Harvey Cox 
All property left by a Will must go through probate. Probate is the legal process by which a Will is “proved” and accepted in court as a valid last testament of the deceased. Once the Will is proven to be valid, the legal process of administering the estate of the deceased begins. The administering process … Read more
Example: Janet is diagnosed with terminal cancer. She has three grown children. Janet heard that her children would likely spend thousands of dollars to probate her estate after her death. Since her only real asset is her family home, she is concerned that they will spend too much on probate to get the house in … Read more
Example: John and Diane have been married for over 30 years. They have no children together, but each of them has two children from prior marriages. In their Wills, they provide for each other first and then leave the assets equally to all four children. What they don’t consider when drafting their Wills is that … Read more
I see a lot of poor writing when reviewing estate plans for clients. Most of the worst writing I see occurs when people attempt to write their Wills using forms found on the internet, including LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer. I addressed do-it-yourself estate planning in a previous post. In case you didn’t see it or … Read more
An effortless and straightforward way to plan for the passing of your estate is to use beneficiary designations. The problem is that beneficiary designations don’t handle contingencies very well. Example: You have a son and a daughter. You name them both as beneficiaries of your life insurance policy. Your daughter predeceases you. What happens to … Read more
I participate in several online lawyer discussion groups. A few weeks ago, a fellow lawyer posted a story illustrating the dangers of do-it-yourself estate planning. The attorney telling the story said she received a call from a woman whose boyfriend recently died. The boyfriend had considerable wealth. He had consulted with an attorney about an … Read more
Contrary to popular opinion, your will doesn’t necessarily control how your assets pass at your death. You may hold most of your wealth in assets that pass outside of your will. For example, if you have a retirement plan, life insurance, or IRAs, those assets aren’t usually subject to probate. Your will does not affect … Read more
Adding your children to your bank accounts makes them co-owners of those accounts. If your children have creditors who have obtained a judgment against them, your funds are now subject to a bank garnishment to collect the judgment. In other words, adding your children to your bank accounts makes your accounts subject to the claims … Read more
In Texas, co-owners of property can have a right of survivorship to the property they co-own. Co-ownership with the right of survivorship means that when one co-owner dies, the surviving co-owner becomes the sole owner of the property without the necessity of opening a probate estate. But, using this method of estate planning can cause … Read more
Example: Mary’s estate consists of two significant assets, a life insurance policy and a traditional IRA. Both assets are equal in value. To simplify and equally distribute her assets, Mary names her son as the beneficiary of her life insurance and her daughter as the beneficiary of her IRA. What is the problem with Mary’s … Read more