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Best Practices Every Texas Family Should Review in 2026

As a new year begins, Texans need to pause and make sure their estate planning reflects their current lives, families, and financial picture. A well‑crafted plan helps ensure that assets pass according to your wishes, medical decisions are honored, and loved ones are supported when it matters most.

1. Review Your Will and Any Trusts: Your will and any trusts are the cornerstone of your estate plan, and they should evolve as your life changes. Major events such as marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, a death in the family, or a significant change in assets often require updates.

When reviewing these documents, consider:

• • Whether beneficiaries are current and accurately named.
  • Whether specific gifts are still appropriate given your current assets and relationships.
  • Whether your chosen executor or trustee is still willing, able, and the best person for the role.

A periodic review with your attorney helps prevent unintended results and avoids confusion for your family later.

 

2. Update Powers of Attorney and Healthcare Directives: Financial and medical powers of attorney ensure someone you trust can act on your behalf if you become incapacitated. Without these documents, loved ones may be forced into court processes to manage your finances or make healthcare decisions for you.

Key questions to ask each year:

• • Are your named financial and medical agents still the right people to serve.
  • Do your healthcare directives clearly state your wishes regarding life‑sustaining treatment, organ donation, and end‑of‑life care.
  • Have you changed doctors or medical providers, and do your agents know how to contact them.

Refreshing these documents periodically helps your agents act confidently in line with your current values and preferences.

 

3. Revisit Life Insurance Coverage: Life insurance often plays a central role in providing financial stability for a surviving spouse, children, or other dependents. As your family and financial responsibilities grow or change, your coverage amount and structure may need to be adjusted.

During your review, consider:

• • Whether coverage is still sufficient given your income, debts, and long‑term goals.
  • Whether the policy beneficiaries match your estate planning documents.
  • Whether riders or supplemental benefits still fit your situation.

Coordinating beneficiary designations with your will or trust helps avoid conflicting instructions and unintended results.

 

4. Check Beneficiary Designations on Accounts: Many important assets pass by beneficiary designation rather than under your will, including retirement accounts, life insurance, and many financial accounts. If these designations are outdated, your assets may bypass your estate plan and go to the wrong person.

Each year, review:

• • Retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, IRAs, and pensions.
  • Bank, brokerage, and investment accounts with pay‑on‑death or transfer‑on‑death designations.
  • Any annuities or similar contracts with named beneficiaries.

Confirm that these designations are consistent with your overall estate planning strategy and current family situation.

 

5. Safeguard and Manage Precious Metals, Fine Art, and Gemstones: For clients with collections of precious metals, fine art, or gemstones, these assets deserve special attention in your estate plan. These items often hold both significant monetary value and deep personal meaning, and they require specific planning to ensure they are preserved, properly valued, and transferred according to your wishes.

Precious Metals (Gold, Silver, Platinum)

Inventory and Documentation: Maintain a detailed inventory of all precious metal holdings, including:

• • Type of metal and purity (for example, 14K gold, 999 silver).
  • Weight and quantity of each item.
  • Purchase date, price, and source of acquisition.
  • Current estimated value and date of valuation.
  • Location where items are stored.

Appraisal and Valuation: Have your precious metals professionally appraised by a qualified numismatist or precious metals dealer, and update appraisals every three to five years or after significant market shifts. Include copies of appraisals in your estate planning notebook so your executor and beneficiaries understand the value of what they are inheriting.

Storage and Security: Store precious metals in a secure location such as a safe deposit box, home safe, or insured depository vault. Document the location and provide your executor or trustee with access instructions, and review insurance coverage to confirm that these assets are adequately protected against loss or theft.

Tax Considerations: Precious metals are treated as collectibles for federal income tax purposes and may be subject to higher capital gains tax rates upon sale, so discuss with your tax advisor how a step‑up in basis at death and potential estate taxes should be handled in your plan.

Fine Art and Collectibles

Professional Appraisal and Documentation: Fine art should be appraised by a qualified art appraiser who specializes in your type of collection. A good appraisal will include a detailed description, photographs, provenance, condition, and a current fair market value with the valuation date, and should be updated periodically or when markets move significantly.

Insurance and Protection: Collections often need specialized fine art insurance that goes beyond standard homeowner’s coverage. Make sure the storage environment, security measures, and transit practices meet your insurer’s requirements to preserve both physical condition and coverage.

