Our Services Include
A Roadmap to Success
Every business or personal success starts with a plan. Patricia Bunch focuses in helping you safeguard your future by implementing strategies to protect your interests. We review these plans with you on a regular basis to ensure they keep pace with the velocity of life and keep you focused on your legal health.
Patricia Bunch can be your advocate for many issues, including:
Entity Formation
You developed an amazing, new idea and are now ready to take on the world. You can save yourself a lot of future headaches by discussing your goals and business liabilities with us, first. We can advise whether your situation is best suited for a sole proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation, or Limited Liability Company (LLC). We can advise you on the tax and legal implications of each, and help you to file the correct paperwork.
Taxation
So, you’re delinquent on paying your personal or business income taxes. Now what? Call Patricia Bunch. We are compassionate professionals with a lot of experience negotiating with the IRS to reach the best outcomes for our clients. We will work with you to create a reasonable payment plan, stop and possibly reverse some non-payment penalties, and keep the IRS from garnishing your wages or seizing assets.
Estate Planning
You have worked hard to get where you are today. Make sure your beneficiaries can keep as much of your estate as possible! We work with clients every day to create estate plans that direct how assets will be transferred, to minimize state and federal taxes owed, and to avoid probate, where possible. We can also create a will or living trust to facilitate fulfillment of your wishes for your real and personal property.
Probate
Probate is a legal process, focused on distributing a person’s assets after they die. It involves courts and lawyers, so your heirs will need to work with someone who can resolve probate issues, quickly. We bring order to a chaotic situation by helping your executor navigate this process to protect the estate’s value for all beneficiaries involved. We’ll push for all legal requirements to be satisfied quickly, and review taxation issues to minimize obligations.
Wills
Your will simplifies and expedites the probate process. Your will designates beneficiaries and the assets you want transferred to them upon your death. If you do not execute a will, the State of Texas effectively writes one for you and your assets pass to your heirs according to state law. Wills are used to make sure your assets pass to the people you designate. A will can also be used to set up trusts, appoint guardianship for minor children and to specify memorial service wishes. We will consult with you on the best scenarios for wills versus trusts, and make sure you have the best instruments in place to cover your needs. Everyone over the age of 21 should have a will.
Trusts
A trust holds assets and is managed by an individual or corporate trustee. Trusts are appropriate in many different situations and for many different purposes. Some of these purposes include minimizing estate taxes, providing for minor children, protecting assets from creditors and avoiding probate.
Many people ask about a “Living Trust.” This is a trust people use to avoid the probate process. Because the probate process is not as complicated in Texas as some other states I do not recommend a Living Trust for everyone. I recommend these trusts for those who want to keep their assets from public disclosure; to avoid will contests, and to provide easier transition of for people faced with impending mental impairment.