Will Category Archives — Page 9 of 14 — Houston Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Blog Published by Houston, Texas Estate Planning and Elder Lawyers

We Lost Mom’s Will! What are Options?

Published on: February 2, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

What steps can you take when a parent passes away without sharing the location of a will or telling you who the attorney was who drafted and executed the will? What if you can't find any copies in what seem like reasonable hiding places in Houston?

The article, "What steps to take when you lose a will," from New Jersey 101.5 says there are plenty of clues you can use to track this down.

If your mom has passed away, first be certain that a will hasn't already been probated. Contact the probate court in the county where your mother lived at the time of her death. These records are public.

Houston Families Can Start Fresh During New Year

Published on: January 7, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

January is an excellent time to review and update your estate plan – even if all you do is make a list of the things you mean to do in 2016. A recent article in The Business Investor's Daily, "5 Changes to Make to Your Financial Plan Now," provides a framework to get things rolling.

Make gifts to family. Plan to give gifts of cash or tangible property of up to $14,000 per person because there's no limit on how many gifts you can make, and there is no gift or estate tax. Couples can combine their gift giving to $28,000 per person. This is an easy way to reduce a potentially taxable estate. Establish a long-term strategy and give annual gifts to your beneficiaries.

Give to charity. You can also make a donation to a charity, and if you tend to make significant charitable donations, consider establishing a family foundation. To avoid capital gains tax, you should consider donating appreciated assets like stocks. A donor-advised fund is another way to receive a charitable deduction today, avoid capital gains tax and retain the authority to determine its future use.

Houston Heirs Will Thank You for Proper Estate Planning

Published on: January 4, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Financial planners who help families build and manage assets are often asked what documents are needed in an estate plan. The following documents create a foundation of an estate plan: an up-to-date will, a durable power of attorney for health care (sometimes called a health care proxy), and an advance health care directive (also known as a living will).

Property transfer clarity. We hear about the disastrous fallouts when celebrities die without wills or other crucial documents in place. Elvis Presley is a famous example, but there are countless others, including James Gandolfini, Whitney Houston and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the past few years. Who needs that kind of drama?

If you have a valid will, the transfer of assets is much less confusing and difficult. A will tells your executor or personal representative how your assets should be distributed. A will can also state the order in which your heirs should receive these assets—in case funds run out before all of the bequests are fulfilled.

Scheduled Court Appearances Vital to Legal Cases

Published on: December 31, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

An entire $3 million estate of a Texas doctor was awarded to his ex-wife in a recent court ruling. Mrs. Denise Reichert took the oath of independent executrix of the will and estate of Dr. Oscar Reichert.

The judge who presided over the hearing dismissed the contest of will filed by Brandi Reichert, who is the doctor's oldest daughter from his first marriage.

However, Brandi failed to show up in court.

California Decision Highlights Planning Mishaps

Published on: November 5, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

This is a great example of a failure to think outside of the box. Literally. A California man created a handwritten will that left all of his property to his wife if he were to predecease her. He also wrote that if they should both die at the same time, he wanted his property to be distributed to a number of charities that were important to them both.

What Duke did not contemplate in his will is the possibility that his spouse would pass away before he did, which is exactly what happened.

As Duke had never redrafted his will after his wife passed away, the trial and appellate courts declared that his property should go to his relatives under the laws of intestacy. However, the California Supreme Court ruled that an unambiguous will can be reformed by the court if it can be established by clear and convincing evidence that a mistake was made in expressing the testator's intent at the time the will was drafted.

Contents of Will Publicly Announced British Actor Lord Attenborough’s Final Wishes

Published on: October 14, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Upon British actor and director Lord Richard Attenborough's death, the value of his estate and his last wishes were made public via his will. His estate in the United Kingdom was worth approximately £1.5 million, not including the value of any assets held in trust or any foreign assets.

However, his will also revealed that Attenborough requested that his body be cremated.

His wish was that one-third of his remains be placed at his Scottish estate and another third be taken to an estate in France. The final third of his remains he wants intermingled with the remains of his daughter and granddaughter at a church near Attenborough's estate in the UK.

Family Discord Likely When No Will Exists

Published on: September 18, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

A recent article in Marketwatch’s Moneyologist column, "What to do when a parent dies and leaves no will," starts with a sad example of how families fall apart when the lack of estate planning pits children against each other.

The woman recounts how her father told her and her sister that he was making the sister a signatory on his bank account so that she could pay any bills of his estate out of it. He said that the rest of his estate would be divided equally between them.

Five months later the father passed away without a will.

History Buffs Note: Old Wills Searchable Online

Published on: September 17, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Historical wills can offer a window into the past and provide researchers a new perspective on history. Today, old wills for such luminary figures as Herman Melville, Samuel Morse, J.P. Morgan and many other historical figures, can be easily accessed on the web.

The well-known genealogical website, Ancestry.com, spent two and half years scanning 170 million pages of old wills and probate records, and put them in an online database.

While many other countries have previously placed the contents of old wills online, this is a first in the United States on this large of a scale. This development appeared in a recent CNN article, "Paul Revere, J.P. Morgan wills among millions now online."

Robin Williams’ Estate Battle Continues

Published on: September 10, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Divorce lawyers know that some of the most intense fights between a couple can erupt over the most insignificant item —- a matchbook collection or a set of souvenir spoons from family vacations.

The stuff being fought over serves as a proxy because the parties are angry with each other and want to fight over something. The same thing happens in estate law when heirs do not get along and resent each other. The heirs will fight over those very same inexpensive souvenir spoons.

However, in estate law these battles do not make it to court as often as they do in divorce law because divorcing couples are already in court. Most of the time heirs feuding over junk find it cost prohibitive to hire attorneys. Robin Williams' estate might be an exception.

Change Your Will? Not a Do-It-Yourself Project for Houston Families

Published on: September 8, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Recollections of re-writing a will or scribbling changes to a will after the document has been executed are common. There is a process and procedure to revoking a will. Without the guidance of an experienced estate attorney, a prior and properly executed will trumps a do-it-yourself will.

A recent article from Elder Law Answers, "Efforts to Change Will Using Photocopy and Then Downloaded Form Are Ineffective," describes a case decided by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in August 2015, that proves that it is possible to “fail to revoke” a will.

Esther Sullivan had a will created in 2006. It was a properly executed and valid will that left half of her estate to a former employee. In 2008, she had a change of heart. She photocopied the will and made handwritten changes to it, all of which she initialed. She also wrote that the 2006 will was void. This new document removed the former employee and left half the estate to someone else.