This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on March 12, 2018. Yes, the hospital should have made every effort to provide her with a care plan and to be sure that she (or a caretaker) was aware of what she would need. In fact, they have a legal obligation to do so ever since the Legislature passed Chapter 317 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. The legislature felt the need to give guidelines to hospitals was so pressing that they expedited the new law’s effec

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on March 5, 2018. Texas law recognizes the validity of two kinds of Wills: holographic and formal. A holographic Will must be entirely in the handwriting of the Testator, must be dated, and must be signed by the Testator. A formal Will must be written, dated, signed by the Testator, and signed by two witnesses. Your mother’s Will is in your handwriting, not hers, so it is not a holographic Will. If it was only signed

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on February 23, 2018. The legal revisions to the Texas Durable Power of Attorney Act included the following new provision: “a photocopy or electronically transmitted copy of an original durable power of attorney has the same effect as the original instrument…” This is a major change to how Durable POAs will be handled. Under prior law, it was typical for a bank, broker, title company (or anyone who was asked to accept

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on February 5, 2018. You have identified one of the terrible problems with Reverse Mortgages. Typically, both spouses own the house and both spouses are the borrowers, so that if one dies the loan is simply continued. But sometimes one spouse owns the house and is the sole borrower. If that spouse is the first to die the other may face foreclosure and eviction when the bank demands payment of the Reverse Mortgage or f

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on January 29, 2018. Dear Mr. Premack: My 95-year-old mother owns a large piece of ranch land. The value per acre is fairly high, and her tax adviser years ago told her to start gifting “undivided interests” each year worth $14,000 to each of the children. They said that this would reduce the value in her estate, and when she dies there would be less estate tax due. I was wondering, now that the estate tax is due only