End-of-Life Estate Planning

Yes. Being in hospice does not automatically remove the legal right to sign a will. Under Texas Estates Code Ch. 251, a person has testamentary capacity if they understand the nature of making a will, know generally what property they own, know who their natural heirs are, and can form an orderly plan. Many hospice patients meet this standard. The key is documenting capacity at the time of signing — often with a witness statement or a brief note from the attending physician — so the will is harder to contest later.

In Texas, the most time-sensitive documents are the Medical Power of Attorney, the Directive to Physicians (living will), and the Financial Durable Power of Attorney. These three documents allow a named person to make health care and financial decisions immediately if the patient loses the ability to communicate. The will is also urgent, but the POA documents often have the most immediate practical impact during a hospitalization or hospice stay. All are governed by the Texas Health and Safety Code Ch. 166 and the Texas Estates Code.

Texas intestacy law (Texas Estates Code Ch. 201) determines who inherits. The distribution depends on whether the deceased was married, had children, and whether those children were from the current marriage or a prior relationship. For blended families or unmarried partners, the results can be very different from what the person would have wanted. Assets with beneficiary designations — like retirement accounts and life insurance — pass outside the will and are not affected by intestacy rules, but everything else goes through the intestacy formula.

A Texas Medical Power of Attorney is a document that names another person — called an agent — to make health care decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make them yourself. It is authorized under Texas Health and Safety Code Ch. 166. Any competent adult can sign one. It does not require a notary but does require two qualifying adult witnesses. The agent's authority only activates when a physician certifies that the patient lacks capacity to make medical decisions, so signing it does not transfer control while the patient is still able to communicate.

A Directive to Physicians — also called a living will — tells doctors your wishes about life-sustaining treatment if you are in a terminal or irreversible condition. It speaks for you directly. A Medical Power of Attorney names a person to make broader health care decisions on your behalf and can adapt to situations the directive did not anticipate. Both are authorized under Texas Health and Safety Code Ch. 166. Ideally, a patient has both: the directive sets the instructions, and the POA agent carries them out and fills in the gaps.

Generally, no. Without a valid Financial Durable Power of Attorney in place, a family member has no automatic legal authority to access another adult's bank accounts or manage their finances. In Texas, the only alternative is to seek a court-ordered guardianship of the estate, which can take weeks or months and involves significant legal fees. A Durable Power of Attorney signed under Texas Estates Code Ch. 751 while the person still has capacity avoids that process entirely and takes effect immediately or upon incapacity, depending on how it is drafted.

An Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate order (OOH-DNR) is a specific Texas legal form authorized under Health and Safety Code Ch. 166 that instructs emergency medical personnel not to attempt resuscitation outside a hospital setting. A hospital DNR only applies inside the facility. If a hospice patient is at home or in a residential facility and does not have an OOH-DNR, EMS is legally required to attempt resuscitation if called. The OOH-DNR requires a physician's signature and must follow the exact state-approved form to be valid.

Yes. Beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, retirement accounts (like IRAs and 401(k)s), and payable-on-death bank accounts pass directly to the named beneficiary regardless of what the will says. Texas courts will not redirect those assets through the estate. This makes reviewing and updating designations just as important as writing the will itself. A common mistake is naming an ex-spouse, a deceased person, or a minor child as a beneficiary — each creates a serious problem that the will cannot fix after the fact.