When a loved one passes away and leaves behind more than one will, the practical question that rises to the surface almost immediately is: which one controls? That question may seem straightforward on its face. The latter will generally govern. But what happens when the person challenging the latter insists that the witnesses who signed...KEEP READING
Picture a married couple who buys a home together, builds equity over the years, and then splits up. When the divorce starts, the house is the most valuable thing on the table, so everyone assumes the fight will be about how to divide the equity. Then someone notices a third name on the deed. A...KEEP READING
Selling real estate owned by a church or other organization is rarely as simple as signing a contract. The entity has its own governance, its own approval requirements, and its own internal dynamics — and any one of those can turn a straightforward sale into a fight. When those internal issues collide with the technical...KEEP READING
Most Texans treat their homestead as untouchable. The Texas Constitution protects a home from creditors with no dollar limit, so in theory even a $20 million mansion can be shielded entirely from forced sale. But that protection has a federal ceiling, and most debtors never learn about it until a creditor brings it up in...KEEP READING
Most people sign a durable power of attorney with incapacity in mind. They want someone they trust to manage their affairs if they no longer can. Few stop to think that the same document, once signed and recorded, can also decide how and where a plaintiff serves them with a lawsuit. In Texas, a statutory...KEEP READING
A disinheritance clause in a witnessed and notarized Texas will carries real weight. So when someone shows up in probate court claiming to be a biological child born outside of marriage and says the will was forged, the question is not just whether they can file the contest. It is whether they have any credible...KEEP READING
When a family fight over trusts spills across state lines, you can end up with one court saying one thing and another court saying the opposite. A trustee who wins in one state will naturally want to use that win everywhere else. But a favorable judgment from another state’s court does not automatically erase a...KEEP READING
Mineral interests pass through Texas probate estates all the time, usually quietly and without a fight. But when the decedent picked up those minerals during marriage through a trade with a family member instead of a cash purchase, whether they were community or separate property stops being routine. The stakes are real. A community property...KEEP READING
Disputes over real property in a Texas probate estate can move fast. An heir or interested party may rush to court for a temporary injunction to stop another claimant from damaging, encumbering, or demolishing property that may belong to the estate. The probate court grants the injunction. Relief secured. Or so it seems. Here is...KEEP READING
When a grandparent steps in as both the executor of a child’s estate and the trustee of trusts set up for the grandchildren, family loyalty can blur what the law actually requires. A grandfather who pays for tuition, covers living expenses, and quietly handles the family’s money looks nothing like a wrongdoer. But the legal...KEEP READING
