Long-time TXdocs friend and subscriber, Charles A. Granstaff of Granstaff, Gaedke & Edgmon, P.C., has shared valuable insights with us, and has graciously agreed to let us share them with you. Mr. Granstaff is board-certified in estate planning and probate law, with 37 years of legal experience. He has prepared a memo outlining key considerations for including certain trust protector language in trust documentation in light of the recently-enacted "One Big Beautiful Bill."

Given this significant tax law change, we are sharing this memo for your own edification and to explain why TXdocs has added this language in our dynasty trust forms. Click here or below to read more.

One hot topic from September's legislative updates relates to the changes brought about by SB2052. This bill changes a non-parent's ability to be involved in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship, amending the burden of proof from a preponderance of evidence to clear and convincing evidence.

We've made some changes to our family law forms in response to this legislation:

• We've added a new Affidavit or Declaration for Standing of Non-parent in Chapter 15.
• Our SAPCR and Modification temporary and final orders now contain the option for the required language per 153.002(c) if a non-parent is a party to the suit.
  • This language concerns specific facts supporting the court's findings that denying the relief requested by the non-parent would significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional development, and the extent to which the non-parent has overcome the parental presumption.
• We've also made some changes to the wording of other documents if there's a non-parent involved.

For a refresher on all of our legislative updates click here or below. 

Participants will learn how new statutory language has been incorporated into Family Law forms and review the updated document assembly process. Judge Longino will share insights into how these changes may affect clients and the way courts handle Family Law cases. 

Judge Longino was the presiding judge of Harris County's 245th Family District Court. He is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has a family law practice in Houston. 

This course has been approved by the MCLE and State Bar College for 1.0 hour of CLE credit. To register for your seat please click here or below

Make sure to keep an eye on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages and emails to get a heads up on our future free webinars (which also offer you CLE credit). We will have another webinar on Thursday, November 6th discussing some upcoming exciting developments to the customizability of forms. For more information and to register to attend click here.

Is a great-aunt within the 4th degree of relation? Are grandchildren and grandnieces in the same degree? TXdocs has added new consanguinity tables in both the family law and probate volumes to help answer these questions! These tables were both created in accordance with 573.023 Texas Government Code.

With regard to the family law chart: as of September 1, 2025, a relative of a child related within the fourth degree of consanguinity may file and original suit requiring managing conservatorship or intervene in a pending suit, as long as other requirements are met. This is a change from the previous third degree relationship threshold.

The probate chart helps clients and staff better understand the degrees of family relationships. Per capita with representation division starts at the closest generation with survivors and continues by representation down the line. This ensures fairness among family "branches" while not skipping over an entire generation.

This course provides an overview of new functionality in our Online Intake tool. Online Intake is a secure client portal that helps attorneys efficiently gather and manage client information. This webinar highlights new features in Online Intake designed to make collecting the required information as easy as possible:

You can watch a recording of this webinar here or below. You can also access the slides from the presentation here.

Did you know that you can customize footers to automatically be applied to documents created in TXdocs? These footers can be multi-line, and you can even set your preferred font size and styles. There are also options to add dynamic content such as dates, cause numbers, and more!

You can set up footers in the Format Wizard tool on the Document Assembly tab. Just select the category of documents to which you'd like the footer preferences to be applied (pleadings & orders, agreements & contracts, letters, or individual forms), then select "Headers & Footers" and then "Footers".

Want more information on how to set up custom footers? Give us a call at (210) 253-9506 or schedule a free one-on-one training here or below.

We recently launched an online course to teach law and paralegal students everything they need to know about TXdocs document automation. Along with this curriculum, we've also created an exam whereby students can demonstrate their proficiency with our software and earn their TXdocs certification. We want to congratulate the first recipient of the TXdocs certification: Emily Emfinger of Lone Star Community College!

Emily says she has always loved the legal field, as she grew up in a law enforcement family. Emily says: "I am so excited to have not only learned about TXdocs through my college courses, but to have achieved this certificate to help further my career and knowledge." After graduation, Emily intends to either continue with her current job or work at a criminal defense firm, as criminal law is "where her heart is."

This update incorporates:

For reference, you can view the OAG's full charts and instructions here or below. 

As a refresher, "FormZ" (pronounced "form-zee") is what TXdocs calls our proprietary software to track subscriber requests for new forms, fixes, or improvements. For a complete list of the content and software updates included in our latest releases click here or below. 

Have a suggestion for us? We'd love to hear from you! Please contact us on our website, email us, or give us a call at (210) 253-9506.

Baylor University School of Law, founded in 1857, is the oldest law school in continuous operation in Texas. It was around before the Civil War!