Succession Planning for Collections: Decide whether you want your collection to stay together, be divided among family members, donated, or sold, and identify which beneficiaries have the interest and capacity to care for specific pieces. Clear written instructions can reduce the risk of conflict and help preserve both value and family harmony.

Tax Planning and Charitable Contributions: Donating selected works to museums or charities can yield meaningful income tax deductions and may help reduce estate tax exposure, especially for high‑value collections. Coordinate these gifts with your overall estate, income tax, and philanthropic goals.

Gemstones and Jewelry

Professional Gemological Certification: Have significant gemstones certified by a reputable gemological laboratory so that carat weight, color, clarity, cut, and any treatments are clearly documented. Certification provides objective support for valuation, insurance, and tax reporting.

Comprehensive Inventory: Create a detailed inventory of jewelry and gemstone holdings that includes descriptions, photos, purchase dates and prices, current appraised values, locations, and insurance details. Keeping this inventory with your estate planning records helps your executor quickly understand what exists and how it should be handled.

Storage, Security, and Insurance: Store high‑value pieces in secure locations such as safe deposit boxes or high‑quality home safes and ensure that insurance coverage is sufficient for loss, theft, and damage. Provide your executor with clear instructions about where items are kept and how they can be accessed.

Family Communications and Heirlooms: If certain pieces are family heirlooms, consider documenting who should receive which item and why. This can be done through specific bequests in your will or a separate memorandum referenced by your estate plan to reduce misunderstandings and disputes.

Liquidity and Estate Administration: Because metals, art, and gemstones may take time to sell and can be volatile in value, discuss with your attorney how your estate will generate cash to pay taxes, debts, and expenses without forcing a rushed sale of prized items. Life insurance, cash reserves, or other liquid assets can provide breathing room for a thoughtful sales strategy.

Organize and Safeguard Important Documents: Even the most carefully drafted documents cannot help if no one can find them. Organizing and safeguarding your estate planning records makes it easier for your loved ones to act quickly and confidently in a crisis.

Consider:

• • Keeping originals in a fireproof safe, secure digital vault, or other protected location.
  • Ensuring your executor, trustee, or agents know where documents are stored and how to access them.
  • Maintaining an updated list of key documents, accounts, professional advisors, and asset inventories, including collections and appraisals.

6. Consider Tax and Lifetime Gifting Strategies: While Texas does not impose a state estate tax, federal estate tax rules may affect larger estates, especially those holding concentrated collections. Regular reviews with your advisors can keep your plan tax‑efficient.

Topics to discuss with your attorney and tax advisor include:

• • Whether your projected estate size could trigger federal estate tax.
  • Use of lifetime gifts to reduce the size of your taxable estate, including gifts of art or gemstones to family members or charities.
  • Coordination of charitable gifts with your overall planning.
  • Tax implications of passing collectible assets at death versus selling or gifting them during lifetime.

7. Do Not Overlook Digital Assets: Many people now hold meaningful value—sentimental or financial—in digital assets, such as online investment platforms, cryptocurrency wallets, and cloud‑stored records that may relate to your collections. Make sure someone you trust can access these accounts, passwords, seed phrases, hot and cold wallets and records when needed.

8. Address Special Family Circumstances: Families with minor children, beneficiaries with special needs, blended families, or beneficiaries who struggle with finances often require additional planning tools, such as special needs trusts or spendthrift protections. Your collections may need special handling in these contexts as well.

9. Schedule a Regular Estate Plan Review: Estate planning is not a one‑time event; it should grow as your life, assets, and goals evolve. Many Texans benefit from a full review every few years or after major life or financial changes, including significant changes in the value or composition of collections.

 

It’s essential to consult with an experienced estate planning attorney to determine the best approach for your specific circumstances and ensure your estate planning documents are properly prepared and legally sound. Mr. Michael A. Weaver, Partner at Saunders | Walsh, specializes in estate planning law and looks forward to working with your family to protect your legacy assets. Call us today to schedule your consultation with Mr. Weaver.

 

The Texas Estate Plan
How to Cut Taxes, End Heirship Disputes, and Avoid Probate in 2026

Why Estate Planning Matters in Texas

Without the right documents and strategies, your estate may face delays in probate, higher federal estate taxes, and disputes between heirs.

Unlike some states, Texas does not impose its own estate or inheritance tax, so most tax exposure for larger estates in 2026 comes from the federal system. Careful planning lets you use the updated 2026 federal exemptions, trusts, and lifetime gifts to keep more of your estate in the family instead of losing it to tax, probate, or litigation costs.

