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…
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…
Some states have pretermitted spouse statutes. In those states, if a person marries after making a will, and predeceases his spouse, then the surviving spouse will…
Per stirpes and per capita are commonly used terms in wills, trusts, and intestate distribution statutes to describe how a deceased person’s estate is to be…
Although there are no hard and fast rules about how often you should update your will, certain life changes, such as a divorce, will trigger a need…
Texas is a community state. There is a presumption that all property acquired during the marriage belongs to the spouses in equal shares, unless it was…
The Texas Estates Code provides a procedure for those wanting to deposit a will with the clerk of the court for safekeeping. The cost of depositing a will…
Throughout your life, changes will take place that may trigger a need to modify your will. These include events such as marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of…