. Like, I'm trying to think of something that's been more recent.
There was a story where there was. Okay, a family who. There was about six of them. Okay, okay. They had.
Their father, had no estate plan in place. Now, you can imagine amongst six siblings, they themselves are not always going to agree.
Okay. Right now, the default law here in Texas, it's called intestate succession. It's basically a law that's created to be able to outline who gets what if there is no estate plan in place. So you can't say, well, I'm going to give you this, and you get this. It doesn't work that way because the law is going to dictate. Dictate what that is if you do not have an estate plan in place. However, they were all fighting over who could be appointed as the administrator of the estate, meaning the person who's going to go before the judge and say, hey, listen, I need legal authority to be able to transfer these assets to my siblings. Now, that alone, they all wanted to be involved because they all felt like they could do a better job than the other one. That created an enormous amount of conflict.
And unfortunately, they themselves are no longer speaking to each other because of so much stuff that's happened. I also have another story, which. This is gonna be sad, but I want to kind of tell you all kind of the power of this is that it was a blended family situation and there was no will in place. And this happens a lot where there was a stepmom and there were stepchildren, and, you know, we like to call them bonus children, obviously, but in this situation, they were all very close. Their father died unexpectedly. And unfortunately it created a lot of conflict amongst the stepmother and the stepchildren because now they were all trying to fight for what they think that they could have.
Now it created so much stress and so much turmoil. And the saddest part about it is that later on there was a will that was found and then it turned into a fight of, okay, well, that will actually is invalid because we know that he didn't have an estate plan which created even more kind of rifts amongst them. And now they do not speak to each other.
There was a fight over what the personal assets could be. And so the saddest part about it is that this once happy family blended together.
They are not speaking to each other. So the saddest part about this is that these loved ones, these people can die. And when people don't have a plan in place, or even if they have a plan in place, but it's not a kind of a rock solid plan. And I mean that by saying like a will, a DIY will, people do it yourself wills, it creates a lot of conflict. And so the saddest part for me is to see these families torn apart when they should be leaning on each other for grief instead. So we want to try to avoid that at all costs.
[00:46:06] Speaker A: Absolutely. So DNA, this has been incredibly valuable. Where can people follow your work and continue the conversation about this really critical topic?
[00:46:15] Speaker B: You know, they can again, they can follow my
[email protected] they can call my office at 281-895-1721. They can email me at infoyeastinlaw.com they can find me on social media. I'm on Instagram. Hi, EastonLaw. I'm on TikTok High EastonLaw. I really encourage people to ask questions, even if you don't, don't think it's of question to ask. I always say that a stupid question is not asking the question.
So you really want to just reach out and just to have the conversation, I offer a free introductory call to kind of discuss what your needs are. And then we kind of get into the nitty gritty of what the potential estate plan could look like for you with a session with me.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: Well, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your powerful insights. Today we've learned that estate planning isn't just about protecting property. It's about protecting families, relationships and giving everyone a peace of mind. So for our viewers, I encourage you to take that first step and start the conversation. Because the best time to plan for the future is always now.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: Thank you for watching Real Estate Profits. I'm your host, Griselda Bustleman. Until next time, keep investing in your future wisely.
