Paul Premack

Paul Premack is a Certified Elder Law Attorney through the National Elder Law Foundation. He was a founding member of the Council of Advanced Practitioners of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and has been a NAELA member since 1989.

His practice encompasses estate planning for individuals, couples and families of all ages, probate to assist surviving heirs when a family member dies, and elder law to assist clients with specific legal challenges. Paul is a Geriatric Scholar via the University of Texas Health Science Center. Paul has written the legal column for Hearst Newspapers. His column archives are located at www.premack.com.

He is the author of "Thinking Beyond Tomorrow," served as 2019-20 President of the Texas Chapter (National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys), is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Washington State Bar Association, the San Antonio Bar Association, and the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law section of the State Bar. Paul is a Life Fellow of the San Antonio Bar Foundation and is a Fellow of the College of the State Bar of Texas.

University of Houston - Main Campus

Doctor of Jurisprudence/Juris Doctor (J.D.) (1982) | Law

1982

Of-Counsel

Premack Rogers PC

2020 - Current

Providing estate planning, trusts, wills, and other services in an of-counsel relationship with Premack Rogers, PC.

Principal Attorney

The Premack Law Office

1983 - Current

President

Texas Chapter, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys

2019 - 2020

San Antonio Express News, Premack Column Archive

San Antonio Express News

Thinking Beyond Tomorrow

Longview

2015

Advance Directives, UT Austin School of Law and Texas NAELA 2018 Summer Conference, Galveston, TX

UT Austin

Certified Elder Law Attorney

National Elder Law Foundation

Barbara Kishpaugh Award

San Antonio Bar Association Elder Law Division

National Elder Law Foundation

Certified Elder Law Attorney

Current

National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys

Member

Current

Texas Bar College

Fellow

Current

Texas State Bar  # 16245900

Member

1982 - Current

Texas Chapter, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys

President

2019 - 2020

Texas

Since 1982

Washington

Washington State Bar Association

ID Number: 56168

Since 2020

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Q. How can I add my wife's name to the property's title for full ownership?

March 14, 2025

A: The deed to any piece of real property shows who owns that real property. In a community property state like Texas, property purchased before your marriage is separate property. It remains separate property after the date of marriage unless legal action is taken to change its character.

If you were to leave the deed the way it is today, your spouse has two legal rights related to the home. First, if the mortgage is being paid from community property (like earnings) your spouse has a legal right to be reimbursed for her half interest in those payments if you were to get divorced. Since you want to expand your spouse’s ownership rights, you must feel that your marriage is stable without much risk of divorce. Hence, the second already existing legal right has more impact: your spouse has the right to occupy the home for life even if she not listed on the deed as an owner.

However, that legal occupancy right is often loaded with family conflict. Do you have children from a prior marriage? The law makes your children owners of the house in the absence of your binding estate plan. They have financial obligations toward maintenance, payments, and insurance on the property as owners, even though they have no benefit from the property until your spouse dies or voluntarily abandons the homestead. Don’t do that to your children or to your spouse.

You should also want to avoid problems for your spouse if you die. This will require legal action on your part with a qualified attorney.

Adding her to the Deed

The first action you propose is adding her name to the deed. Doing so would only be the first step and must be done correctly. If you just add your spouse’s name to the deed, your spouse is receiving a half interest by gift. All gifts, by law in Texas, are separate property. Thus, you would each own a half interest in the house as separate property.

To get the most benefit, you want the house to be community property. Thus, the new deed must include provisions from the Texas Family Code which convert the ownership interest from separate property into community property. Doing so has potential tax benefits and opens the door for attaching a right of survivorship to the property.

Avoiding Probate

You also want to avoid probate. A traditional Will solves a lot of inheritance issues, but typically must go to probate court when you die. Methods for avoiding probate include a Community Property Survivorship Agreement (a legal contract written by your lawyer which is signed by you both, notarized, and filed in the deed records) or a Living Trust (a legal agreement written by your lawyer to split ownership between a trustee and beneficiaries). When done correctly, both of those methods pass title to the surviving spouse when either spouse dies, without probate. Both methods should still be backed-up with a traditional Will as a safety net.

