Wills

People Ineligible To Be Appointed As Guardian

October 17, 2011

When appointing a guardian for a child, the court will consider what is in the child’s best interest. According to the Texas Probate Code, certain people are statutorily ineligible to be appointed as guardian. These include: a minor; people whose conduct is notoriously inappropriate; an incapacitated person; a person who is a party or whose [...]

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What Happens If A Beneficiary Of A Will Dies First?

October 10, 2011

When Texans draft wills and name beneficiaries, they expect  that the beneficiaries they have named will outlive them. But that is not always the case. Sometimes a beneficiary named in a will dies first. Most properly drafted wills name a contingent beneficiary in case the named beneficiary predeceases the testator. But in the event that [...]

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The Characterization of Property in Texas

September 26, 2011

I have written before that in the case of intestacy, the characterization of property as separate or community dictates how and to whom it is distributed.  It also affects which property you can dispose of in a Will at your death. But how does one distinguish between which property is community and separate? The following [...]

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When Equal Is Not Equitable: How To Give One Child Less

September 12, 2011

Parents often go to great lengths to make sure they treat their children equally, not only during their lifetime, but also by leaving them an equal share of their estate upon their death. But in some situations, an equal distribution may not seem fair. For example, suppose one of your children is a doctor with [...]

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Probate Just Got More Private In Texas

September 6, 2011

One factor that often motivates people to choose revocable trust-based plans as opposed to will-based plans is the privacy trusts afford. Assets within a trust pass to their intended beneficiary without the need for probate, which required an estate’s representative to file an inventory, appraisement and list of claims with the court. Revocable trust-based plans [...]

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Who is an Incapacitated Person?

August 29, 2011

TTexas Probate Code specifically defines who is an incapacitated person. According to the Code, an incapacitated person is: A minor; An adult individual who, because of a physical or mental condition is substantially unable to provide food, clothing, or shelter for himself or herself, to care for the individual’s own physical healthy, or to manage [...]

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