An Introduction to Texas Estate Law in the Absence of a Valid Will

Shaun Hayes is a Fort Worth, Texas resident and wealth manager at McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management in Dallas, Texas. He previously spent time as a senior financial advisor with Merrill Lynch in Fort Worth. Over the course of his career, Shaun Hayes has gained experience in various areas of wealth management and financial advising, including retirement and estate planning.

The state of Texas has a number of laws designed to address the distribution of property that has not been named in the property owner’s estate plan, or for cases that involve no valid will at all. For example, community property is transferred entirely to a spouse if the will does not outline distribution preferences, regardless of how many children the couple may have. On the other hand, a surviving spouse will need to split community property with any children from a previous marriage in the absence of an estate plan.

Separate property (property owned by just one spouse) is treated differently for individuals lacking a valid will. Children receive two thirds of separate property, while spouses claim one third. It should be noted that a person who divorces a spouse and then dies without altering their estate plan will leave no property or assets to their former spouse. To maintain the same standards of a will following a divorce, property owners will need to redraft their estate plan.

With these and other structures in mind, individuals are advised to draft a valid will with the help of a legal professional experienced in matters of estate planning. With a valid will in place, the state’s inheritance laws will only apply to property and assets that have not been named in the estate plan.

3 Safety Tips to Prevent Snake Bites in the Wild

Formerly a resident of Fort Worth, Texas, Shaun Hayes is a wealth manager who first began his career in finance as a consultant for AXA Advisors, LLC, where he earned recognition as a top 3 producer in the country. In his free time, Shaun Hayes is a herpetology enthusiast who documents his experiences capturing snakes to share with his audience of 23,000 Instagram followers.

People who are unfamiliar with the species often mistakenly believe that snakes are malicious and intentionally seek to hurt humans when they bite. In reality, snakes prefer not to interact with humans and only bite in self-defense or when determining whether or not something is food. The following three tips can help people avoid being bit when exploring areas where snakes are often found:

1. Avoid walking through areas with tall grasses and dense bush. Snakes like to hide in this type of foliage to keep themselves safe from the detection of predators, especially large birds like falcons and hawks.

2. Don’t put your hands into crevices, under logs, or anywhere that you can’t see. Reaching into small, concealed areas without checking may result in a bite from a startled snake who has chosen to hide there.

3. Never provoke a wild snake. A majority of bites in the wild occur when people without any experience in handling snakes attempt to capture or harass them. Most snakes are conflict avoidant and will leave people alone when they themselves are left alone.

Three Principles of Value Investing

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Shaun Hayes serves as a wealth manager at McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management. Shaun Hayes has developed strong relationships with his clients in and around Fort Worth, Texas, through his innovative investment strategies. He counts value investing among his favored professional interests.

The concept of value investing traces its roots to the first half of the 19th century with the 1947 publication, The Intelligent Investor. The investment approach described in this book focuses on identifying truly undervalued stocks, purchasing them, and maximizing returns on the investment. Warren Buffet is one of the most influential proponents of value investing. Here are three principles of value investing.

1. Inherent value: Value investing is typically viewed as the opposite of growth investing, because it does not assess a stock's future potential. Instead, value investors must make a subjective estimation of a stock's inherent value to ascertain whether or not it is currently undervalued.

2. Investor irrationality: In value investing, the concept of investor irrationality explains what causes stocks to be undervalued. The idea centers on the belief that human error is responsible for an inaccurate valuation, and savvy investors may eventually profit from it.

3. Margin of safety: To find the inherent value of a stock that has been devalued by investor irrationality, a value investor must perform a margin of safety evaluation. Devised to protect investors, the concept is used to determine an adequate margin of safety for investing in an undervalued stock. Many investors look for margins of safety of 40 percent or higher.

A New Season of Love with Al and Lisa Robertson

An experienced financial advisor in Texas, Shaun Hayes has served as a wealth manager with McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management since 2017. Shaun Hayes concurrently sits on the board of directors for the faith-based media company Faith for Today.

Spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through the production and distribution of high-quality media content, Faith for Today has received a number of awards for its compelling and informative programs. In 2018, the company won a Platinum Remi Award in the Lifestyle Programming division for A New Season of Love. 

Featuring Al and Lisa Robertson from the popular A&E Network reality show Duck Dynasty, A New Season of Love takes an in-depth look at overcoming the problem of adultery in a marriage. The Robertsons began dating in junior high school, married at a young age, and had two girls. 

While Al was employed as a church pastor, Lisa had an affair that almost ruined their marriage. A New Season of Love details how the couple stayed together and came to terms with the shortcomings of their relationship.

Texas' Biggest Rattlers

Shaun Hayes, a resident of the Fort Worth, Texas area who works as a wealth manager with McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management, enjoys snakes. Shaun Hayes has more than 22,000 followers on Instagram, where he educates the public on reptiles native to the state of Texas.

One mark of Texas pride is the wide range of rattlesnakes that live in the state. Texas hosts eight species of rattlesnakes, including the following: the western diamondback, the timber rattlesnake, and the prairie rattlesnake.

The western diamondback can present as a yellow, reddish-tan, grey, or brown snake, with some having the diamond shapes along the vertebrae from which the name comes. These snakes, the largest venomous snakes in the state, can reach nearly eight feet in length and can be quickly identified by the black and white bands on their tails.

The timber rattlesnake can be yellow, gray, or green, with rusty coloration along the back. They typically grow to between three and five feet in length, and have crossbars with jagged edges along their backs. While less likely to bite humans than western diamondbacks, they are still one of Texas's most venomous snakes.

The third type of Texas rattler that could potentially strike humans is the prairie rattlesnake, most commonly found in the Panhandle and Trans-Pecos regions. Its coloration and patterns include round, brown blotches as well as crossbars near the back end of the snake, with tan and brown bands along the tail. These rattlers are known for their unpredictability, with some biting and some trying to escape when encountering a human.

Dallas Zoo’s Efforts to Provide Antivenom for Exotic Snake Bites

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Shaun Hayes serves as a wealth manager with McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management, providing personalized portfolio solutions designed to grow wealth. Passionate about reptiles, Shaun Hayes has extensive experience catching snakes in the wild and has provided uncommon Texas garter snakes, harmless to humans, to the Dallas Zoo for a high-profile breeding project.

As reported in the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Zoo maintains a major antivenom supply in tandem with one of the country’s largest venomous snake collections. As snakes are not typically aggressive toward humans, the majority of snakebites involve people’s poor judgment in handling the reptiles. Hospitals commonly stock antivenom for the snakes native to their region, but issues arise when the bite culprit is a less common exotic variety.

The Dallas Zoo's curator of herpetology maintains an extensive stock of thousands of antivenom vials, which supplies the needs of patients spanning the Western United States, from California to Louisiana. Emergency supplies of antivenom are typically flown by plane or helicopter through police departments and private companies such as CareFlite. The price per vial, prior to hospital markup, is significant -- it can run from $200 a vial all the way up to $2,500.