Silverleaf Legal Group, PLLC

Silverleaf Legal Group, PLLC Silverleaf Legal Group, PLLC is in Cedar Park, Texas, providing representation for Estate Planning

Families sometimes add a no-contest clause to a will or trust.The concept is straightforward.If a beneficiary challenges...
05/29/2026

Families sometimes add a no-contest clause to a will or trust.

The concept is straightforward.

If a beneficiary challenges the document and loses they receive nothing.

It is designed to discourage litigation.

To protect the wishes of the person who created the plan from being undone by someone who simply disagrees with what it says.

In Texas no-contest clauses are enforceable but the courts apply them carefully.

A challenge brought with probable cause may not trigger the clause.

A challenge brought without it likely will.

Whether a no-contest clause belongs in a plan depends on the family.

For some it is unnecessary.

There is no one likely to object.

For others it is a meaningful protection.

A way of saying: this is what I intended and I have thought carefully about it.

If you have concerns about how your plan might be received that concern is worth raising.

An estate plan can be designed with those dynamics in mind.

Does your plan reflect an honest assessment of your family?

We meet with clients at all stages of this.Some are in their thirties newly married thinking about what would happen if ...
05/28/2026

We meet with clients at all stages of this.

Some are in their thirties newly married thinking about what would happen if something went wrong.

Some are in their fifties watching their parents navigate health challenges realizing they are next.

Some are in their seventies with plans drafted decades ago that have never been reviewed.

Some come in the weeks after a loss handling an estate that was either well-organized or not.

What we have noticed across all of those conversations is that the people who feel most at ease are rarely the ones with the most complex plans.

They are the ones who know what their plan says.

Who made their decisions deliberately.

Who told the people who needed to know.

And who revisit it when life changes.

Estate planning is not a destination.

It is a practice.

A habit of keeping the decisions that matter most current and intentional.

The families who do that tend to leave something more than assets behind.

They leave clarity.

Where are you in that process?

Some families go to great lengths to create a plan and then never tell anyone about it.The documents are signed.They are...
05/27/2026

Some families go to great lengths to create a plan and then never tell anyone about it.

The documents are signed.

They are stored carefully.

And no one outside the room where they were drafted knows they exist.

This is understandable.

Estate planning involves private information.

Not everyone wants to discuss it at the dinner table.

But there is a difference between privacy and secrecy that can matter enormously in a crisis.

The person named as executor should know they have been named.

The person holding the power of attorney should know where the document is.

The person designated as guardian should have agreed to it.

The family member expected to handle things should not be discovering the plan for the first time while also managing grief.

A plan that exists but cannot be found or acted on in a crisis has not fully served its purpose.

Who knows about yours?

Today, we remember and honor the courageous men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.All Silverleaf ...
05/25/2026

Today, we remember and honor the courageous men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.

All Silverleaf offices are closed today in observance of Memorial Day as we pause to reflect on their sacrifice and the freedom they helped preserve.

May we never forget. God bless our service members and their families.

We work with people who have done everything right.They have a will.They have a trust.They have powers of attorney.Their...
05/25/2026

We work with people who have done everything right.

They have a will.

They have a trust.

They have powers of attorney.

Their beneficiary designations are current.

And then we ask about the executor.

Or the trustee.

Or the person named as agent under the power of attorney.

And it turns out that person died three years ago.

Or moved across the country.

Or had a falling out with the family.

Or was named because they seemed like the right choice at the time and time has changed things.

A plan is only as strong as the people named in it.

And people change.

Circumstances change.

Relationships change.

Reviewing a plan means reviewing not just what the documents say but whether the people named in them are still the right ones.

Are the people named in your plan still the people you would choose today?

Leaving money directly to a minor child is not as straightforward as it sounds.A minor cannot legally own property above...
05/24/2026

Leaving money directly to a minor child is not as straightforward as it sounds.

A minor cannot legally own property above a certain value.

If assets are left outright to a child a court may need to appoint a guardian of the estate to manage them.

That guardian may not be the same person raising the child.

They must report to the court.

They may need court approval for significant expenditures.

And when the child turns eighteen the remaining assets pass to them outright.

No conditions.

No oversight.

Whatever is left all at once to a legal adult who may have very little experience managing money.

A trust for a minor child handles this differently.

It names someone to manage the assets without court supervision.

It allows distributions for specific purposes education health and support.

And it can specify an age at which the child receives what remains.

Twenty-five.

Thirty.

Whatever a parent thinks is right.

Does your plan account for the age and maturity of the people it is meant to protect?

Estates have a way of revealing things families did not know.A bank account no one was aware of.A property in another st...
05/23/2026

Estates have a way of revealing things families did not know.

A bank account no one was aware of.

A property in another state.

A debt that was kept private.

A life insurance policy that named someone unexpected.

A beneficiary designation that was never updated after a divorce.

We do not say this to suggest that most people are keeping secrets.

Most are not.

But financial lives accumulate complexity over decades.

And the people closest to someone often know far less about the full picture than they assume.

An estate plan done well brings that picture into focus.

It requires someone to actually inventory what they own what they owe and how everything is titled.

That process itself is often clarifying.

It surfaces accounts that should be consolidated.

Designations that need updating.

Structures that made sense once and no longer do.

The plan is not just a set of documents.

It is an honest accounting.

When did you last take one?

When a couple creates an estate plan together they usually think about what happens when the first spouse dies.The survi...
05/22/2026

When a couple creates an estate plan together they usually think about what happens when the first spouse dies.

The survivor inherits.

The survivor continues.

The survivor updates the plan if needed.

What gets less attention is what happens to the assets after the second spouse dies.

Particularly when there are children from a prior relationship.

A surviving spouse who inherits outright can do whatever they choose with those assets.

They can spend them.

They can leave them to a new partner.

They can update their own estate plan in ways that exclude the children from the first marriage.

None of this requires bad intentions.

It can simply be what happens when a grieving person makes decisions alone.

There are planning structures designed for exactly this situation.

A trust that provides for the surviving spouse during their lifetime while preserving the remainder for children from both sides.

These structures require honesty and intention to set up.

But they are far less painful than the alternative.

Does your plan address what happens after both of you are gone?

The word irrevocable makes people uncomfortable.It should.It means what it says.An irrevocable trust once created and fu...
05/21/2026

The word irrevocable makes people uncomfortable.

It should.

It means what it says.

An irrevocable trust once created and funded cannot generally be changed directly by the grantors. Any modifications require the involvement of additional parties such as a trust protector.

That is a significant commitment.

It is also in certain situations precisely the point.

An irrevocable trust removes assets from the grantor's estate.

That can have meaningful estate tax implications for larger estates.

It can also protect assets from future creditors.

And in the context of Medicaid planning it can allow assets to be preserved while establishing eligibility for long-term care benefits provided the timing is right.

A revocable trust by contrast remains fully within the grantor's control.

It is flexible easy to amend and useful for probate avoidance and incapacity planning.

But it offers no asset protection and no estate tax benefit.

The two structures serve different purposes.

Which one belongs in a plan depends entirely on what that plan is trying to accomplish.

Do you know which kind of trust your situation calls for?

Address

2901 Caballo Ranch Boulevard , Bldg 1
Cedar Park, TX
78641

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15123377271

Website

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