Our legal system is based on the idea that each party to a lawsuit should be notified of the suit. This ensures that they can protect their interests or defend themselves against the suit. With probate cases, this involves personally serving citation. This notice process is mentioned in several sections of the Texas Estates Code.…Continue […]
Many courts shifted to online zoom hearings when the COVID virus situation started. This includes probate courts in Texas. This makes sense. Many probate hearings require witnesses. The witnesses are usually friends and acquaintances of the deceased. As with the deceased, generally, they are usually older. They may be more susceptible to have a strong…Continue […]
There are times when you want to have a local judge or court decide a case. This can help if the court is familiar with the local circumstances or the parties. It can also help if there is a similar fact pattern that one knows the judge or court has considered previously or if the…Continue […]
We should all take the time to prepare an estate plan. This is good advice. It is the type of advice that is often stated by financial planners and general estate planning attorneys. To an estate planning attorney, this advice is too broad and vague to really emphasize when an estate plan is really needed.…Continue […]
There are laws that conflict with other laws. These conflicts are often due to competing policies. What may have been a good policy for one fact pattern, may not be a good policy given a slightly different fact pattern. The recent Marshall v. Marshall, Nos. 14-18-00094-CV, 14-18-00095-CV (Tex. App–Houston [14th]), case provides an example. The…Continue […]
Guardianship Claim Bars Probate Claim? Imagine that you are owed money by someone who becomes incapacitated and they have a guardian appointed. Your debt is not secured by any property, such as real estate. The guardian sends you a notice to submit your claim for payment. The debtor is of an advanced age or not…Continue […]
The making of a will is serious. A valid will dictates who gets your property and when they get it. An invalid will can result in your property passing according to Texas intestacy law. It can also set up an expensive probate dispute. This is why estate planning attorneys take such care in helping clients…Continue […]
There are some strict deadlines for contesting a will in Texas. The will contest generally has to be filed within two years of the time the will is admitted to probate. What happens if one of the parties hides the existence of the will and secretly probates the will? What if they make statements to…Continue […]
A will has to be executed with the proper legal formalities. This includes having the terms of the will be in writing and signed by the decedent. There have been a number of disputes as to what counts as a writing and what counts as a signature. The courts have developed a body of case…Continue […]
What happens if someone makes a promise to leave property to another person in their will, but then they update their estate plan and fail to provide the property as promised? Can the person who expected to receive the property recover from the property from the probate estate? If so, what if the promise was…Continue […]
