A will is often the first estate planning document people think of, and for good reason. It lets you name who should receive your property, who should raise your minor children if something happens to you, and who should be in charge of carrying that out.
A Dallas wills lawyer at Duffley Law helps make sure your will is created with best practices under Texas law in mind.
According to Caring.com’s 2025 Wills Survey, only about 24% of American adults have a will. A lot of the families we meet with in Dallas fall into that gap, not because they don’t care what happens to their family, but because they assumed it was more complicated, more expensive, or less urgent than it actually is.
What a Will Actually Does
A will directs how your probate assets are distributed after death. It can nominate an executor to carry out your wishes, name guardians for minor children, and create testamentary trusts for beneficiaries who shouldn’t receive property outright.
That said, a will generally has no effect during your lifetime, and it does not, by itself, avoid probate. A named executor generally does not have legal authority to act the moment someone dies. Instead, a Texas court typically has to admit the will and formally appoint that person first.
A will also only controls probate-estate assets. Property that passes through a beneficiary designation, joint ownership with survivorship rights, or a properly funded trust generally passes outside of a will entirely, regardless of what the will says.
Trusted Legal Guidance For All Things Probate
For more information or assistance with probate, please call us now at (832) 843-1511. We provide our clients with personalized guidance to help make the process as simple as possible.
What Makes a Will Valid in Texas
Texas has specific execution requirements for a will to be admitted to probate. Generally, the person making the will (the testator) must be of sound mind and at least 18 years old, or otherwise legally qualified, and the will typically must be signed in the presence of two credible witnesses who also sign it.
Texas does recognize holographic wills, meaning wills that are entirely in the testator’s own handwriting and signed, without witnesses. They can be valid, but they raise practical problems: courts still have to be satisfied the handwriting and intent are genuine, and ambiguous or incomplete handwritten language is a common source of probate disputes.
A properly witnessed, well-drafted will avoids most of that risk from the start.
A self-proving affidavit, signed by the testator and witnesses in front of a notary, is not required to make a will valid, but it can make probate more straightforward later by allowing the court to accept the will without tracking down witnesses to testify.
Naming Guardians for Minor Children
For parents of young children, naming a guardian is often the single most important decision in a will, more emotionally weighty than any asset question. Without a valid nomination, a Texas court decides who raises your children if both parents are gone, based on statutory priority and the court’s judgment of the child’s best interest, not necessarily who you would have chosen.
It’s generally worth naming a backup guardian as well as a first choice, since circumstances change and a first-choice guardian may not be available or willing when the time comes.
Many parents also use a will and their greater estate plan to separate the question of who raises the children from who manages any money left to them, since those don’t have to be the same person.
Often, a guardian for minor children can be named separately in a standalone declaration of guardian, as opposed to being embedded in a will. Either way, an effective plan should address what happens to someone’s minor children!
Testamentary Trusts for Children and Other Beneficiaries
A will can create a trust that comes into existence only after death and probate, generally used to hold assets for minor children or other beneficiaries who shouldn’t inherit a lump sum outright at 18. This is called a “testamentary trust.” This is different from a revocable living trust, which exists during your lifetime and can help assets avoid probate when properly funded.
A testamentary trust does not accomplish probate avoidance, since it is created through the will and doesn’t exist until the will itself goes through probate. Once established, it gives a trustee ongoing management over a beneficiary’s inheritance, with distribution terms you set.
Pour-Over Wills for Trust-Based Plans
If you have a revocable living trust, it’s typically a best practice to also have will, specifically a “pour-over” will. This type of will directs any assets titled in your name individually at death to be transferred into the trust through probate.
A pour-over will works like a “catch all” in case anything is left outside of the trust and which otherwise lacks some other route to a beneficiary without probate.
A pour-over will is a backup, not a substitute for proper trust funding. Assets it covers still typically have to pass through probate before landing in the trust, which defeats some of the purpose of having a trust in the first place. The goal of a well-funded trust plan is to minimize how much a family actually needs to rely on the pour-over will.
