Misteli Law Firm

Misteli Law Firm Law firm focused on estate planning, estate administration, and residential real estate, serving families in Dallas and the surrounding areas.

The calendar: It’s fall!Texas weather: That’s adorable.September may still feel suspiciously like summer in North Texas,...
09/02/2026

The calendar: It’s fall!
Texas weather: That’s adorable.

September may still feel suspiciously like summer in North Texas, but there’s something about this month that feels like a fresh start anyway.

School is back. Vacations are winding down. Football has returned. Routines are settling into place. And eventually, we’re promised a morning when stepping outside doesn’t feel like opening an oven.

Maybe September really is the new January.

Read our latest blog: Why September Feels Like the Real New Year.
https://mistelilaw.com/2026/08/31/why-september-feels-like-the-real-new-year

Remember everything you said you were going to do this year? Good news: the year isn’t over. September is a great time t...
09/01/2026

Remember everything you said you were going to do this year? Good news: the year isn’t over.

September is a great time to revisit the goals, projects, habits, and plans that may have gotten lost somewhere between January and summer vacation.
You don’t need to wait until January 1.
You don’t need a resolution.
You can just begin.

Why September Feels Like the Real New Year
https://mistelilaw.com/2026/08/31/why-september-feels-like-the-real-new-year

January gets all the credit for fresh starts, but September might actually do it better.Summer winds down. Routines retu...
08/31/2026

January gets all the credit for fresh starts, but September might actually do it better.

Summer winds down. Routines return. Calendars fill up. And somehow, all that back-to-school energy sticks with us long after we’ve stopped going to school.

September feels like a second New Year, only without the pressure of resolutions.

What would you like to start fresh this September?

https://mistelilaw.com/2026/08/31/why-september-feels-like-the-real-new-year

Most of the coverage of the Malcolm-Jamal Warner lawsuit is focused on the money: the life insurance, the Roth IRA, the ...
08/28/2026

Most of the coverage of the Malcolm-Jamal Warner lawsuit is focused on the money: the life insurance, the Roth IRA, the anniversary payments his widow says were never paid. That part matters. But there's a separate question buried in this case that most families never think to ask.

Malcolm and Tenisha's daughter is nine. If something happens to a parent, who has legal authority to make decisions for a child in the first hours, not days later when a will finally gets read, but right away, at the hospital or the school?

That's not a financial question. It's a guardianship question, and it needs its own answer.

If you have kids and you're not sure who's legally authorized to step in for them in an emergency, that's worth fixing this week, not someday.

https://mistelilaw.com/2026/08/24/the-cosby-show-made-him-famous-his-estate-plan-failed-his-family

When the prenuptial agreement was signed, they meant every word. When the estate plan was drafted, they fully intended t...
08/28/2026

When the prenuptial agreement was signed, they meant every word. When the estate plan was drafted, they fully intended to keep it current. The life insurance was going to be purchased. The Roth IRA was going to be funded. The annual payment was going to be made.

Intention isn't the problem. Follow-through is.

And follow-through requires someone whose job it is to check, year after year. Not just at the signing. The prenup, the insurance policy, the retirement account, the beneficiary designations: every one of those things needs to be verified regularly by someone who knows what to look for and whose job it is to follow up.

https://mistelilaw.com/2026/08/24/the-cosby-show-made-him-famous-his-estate-plan-failed-his-family

Theo Huxtable made us laugh for years. Malcolm-Jamal Warner's death last year, and the lawsuit his widow has now filed a...
08/25/2026

Theo Huxtable made us laugh for years. Malcolm-Jamal Warner's death last year, and the lawsuit his widow has now filed against his mother, is a reminder that even people who plan ahead can be let down when a plan isn't actively maintained.

According to the lawsuit, Malcolm and Tenisha had a prenuptial agreement with real commitments in it: life insurance, a Roth IRA, annual payments. The complaint alleges those commitments were never fully carried out.

Here's the thing about estate planning: the document is only the start. The follow-through, the annual check-ins, the confirmation that policies are active and accounts are funded, that's what actually protects your family.

https://mistelilaw.com/2026/08/24/the-cosby-show-made-him-famous-his-estate-plan-failed-his-family

$1 million life insurance policy. Never purchased.A Roth IRA he agreed to fund. Never funded.Annual payments written int...
08/24/2026

$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 is suing for $1.2 million in unfulfilled promises. The commitments were in writing. They were just never carried out.
This week's blog is about what I would have done differently as their attorney.

https://mistelilaw.com/2026/08/24/the-cosby-show-made-him-famous-his-estate-plan-failed-his-family

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Dallas, TX
75225

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