Thedeath of an individual who passesawaywithout a willcan cause many problems for the heirs of the decedent’s estate. If there is no will, the court will need to determine who the heirs are, what the size of the estate is and they will need to decide whether the estate will be probated with or without judicial supervision (larger estates and arguing heirs will in most cases cause judicial supervision). If there is no will, the probate process becomesfar more complicated and expensive than if the court isprobating a will because the court is required to provide more services and oversight. Ifthere is a will, the court is required to abide by the will. To simplify this process for your heirs, contact a qualified will attorney or an Estate Planning lawyer to discuss the estate planning options available to you andyour property and financial situation.
Your Wishes May Not Be Carried Out if You Do Not Have a Will
Without a will, the court has no way of knowing what your final wishes are for the distribution ofthe assets of your estate. They also have no idea who you believedshould inherit your property or how it should be divided. In fact, thecourt will be forced to distribute your assets based on state law and succession of living relatives; which means that if youwere married at the time of death, then your spouse (even if estranged) would end up with a controlling interestin your property along with any children who you had. The division of the property would then depend on whether those children were from the union with your existing spouse or from prior relationships. If no spouse or children are alive at the time of your death, then the property would pass to your parents, siblings or other close relatives.Further, to be sure that all children or possible heirs are found, the court will need to appoint an Attorney ad Litem to investigate into the estate and perform searches for possible heirs. This adds further expense to the probate process. At the end, the eventual division of the estatemay be in stark contrast to your desires. Take for example a grandchild who cares for her aging grandmother, and where no other family members offer help. Without a proper will being drafted todistribute funds to the grandchild or to a Trustee withthe creationof a Trust that willcollect funds necessary to care for thatgrandchild, the state willdistribute all of the assets of the decedent’s estate to thedirect descendants of the deceased, such as a child,rather than to the beloved grandchild.To make sure that this does not happen, a qualified will lawyer or trust attorney can work with you to prevent this situation from occurring and ensure your property and estate are distributed according to your personal wishes.
Prolonged Legal Disputes Over Heir and Estate Disputes
And, when money is involved, greed can often make good people turn into people who make poor decisions. When the lawdetermines the heirs ofthe estate and who inheritsa decedent’sestate, it is possible that a lawsuit may be filed by an interested party who canchallenge the distribution of assets. This can occur,for example, when there is an unknown child or a common-law wife in the mix. And there may beotherindividuals who may not have a strong legal case to inherit based on state statute and the law,butthey maybe ableto inherit if they wreak havoc on the probate process, tying up the final judgment for years and costing thousands of dollars in legal fees. If this occurs and you do not have an experienced estate litigation attorney who can defend their claims, they may end up with a part of the decedent’s estate.
An experiencedEstate attorney can help prevent the possibility of this happening by creating a comprehensive estate plan designed to specifically outline all your final wishes.
Goldstein & Scopellite, PC is located in Dallas, Texas and Tucson, Arizonaand was established in 2002. For more information, see our local listing in D Magazine.
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