2026 Estate Tax Numbers Texans Need to Know

As of 2026, the federal estate and gift tax exemption is $15,000,000 per person, or $30,000,000 for a married couple that uses portability and coordinated planning. This exemption applies to transfers made during life or at death, and amounts above the exemption are still subject to federal estate or gift tax at rates up to 40%.

The federal annual gift tax exclusion for 2026 remains $19,000 per recipient, or $38,000 per recipient for a married couple that elects gift‑splitting. Gifts within the annual exclusion do not use any of your $15,000,000-lifetime exemption or require filing a gift tax return, which makes them a simple way to move value out of your future taxable estate over time.

Even if your projected estate is under these federal thresholds, planning still matters because poor asset titling, outdated beneficiary designations, or lack of incapacity documents can cause costly problems for families. Key tax drivers include the total value of real estate, investments, closely held business interests, and large lifetime gifts that have already used part of the lifetime exemption.

Using Trusts to Minimize 2026 Taxes and Protect Assets

Trusts remain one of the most flexible tools for Texans who want to reduce taxable estates, protect beneficiaries, and avoid probate under the 2026 rules. By placing assets into carefully designed trusts, you can remove future appreciation from your taxable estate, shield property from certain creditors, and set guardrails for how and when heirs receive their inheritance.

Common 2026 trust strategies include:

• • Revocable Living Trusts to keep assets out of court‑supervised probate, provide privacy, and make incapacity administration smoother while you retain control during life.
  • Irrevocable Trusts to remove assets (and future growth) from your taxable estate and add creditor and divorce protection for beneficiaries.
  • Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) allow you to support favored charities, keep an income stream, and reduce the taxable value of your estate.
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) that shift appreciating assets to the next generation at a reduced transfer‑tax cost if the assets outperform the assumed IRS rate.

With the 2026 exemption at $15,000,000 per person and indexed going forward, high‑net‑worth families can still use these techniques to “lock in” today’s high exemption while shifting additional growth to younger generations.

Strategic Gifting Under the 2026 Rules

Lifetime gifting remains an efficient way to shrink a taxable estate while helping family members when they actually need the funds. For 2026, you can give up to $19,000 per recipient per year (or $38,000 per recipient for a married couple that splits gifts) without using any of your lifetime exemption.

Larger gifts above the annual amount simply reduce your remaining $15,000,000 lifetime exemption, which can still be advantageous if you expect your estate to grow or want to take advantage of today’s historically high exemption before future legislative changes. Coordinated gifts to irrevocable trusts, 529 plans, or family entities can magnify these benefits while keeping structure and protection around the wealth.

Life Insurance, Asset Protection, and 2026 Planning

In 2026, life insurance continues to play a key role by creating liquidity to pay estate taxes, debts, and administration expenses, so real estate or business interests do not have to be sold in a rush. When held in an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT), the policy proceeds can stay outside the taxable estate while still being available to support heirs or equalize inheritances.

Beyond tax planning, Texans should also think about asset‑protection structures that work hand‑in‑hand with estate planning, such as LLCs and family limited partnerships for business and investment property, homestead protections for the primary residence, and spendthrift‑style trusts for beneficiaries who may need guardrails. Properly integrated, these tools can reduce risk from lawsuits, creditors, and divorce while preserving flexibility for legitimate business and family needs.

Avoiding Probate and Getting the Right Documents in Place

Keeping loved ones out of a drawn‑out probate process remains a core goal for many Texas families in 2026. That often means combining a revocable living trust with updated beneficiary designations, payable‑on‑death and transfer‑on‑death instructions for financial accounts, and transfer‑on‑death deeds for real property.

Every comprehensive Texas estate plan should still include:

• • A carefully drafted pour-over will that coordinates with any trusts and names guardians for minor and special needs children.
  • A statutory durable financial power of attorney and medical power of attorney so someone you trust can act if you are incapacitated.
  • A directive to physicians (living will) and HIPAA releases so medical providers can communicate with decision‑makers.

When these documents work together with 2026‑appropriate trust strategies, gifting, and insurance planning, families are far better positioned to minimize taxes and maximize what ultimately reaches the next generation under the new exemption regime.

 

 

It’s essential to consult with an experienced estate planning attorney to determine the best approach for your specific circumstances and ensure your estate planning documents are properly prepared and legally sound. Mr. Michael A. Weaver, Partner at Saunders | Walsh, specializes in estate planning law and looks forward to working with your family to protect your legacy assets. Call us today to schedule your consultation with Mr. Weaver.