Stories about heirs fighting over an estate are common, whether the estate is worth millions of dollars or consists of nothing more than the family home. What happens though, if an heir doesn’t want his/her inheritance? Can you reject an inheritance? Your first thought when hearing that question is likely something along the lines of, why would someone ever want to reject an inheritance. It does happen though, and sometimes for good reason. Rejecting an Inheritance for Emotional … [Read more...]
Baby Boomers and Estate Plans
Many Baby Boomers are just now reaching the point where they are thinking about retiring and leaving inheritances for their children. Unfortunately, they are often finding it difficult to make plans because they have to care for their parents. The parents of Boomers did not expect to live as long as they are, and as a consequence they did not plan for it. When they run out of money, they often look to their Boomer children for help. The need to take care of their parents leaves many Boomers in … [Read more...]
Unequal Distributions and Your Children
All parents know that not all of their children are the same. Some children just need more care and support than other children. Most parents do not try to treat their children the same. Instead, parents try to treat their children equitably. When it comes to estate planning, this often means that one child receives a larger share of the estate than another child. This can create problems between the children if the parents do not handle the situation appropriately. In some cases, it is easy to … [Read more...]
Update Your Estate Plan After a Divorce
No one ever plans on getting divorced, but it is a fact of life that can happen to anyone. You may think that you have all of your affairs in order after your divorce. However, you should take the time to revisit your estate plan to make sure that it still does what you want it to. Under most circumstances, any provisions in your Will that leave property to an ex-spouse will be stripped from the Will. Your ex-spouse will not inherit from you. However, that leaves the question open as to who … [Read more...]
Texas Intestacy Estate Planning for Children Born out of Wedlock: Part 2 of 2
Continuing our two-part blog series focusing on the rights of illegitimate children or children born out of wedlock, we’ll cover when an illegitimate child can inherit from your biological father. As you know from reading the first blog in this series, an illegitimate child can inherit from his or her natural mother if she includes him or her in her Will and even if she failed to create a valid Will. Under the state’s intestacy laws, an illegitimate child has intestacy rights to inherit from … [Read more...]
Texas Intestacy Estate Planning for Children Born out of Wedlock: Part 1 of 2
In most states, including Texas, a child born out of wedlock is an illegitimate child. Rightfully, illegitimate children are treated as heirs in some cases. According to Texas law, they can take advantage of many of the state’s intestacy statutes. However, illegitimate children may not be able to receive inheritances under the state’s intestacy laws. Texas law gives illegitimate children or children born out of wedlock the intestate rights to inherit from their natural mothers but not from their … [Read more...]