Avoiding Taxes

You also want to avoid inheritance taxes. Fortunately, Texas is one of the states that has no inheritance tax. The federal government still imposes an estate tax, but the law grants an exemption currently (2025) at $13.99 million per person. Most of us have estates below that exemption amount and consequently pay zero federal estate tax on death.

Capital gain taxes should also be considered. If you allow the house to remain your sole property and your wife dies, you do not get an increase in your tax basis because she did not own any part of the house. If you gift her 1/2 the house as her separate property and one of you dies, the basis increase is only on 1/2 the property value. If you convert the house to community property and one of you dies, the survivor gets an increase in the taxable basis on 100% of the home's value. ... Read More

Q. How can I add my wife's name to my home deed in Texas for estate planning?

March 14, 2025

A: I wrote a lengthy answer to this issue for my newspaper column. You can read the column in my archives for free, at this link: https://www.premack.com/post/how-to-add-current-spouse-to-home-deed

Here is the text of that article --

The deed to any piece of real property shows who owns that real property. In a community property state like Texas, property purchased before your marriage is separate property. It remains separate property after the date of marriage unless legal action is taken to change its character.

If you were to leave the deed the way it is today, your spouse has two legal rights related to the home. First, if the mortgage is being paid from community property (like earnings) your spouse has a legal right to be reimbursed for her half interest in those payments if you were to get divorced. Since you want to expand your spouse’s ownership rights, you must feel that your marriage is stable without much risk of divorce. Hence, the second already existing legal right has more impact: your spouse has the right to occupy the home for life even if she not listed on the deed as an owner.

However, that legal occupancy right is often loaded with family conflict. Do you have children from a prior marriage? The law makes your children owners of the house in the absence of your binding estate plan. They have financial obligations toward maintenance, payments, and insurance on the property as owners, even though they have no benefit from the property until your spouse dies or voluntarily abandons the homestead. Don’t do that to your children or to your spouse.

You should also want to avoid problems for your spouse if you die. This will require legal action on your part with a qualified attorney.

Adding her to the Deed

The first action you propose is adding her name to the deed. Doing so would only be the first step and must be done correctly. If you just add your spouse’s name to the deed, your spouse is receiving a half interest by gift. All gifts, by law in Texas, are separate property. Thus, you would each own a half interest in the house as separate property.

To get the most benefit, you want the house to be community property. Thus, the new deed must include provisions from the Texas Family Code which convert the ownership interest from separate property into community property. Doing so has potential tax benefits and opens the door for attaching a right of survivorship to the property.

Avoiding Probate

You also want to avoid probate. A traditional Will solves a lot of inheritance issues, but typically must go to probate court when you die. Methods for avoiding probate include a Community Property Survivorship Agreement (a legal contract written by your lawyer which is signed by you both, notarized, and filed in the deed records) or a Living Trust (a legal agreement written by your lawyer to split ownership between a trustee and beneficiaries). When done correctly, both of those methods pass title to the surviving spouse when either spouse dies, without probate. Both methods should still be backed-up with a traditional Will as a safety net.

Avoiding Taxes

You also want to avoid inheritance taxes. Fortunately, Texas is one of the states that has no inheritance tax. The federal government still imposes an estate tax, but the law grants an exemption currently (2025) at $13.99 million per person. Most of us have estates below that exemption amount and consequently pay zero federal estate tax on death.

Capital gain taxes should also be considered. If you allow the house to remain your sole property and your wife dies, you do not get an increase in your tax basis because she did not own any part of the house. If you gift her 1/2 the house as her separate property and one of you dies, the basis increase is only on 1/2 the property value. If you convert the house to community property and one of you dies, the survivor gets an increase in the taxable basis on 100% of the home's value. ... Read More

Q. Grandfather passed away in Kansas, Executor lives in a different state. Which state laws apply to the amount of the fee

November 1, 2022

A: The state where the Will was admitted to probate dominates. If grandfather lived and died in Kansas, then Kansas law and Kansas courts will be used.