Aligned Life and Legacy Law, PC

Aligned Life and Legacy Law, PC Estate planning lawyer here to help you make the very best personal, financial, and legal decisions for your family. Licensed in Texas and California.

Licensed in Texas, California, and Missouri.

You did the work.You saved for retirement, created an estate plan, and named beneficiaries because you wanted the people...
08/31/2026

You did the work.

You saved for retirement, created an estate plan, and named beneficiaries because you wanted the people you love to be protected.

That matters.

But the rules changed after many families created their plans.
In 2026, a trust enters the 37% federal marginal income tax bracket once taxable income exceeds $16,000. A single individual doesn’t enter that bracket until taxable income exceeds $640,600.

That number deserves your attention. It does not tell you what to do.

A trust may protect your child’s inheritance during a divorce, lawsuit, addiction crisis, or season when they aren’t ready to manage the money. Removing that protection to reduce a tax bill could solve one problem while creating a much bigger one.

The right question isn’t simply, “How do we pay the least tax?”
It’s, “What do I want this wealth to make possible, and how do I protect that purpose as efficiently as I can?”

This week’s article explains how the original SECURE Act changed inherited IRA planning and why your IRA, trust, and beneficiary designation need to work together.

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There's a reason most families feel like their estate planning is handled, and then find out it wasn't when something go...
08/29/2026

There's a reason most families feel like their estate planning is handled, and then find out it wasn't when something goes wrong.
They got documents. They didn't get a plan.

Documents are tools. A will is a tool. A trust is a tool. What creates real protection is a relationship with a lawyer who knows your family, holds the whole picture, and reviews the plan as your life changes, so the gaps don't show up at the worst possible moment.

That's what a relationship with me looks like. Not a transaction. Not a folder in a drawer. I'm a real attorney who knows who your kids are, who the right guardian is today, which accounts need updated beneficiary designations, and whether your trust is actually funded.

If you made a will this month and want to know whether it's actually doing its job, this is a good time to find out.

Link to book a discovery call with me in the comments! 📳

Q: "I just made a will. Am I actually done?"This is a common question I hear this time of year, and I want to be honest ...
08/27/2026

Q: "I just made a will. Am I actually done?"

This is a common question I hear this time of year, and I want to be honest about the answer. A will is a great start, but....

A will tells a court what you want when you die. It doesn't update your beneficiary designations. Those designations override your will completely, regardless of what it says. It does not fund your trust. Signing a trust and funding it are two completely different steps, and most families only do one. It doesn't address what happens if you're incapacitated. And it doesn't update itself when your life changes.

Real planning, a Life & Legacy Planning® Session, covers all of it. What's in place, what's missing, and what actually needs to happen next.

A will is a starting point. It's not a complete plan.

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You made a will this August. That was the right move, and it matters more than you know.But here's what most people don'...
08/24/2026

You made a will this August. That was the right move, and it matters more than you know.

But here's what most people don't find out until it's too late: making a will and protecting your family are not the same thing.

A will doesn't update your beneficiary designations. Those forms can override your will completely. It doesn't fund your trust. If your assets were never transferred into it, your estate still goes through probate. And a will does nothing if you're incapacitated rather than deceased. That's a completely different set of documents.

Most families discover these gaps at the worst possible moment.
This week's article is the checklist for what comes next: what it takes to make sure the plan you signed is the plan your family can count on.

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Do you think you don't need a will yet? It's one of the most common things I hear, and it usually comes from one of two ...
08/21/2026

Do you think you don't need a will yet? It's one of the most common things I hear, and it usually comes from one of two beliefs: that wills are only for people with significant assets, or that there's plenty of time to deal with it later.

Neither is accurate. If you have children, a house, a bank account, or opinions about who should make decisions for you in a crisis, you need a will. Each state has default rules for what happens if you die without one, and they don't ask what you actually wanted. They also don't account for blended families, unmarried partners, or the specific people you'd trust to raise your kids.

A will doesn't have to take months to put together. It just has to exist, and it has to reflect your family as it is right now. Start the conversation and let's get yours in place: alignedlifeandlegacy.com

Q: "We have a prenup. We're good, right?" It's one of the most common assumptions I hear.A prenuptial agreement document...
08/19/2026

Q: "We have a prenup. We're good, right?"

It's one of the most common assumptions I hear.

A prenuptial agreement documents what both parties committed to. It does not verify that those commitments were ever carried out. The life insurance that was supposed to be purchased. The retirement account that was supposed to be funded. The annual payments that were supposed to be made.

In Malcolm-Jamal Warner's case, the actor best known as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, according to his widow's complaint, every one of those things was promised. None of them happened.

A prenup without follow-through is a document, not a plan. My job as a Personal Family Lawyer® is to make sure the plan on paper matches the reality of your financial life, and to stay connected to you year after year to verify that it does.

That's what this week's blog is about.

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$1 million life insurance policy. Never purchased.A Roth IRA he agreed to fund. Never funded.Annual payments written int...
08/17/2026

$1 million life insurance policy. Never purchased.

A Roth IRA he agreed to fund. Never funded.

Annual payments written into their premarital agreement. Never made.

One year after Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner died tragically in a drowning accident on a family vacation, his widow Tenisha has filed suit alleging $1.2 million in unfulfilled promises from their premarital agreement. According to her complaint, every commitment was documented. None of them were carried out.

Not through any fault of his - almost certainly he intended to do all of these things. But of course he did not expect to have so little time left.

This is the part that stays with me. Not the lawsuit. Not the dollar amount. The gap between intention and follow-through is where most estate planning failures live. And it's almost always quiet until it isn't.

This week's blog breaks down what I would have done differently as their attorney, starting from the day the prenuptial agreement was signed and through the reviews that should have caught every one of these gaps before they became a lawsuit.

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There's a reason most families feel like their estate planning is handled, and then find out it wasn't when something go...
08/15/2026

There's a reason most families feel like their estate planning is handled, and then find out it wasn't when something goes wrong.

They got documents. They didn't get a plan.

Documents are tools. A will is a tool. A trust is a tool. What creates real protection is a trusted advisor who knows your family, understands what you actually need, and is available when your family needs to make that call.

That's what a Life & Legacy Planning® relationship looks like. Not a transaction. Not a folder in a drawer. A real advisor who holds the whole picture, keeps the plan current as your life changes, and is there when something happens, so your family knows exactly who to call.

If you don't have that, this is a good month to start.

Link to book a complimentary 15-minute discovery call with me in the comments! 🔗

"We already have a will. Does that mean our family is protected?"This is a question I hear often, and I want to be hones...
08/13/2026

"We already have a will. Does that mean our family is protected?"

This is a question I hear often, and I want to be honest about the answer.

A will names a long-term guardian for your children. It doesn't address who has legal authority with them in the first 72 hours if something happens to both of you. A will names beneficiaries for assets in your estate. It doesn't touch your retirement accounts or life insurance. Those pass by beneficiary designation, regardless of what your will says. A will does nothing if you're incapacitated rather than gone. And a will doesn't update itself as your life changes.

Real planning, a Life & Legacy Plan®, covers all of it. The right legal structure, the right people in the right roles, and a relationship with a lawyer who knows your family and keeps the plan current as your life changes.

A will is a starting point - but it's not a finish line.

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