Why You Need an Estate Planning Attorney: A Will Is Only One Piece of the Puzzle
why-you-need-an-estate-planning-attorney
Author: Joel P. Schroeder, Head of Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Alecozay Law Firm, PLLC
Last updated: September 2026
What is your death/incapacity plan? When people think about estate planning, they often think about one document: a will. You may think that, so long as you have a will, that’s all you need. Not so! Estate planning is much more than drafting a will.
A comprehensive estate plan requires careful consideration of your family structure (not just about whether you’re married or have children), assets, how those assets are owned, beneficiary designations, incapacity planning, community property, business activities, and your wishes for what happens after your death BEYOND distribution of property.
This is why working with a Texas estate planning attorney is important. An estate planning lawyer does more than prepare documents; they can help identify issues you may not know to ask about and make sure the different pieces of your estate plan work together.
What Does an Estate Planning Attorney Do?
What does an estate planning attorney do? The answer is more complicated than simply “draft a will.”
An estate planning attorney helps clients evaluate their overall circumstances and determine what (not “whether”) planning tools may be appropriate for their particular situation. Depending on the client, while an estate plan almost always includes a will, it may also include a revocable trust, transfer on death deed (if permitted, or possibly a “lady bird deed”), financial power of attorney, advance health care directive, HIPAA authorization, beneficiary designations, guardianship nominations, and other planning documents.
As estate planning attorney also seeks to understand, specifically, the client's family and financial circumstances before determining which documents are appropriate. For example, estate planning for a married couple may involve very different considerations than estate planning for a single or divorced person. Further, planning for a blended family can present additional issues involving children from prior relationships, stepchildren, a former spouse, and competing inheritance goals. Families and relationships can get messy quickly, and the goal of an estate plan should be to keep it from getting that way.
The estate planning process therefore begins with extensive questions and information gathering, not simply filling out a will from some online DIY website with weird hidden subscriptions. Due to the lengthy nature of these inquiries, estate planning attorneys develop planning tools and strategies to emphasize gathering information about a client's family circumstances, intended beneficiaries, net worth, and asset profile before determining the appropriate estate planning documents.
Do I Need an Estate Planning Attorney?
For most people (including non-estate planning attorneys), it is unlikely they will inherently know all of the issues that need to be considered. Most people do not spend their days thinking about probate, beneficiary designations, asset titling, community property, powers of attorney, incapacity, or the legal consequences of different estate planning choices. They may not realize that some of their most valuable assets could pass outside of their will (or intestate).
In other words, you don’t know what you don't know (a common phrase among lawyers…and overall good advice to take heed of).
Your Will Does Not Control Everything You Own
Having a will does not necessarily mean that every asset you own will pass according to its instructions. Certain assets may pass through beneficiary designations. Life insurance, retirement accounts, and certain financial accounts may be distributed directly to the person or people named as beneficiaries. Further, other assets may pass according to the way they are titled. Jointly owned property, for example, may very well pass by survivorship rather than through the probate process. This means that you can have a valid will and still have assets pass in a way that does not match your overall estate planning goals.
For example, suppose you were previously married and named your former spouse as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. Years later, you remarry and create a new will leaving your estate to your current spouse and children. If you never update the life insurance beneficiary designation, the life insurance proceeds may go to the former spouse, regardless of your will instructions!
This is why an estate planning attorney in Texas can help by looking beyond the four corners of a will. Estate planning should include reviewing beneficiary designations and the way assets are titled to determine whether those arrangements are consistent with the overall plan.
Do You Know Everything That Is Part of Your Estate?
Another surprisingly common estate planning problem is simply overlooking assets. You may have:
Checking and savings accounts;
Investment accounts;
Retirement accounts;
Life insurance;
Real estate;
Business interests;
Valuable personal property;
Jointly owned property;
Accounts with payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designations; or
Other assets that you have accumulated over many years and rarely think about.
An estate planning lawyer needs to understand your overall asset picture before making a recommendation. This is particularly important when a client owns real estate in multiple locations, owns a business, has substantial retirement assets, or has assets that pass outside of probate (a very likely scenario).
Marriage Can Change Your Estate Plan
Marriage is one of the many life events that should cause you to reconsider your estate plan. An estate plan created when you were single may no longer reflect your wishes after you get married. Likewise, an existing plan may need to be revisited after the birth or adoption of a child, divorce, remarriage, or other major family change.
Due to Texas Estates Code § 201.003, for married couples in Texas, community property can also be an important part of the estate planning analysis.
The classification and ownership of property can affect what a spouse can give away through an estate plan and what happens to property when one spouse dies. A good estate planning checklist for married clients specifically identifies community property, asset titling, beneficiary designations, and the choice between different types of estate plans as matters requiring consideration.
This is another reason that estate planning should not be approached by simply downloading a generic will online and filling in names.
Estate Planning for Blended Families Is Especially Complicated
If you have a blended family, estate planning becomes even more important. A blended family may include:
Children from a prior marriage or relationship;
Children from the current marriage;
Stepchildren;
A former spouse;
Children who are minors;
Adult children with different financial circumstances; or
Family relationships that may make disputes after death more likely.
A person in a blended family may want to provide for a current spouse while also ensuring that assets eventually pass to children from a prior relationship. Those goals do not always happen automatically.
For example, a client may want a surviving spouse to have access to certain assets during the spouse's lifetime but want the remaining assets to pass to the client's children when the surviving spouse dies. Depending on the circumstances, a trust or another estate planning strategy may help accomplish those goals.
An estate planning attorney will work to identify situations in which a client may want to benefit a surviving spouse while retaining control over what happens to the remaining assets after the spouse's death.
Who Counts as Your “Children?”
