Intestacy

When an unmarried person dies without a Will in Texas, the Texas Intestacy Statutes control how their property will be distributed. The intestacy statutes are the Texas legislature’s best guess on how a Texan would

I heard about “laughing heirs” for the first time during my Wills, Trusts, and Estates class in law school. A laughing heir is an heir of an estate so remotely related to a decedent that

If you and your spouse are planning to divorce, you probably wouldn’t want your property distributed to him or her if you died while your divorce is pending. But if you die without a Will

Everyone needs a Will. A Will allows you to dictate how your property will be distributed after you die. If you don’t have a Will, you lose control over that decision. Texas has statutes that

Estate planning can be complicated in blended families. If you have children from a prior relationship, making an outright distribution of your estate to your spouse may result in your children being disinherited. Why? Because

I received a note recently from someone asking if it was possible for her to fight the intestacy laws. She and her husband had been married for 31 years and he had died without a

A married man died recently. He had a Will which had been prepared shortly after he and his second wife got married. When their Wills were prepared, the man and his wife were in love

I received a note last week that highlights the heartbreaking consequences of dying without a Will in non-traditional families. The couple had lived together for twenty-one years in a home the deceased partner had purchased