Common Mistakes We See in Dallas Wills
- Naming only one executor, with no backups if that person cannot serve
- Using outdated language that does not reflect a divorce, remarriage, or new children
- Assuming a will covers retirement accounts or life insurance, which generally pass by beneficiary designation instead
- Relying on an online template that does not meet Texas execution requirements or address community property
- Leaving specific bequests worded ambiguously, which invites disputes among beneficiaries during probate
- Having improper witnesses sign off on the will
Online forms and DIY documents are not automatically invalid, but they can carry more risk than a lot of people assume, particularly around execution requirements, ambiguous language, and coordination with other assets.
A document that looks complete on its face can still fail during probate if it wasn’t executed correctly or does not account for how Texas rules apply to your estate.
Blended Families and Wills
Blended families need to think through wills carefully, since Texas law does not automatically require a surviving spouse to provide for stepchildren after the spouse’s own death.
A will that simply leaves everything to a spouse can unintentionally disinherit children from a prior relationship if the surviving spouse later changes their own estate plan.
Some blended families address this using a trust that provides for a surviving spouse during their lifetime while ultimately preserving assets for children from a prior relationship. There’s no single right structure here. It depends on the family’s specific relationships and goals, which is exactly the kind of thing worth discussing directly with an attorney rather than guessing.
Reviewing and Updating Your Will
A will is not a document you sign once and forget. It’s often worth revisiting after a marriage, divorce, birth of a child, move to Texas from another state, death of a named executor or guardian, or a significant change in assets.
A will drafted for another state does not always account for Texas-specific rules, including community property.
Residents who relocated to Dallas from a non-community-property state should consider having their existing will reviewed rather than assuming all is well.
Our Process for Drafting Your Will
Getting a will right is less about paperwork and more about making sure it actually reflects your family and your wishes. Our process usually looks like this:
- A free consultation to talk through your family situation, your assets, and your personal goals
- Providing a flat fee proposal to complete your will and estate plan
- Drafting your will tailored to your goals, including any testamentary trust provisions for minor or young beneficiaries
- A review meeting where we walk through the document line by line before you sign anything
- Proper execution under Texas law, with two credible witnesses and a self-proving affidavit signed in front of a notary
- Guidance on where to keep the original and who should know how to find it
We offer flat-fee pricing for our wills and standalone estate planning documents.
For nearly all clients in the greater Dallas area, we bring a notary and two witnesses to you so your will and other plan documents can be signed nice and conveniently. We come to you!
Local Resources for Executing a Will in Dallas
Getting a will properly executed and eventually probated, if that day comes, touches a few specific local resources:
- Notaries and credible witnesses across the DFW area, needed for proper execution and a valid self-proving affidavit
- The Dallas County Clerk’s Office, which some Texans use for the optional safekeeping of an original will during their lifetime
- The Dallas County Probate Courts, which would potentially admit your will and appoint your named executor if you passed away
- The Dallas Bar Association’s Probate, Trusts and Estates Section, which maintains local practice guidance that Dallas County probate attorneys and courts reference
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I write my own will in Texas?
Texas does recognize properly handwritten (holographic) wills and wills that meet standard execution requirements, so a self-drafted will can potentially be valid. It carries more risk of ambiguity, missed formalities, or later disputes than an attorney-drafted document, particularly for anyone with real estate, a blended family, or minor children.
Do I need a new will if I move to Dallas from another state?
A valid will from another state is often still recognized in Texas, but it may not address Texas community property rules or take advantage of Texas-specific planning tools. And it may not have been drafted or executed with Texas best practices in mind. Having it reviewed by a Texas attorney is generally worth considering rather than assuming nothing needs changes.
What happens if I die without a will in Texas?
If someone has no will or valid estate plan, Texas intestacy law generally determines who inherits, based on marital status, children, and whether property is separate or community. A surviving spouse does not always automatically receive everything, which is why dying intestate often means more unexpected outcomes and court involvement.
Can a will be contested in Texas?
Yes. Wills can be challenged on grounds like lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, or improper execution. A properly drafted and executed will, including a self-proving affidavit, generally reduces that risk but doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a contest entirely.
Getting Your Will Right the First Time
A will can be an important part of an estate plan, but it works best as part of a coordinated plan rather than a single document handling everything on its own. Guardianship nominations, beneficiary designations, and how your other assets are titled matter as well.
If you’re ready to put a will in place or are considering a more comprehensive estate plan, call Duffley Law at (469) 718-8772 to schedule a free consultation. We’ll walk through your goals and see how we might be able to help achieve them.