Wills

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

The Price of Not Having a Simple Will

August 22, 2011

I read an article by Don McNay recently, which highlights the complexities, expense and unwanted results that can arise in cases of intestacy. McNay is a financial columnist and advisor and explains that he tells anyone who comes in his door to get a will so that they can control how their assets are disposed [...]

Read the full article →

Can I Make a Testamentary Gift to
Someone Who Witnesses My Will?

August 1, 2011

A testamentary gift to a beneficiary who is also a witness is presumed void. The reasoning behind this rule is that a witness who will benefit from the will has a motive to lie. There are, however, three exceptions to this rule: If the validity of the will can “be otherwise established”, for example by [...]

Read the full article →

What Are The Odds That You Will Die an Untimely Death?

May 31, 2011

My colleague, Candice Aiston, an Oregon estate planning attorney, included some sobering statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (pdf) in a recent article. According to the CDC, 121,087 people ages 25 to 45 died in the United States in 2007. The leading cause of death was accidents (24 percent), followed by cancer [...]

Read the full article →

Who Will Raise My Children
if I Die Without Naming Guardians?

May 16, 2011

The thing that drives most young parents to plan make a will is not their stuff. Of course, we all want our children to get as much of our assets as we possibly can give them, but that’s not what we worry about. What worries us most is who will take care of our minor [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →