What Happens to Your Money, Your Kids, and Everything You've Built When Love or Life Doesn't Go as Planned?
📅 Thursday, June 25, 2026
⏰ 12:00 PM
📍 Virtual —> Free to Attend
A home. Savings. Maybe a business. Children you’d do anything for.
But here’s what most people don’t realize:
In Texas, without the right documents in place, the law already has a plan for your money, your kids, and your future, and you probably won’t love it.
Whether your marriage ends in divorce or death, the gaps in your estate plan become everyone else’s problem. Your family’s problem. A judge’s decision. And sometimes, a courtroom battle that tears people apart.
We’ve seen it happen. And it doesn’t only happen to celebrities.
What happens to your house if you die without a will? What if your spouse remarries after you’re gone and your kids’ inheritance goes to a stranger? What if your prenuptial agreement wasn’t done right, and it falls apart in court? What if you and your spouse own property together, but the law doesn’t see it the way you do?
These aren’t hypothetical questions. They’re real situations that play out in courtrooms every day for everyday families just like yours.
The difference between heartbreak and peace of mind is almost always the same thing: A solid plan, done right, before it’s needed.
These stories made the news because of who was involved. But the legal lessons? Those belong to all of us.
When Prince passed away in April 2016, he left behind a $300 million estate and not a single page of estate planning documents. No will. No trust. No instructions whatsoever.
What followed was a six-year legal battle involving half-siblings he barely knew, IRS claims for tens of millions in taxes, and a court system that decided where his life's work went.
He was 57 years old. He had time. He just never made a plan.
The Lesson: Without a will or trust, the state writes your story. Every. Single. Word.
Aretha Franklin passed away in August 2018. And when her family went looking for her estate plan, they found handwritten notes stuffed inside couch cushions and notebooks around her home.
Multiple versions. Different dates. Conflicting instructions. Her family has been fighting over them in court ever since, in a battle that has dragged on for years and cost a fortune in legal fees.
She had the best intentions. She just never made it official.
The Lesson: Good intentions are not a legal document. A handwritten note is not a plan.
When Paul McCartney married Heather Mills in 2002, he skipped the prenuptial agreement. After four years of marriage, the divorce settlement cost him an estimated $48 million.
Paul McCartney has publicly said not having a prenup was one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
Four years of marriage. Forty-eight million dollars. A lesson that didn't have to cost nearly that much.
The Lesson: A prenuptial agreement isn't about distrust. It's about protecting both of you clearly, fairly, and in writing.
Anna Nicole Smith married 89-year-old oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall II in 1994. He passed away just 13 months later. What followed was one of the longest, most expensive estate battles in American legal history…his children from prior marriages versus his new wife. And it went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Twice.
There was no clear trust. No clean plan for how his assets would pass given the complexity of his family situation. His family spent more time in courtrooms than they did grieving.
The Lesson: Remarriage changes everything. Your estate plan has to account for who you love now and who came before.
Lisa Marie Presley had an estate plan. She had a revocable living trust. She thought she was protected.
But when she passed away in January 2023, her mother, Priscilla, came forward to contest a trust amendment, one that had quietly removed Priscilla as co-trustee and replaced her with Lisa Marie’s daughter, Riley Keough. Priscilla said she never received proper notice of the change.
Four marriages. An inherited legacy. A trust amendment that created a family battle none of them needed during the worst time of their lives.
The family eventually reached a private settlement, but only after painful public legal proceedings.
The Lesson: Having a trust is step one. Maintaining it, updating it after every major life change, and doing it correctly is what actually protects your family.
When Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner divorced in 2023 after 18 years of marriage, Christine challenged the prenuptial agreement they had signed before their wedding.
It held up in court.
Costner had done it right. The agreement was properly drafted, properly executed, and properly documented. What could have become an ugly, drawn-out financial war was resolved with the legal foundation already in place.
The Lesson: A well-drafted prenuptial or post-marital agreement doesn't just protect your assets. It protects your family from a battle they don't deserve to fight.
You don't have to be worth $300 million for this to happen to your family.
The custody fight is just as devastating when it’s over a two-bedroom house.
The heartbreak of watching your children’s inheritance go to the wrong person hurts just as much at any income level.
A judge deciding who raises your kids is not a celebrity problem.
It’s a people problem. And it’s completely preventable.
The only difference is that most families don’t have a team of lawyers on retainer when it happens. They have a grief-stricken spouse, confused children, and a courtroom they never expected to step inside.
Our passion is education.
We believe that every family, regardless of the size of their estate, deserves to understand their options, make informed decisions, and walk away with a real plan.
That’s why we designed this webinar to teach you everything you need to know in a way that’s actually fun, relatable, and approachable.
No legal jargon. No scare tactics. No pressure.
Just two attorneys who genuinely care about helping Texas families protect what matters most… which is having a real, honest conversation about what happens when life doesn’t go as planned, and exactly what you can do about it.
Because the best time to build your plan was yesterday. The second best time is right now.
Amanda is a Houston estate planning attorney who has dedicated her practice to helping families protect what they've worked hard to build with warmth, clarity, and zero legal intimidation.
She knows firsthand that estate planning isn't just about documents. It's about peace of mind. It's about making sure the people you love most are taken care of, exactly the way you want, no matter what life brings.
Amanda believes every family deserves a plan that actually works. And she has a gift for making even the most complicated legal concepts feel completely manageable.
Angela has been practicing family law in the Houston area for over 18 years.
She is board-certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has been recognized as a Super Lawyer for ten consecutive years by Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters. She was also named to the Top 100 Houston Super Lawyer list and the Top 50 Women in Texas list for the last four years.
Angela and her team represent clients in various family law matters including contested custody disputes, high-asset divorce suits with complex property issues, marital agreements, and adoptions. She is an experienced mediator and very active in the legal community.
Together, Amanda and Angela bring two powerful perspectives to the table — estate planning and marital property issues — so you can see the full picture of how your plan works in real life, not just on paper.
Spaces are limited for this free, no-obligation virtual workshop.
Join Amanda Pierson and Angela Stout on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at 12:00 PM for a conversation that could change how you think about protecting your family forever.
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