Even the terminology used in an estate plan can matter. If you have biological children, adopted children, or stepchildren, your estate planning documents should clearly reflect who you intend to benefit (or NOT benefit depending on certain circumstances…).
If you want a stepchild to inherit in the same manner as your biological or adopted children, that intention should be addressed expressly. Likewise, if you do not want a particular stepchild or other descendant to inherit, that may need to be specifically addressed rather than left to assumptions. An estate planning attorney will likely recommend carefully defining terms such as “children” and “descendants” so that the documents accurately reflect the client's intentions.
For a blended family, these details can make the difference between an estate plan that clearly expresses your wishes and one that creates uncertainty and potential conflict.
Incapacity Planning Is Part of Estate Planning
Estate planning is not only about what happens after you die. It should also address what happens if you are alive but unable to make your own financial or medical decisions. Consider the following:
Who would manage your finances if you became incapacitated?
Who would make medical decisions for you?
Who should have access to your medical information?
What are your wishes regarding end-of-life care?
These are different questions from deciding who inherits your property.
Depending on your circumstances, an estate plan may include a financial and medical power of attorney, advance health care directive, HIPAA authorization, and other incapacity-planning documents. An estate planning lawyer will identify these documents as separate components of a comprehensive estate plan.
Incapacity planning can be particularly important when you have a chronic illness, family history of certain conditions, or a blended family, because the person you would want to make decisions for you may not necessarily be the person who would otherwise have authority under applicable law.
For example, if someone seeks guardianship appointment over you who is NOT designated under your power of attorney documents, and is successful, the new guardian can likely override any power of attorney. In other words, unless you have a declaration of guardianship executed ahead of time, preventing unwanted parties from becoming your guardian, your wishes regarding incapacity could be ignored.
A good estate planning attorney will identify and draft proper documentation to both protect you and to prevent others from overriding your wishes, even if you become incapacitated.
Will or Trust? The Answer Depends on Your Circumstances
Another question an estate planning attorney can help answer is whether creating a trust makes sense for you. There is no single estate planning document that is right for everyone, and because trusts can be more headache than their worth (OR incredibly important), it is essential for your attorney to consider your circumstances as a whole. Additionally, regardless of whether a trust is recommended, a will (along with other planning instruments) should always exist as the foundation of your estate plan. Depending on your circumstances, factors to consider may include:
The types and locations of your assets;
Whether you own real estate;
Your desire for privacy;
Your concerns about probate (which, in Texas, are minimal);
Your incapacity planning needs;
The complexity of your family situation;
The likelihood of a challenge to the estate plan; and
Other state-specific considerations.
A Texas estate planning lawyer can help you understand the differences and determine which approach best fits your circumstances.
Creating the Documents Is Only Part of the Job
As hinted at regarding trust issues (no, not that kind of trust!), even when a revocable trust (or other form of trust) is part of an estate plan, simply signing the trust document may not be enough. Assets may need to be transferred to the trust or otherwise coordinated with the trust-based plan. An estate planning attorney will review assets, determine which assets should be transferred, and confirm that appropriate transfers have actually occurred as part of trust funding.
The foregoing illustrates an important principle of estate planning as the “moral of the story” here: A document is only useful if the rest of the plan works with it.
Why You Should Have Your Estate Plan Reviewed by an Attorney
You may already have a will. You may already have a trust. You may even have several ORIGINAL estate planning documents sitting in a filing cabinet or safe. However, ask yourself this:
Does my estate plan still reflect my wishes?
Does it account for everything I own? (including my pets?)
Are my beneficiary designations correct?
Is my property titled correctly?
Does my plan account for my current marriage or family situation?
Does it address incapacity?
Does it account for my children, stepchildren, or other beneficiaries?
Will the different pieces of my estate plan actually work together?
An experienced estate planning attorney in Texas can help you work through those questions.
When Should You Contact an Estate Planning Attorney?
You do not need to (nor should you) wait until you have accumulated significant wealth to meet with an estate planning lawyer. Estate planning may be appropriate when you:
Get married;
Get divorced;
Have or adopt a child;
Remarry;
Become part of a blended family;
Acquire real estate;
Start or acquire a business;
Experience a significant change in your finances;
Want to change your beneficiaries;
Need incapacity planning;
Have an existing estate plan that is several years old; or
Simply are not sure whether your current plan still accomplishes what you want.
Even if none of these circumstances apply, reviewing your existing estate plan periodically can help identify changes that may need to be addressed.
Conclusion: The Most Important Estate Planning Questions Are Often the Ones You Didn't Know to Ask
The value of an estate planning attorney is not simply in putting legal language on paper. It’s in understanding your circumstances, identifying the issues that matter, explaining your options, and helping you create a plan that is designed around your family and your assets.
You may know exactly who you want to inherit your property. But you may not know that an account has a beneficiary designation that overrides your will. You may know that you want to provide for your spouse, but not realize that your blended family creates additional planning considerations. You may have a will but no plan for who will manage your finances if you become incapacitated.
Again, you don’t know what you don’t know and these are some of the questions an estate planning attorney can help you identify before they become problems.
Let Alecozay Law Firm, PLLC Help You Create a Plan That Fits Your Life
Estate planning should not be a one-size-fits-all process. Your family, your assets, your relationships, and your goals are unique, and your estate plan should be, too.
At Alecozay Law Firm, PLLC, we can help you evaluate your estate planning needs and develop a plan designed around your particular circumstances. Whether you are creating your first will, getting married, building a blended family, acquiring significant assets, planning for incapacity, or simply wondering whether your existing estate plan still reflects your wishes, we can help you understand your options and take the appropriate steps.
If you have questions about wills, trusts, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations, or estate planning in Texas, contact us to schedule a consultation.
Comments