Wise County, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Living trusts are excellent devices for older couples that are very organized. In order to make a living trust work, you have to transfer assets regularly into the trust as opposed to personally owned. ?You have to track asset sales (if you sell a car owned by the trust, the proceeds are trust money not personal money. With younger couples, there is a tendency to ignore the technicalities of the trust and treat all assets as personal, then when there is a death the judge has no choice but to declare the trust has no assets and then you don't have a will or a trust. As an aside, there are a number of shady life insurance or investment salespeople who push living trusts very hard like they are the solution to every problem but what happens is the second they get your payment for the life insurance, they disappear and you get no help in implementing and maintaining the trust. A living trust is a way to avoid the costs of probate but the cost of a properly executed living trust - for most families is more than the cost of probate. ?Obviously, a wealthy family (assets in excess of $10 million) has entirely different considerations, particularly a family that controls a successful business. For most couples, wills and a careful review of the non-probate assets - (life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities, inheritances, pensions and various other assets ARE NOT CONTROLLED BY THE WILL - this is a particular problem where the couple isn't married) are the best option.

If you have an interest in your father's estate, you can file an application for a probate administration, or file a contest if your brother or someone else has started one. However, if you have a trust, it is possible all of your father's assets were placed in trust and no probate is necessary. Look to real estate records to see if real property you think your father owned is actually in his name or in the name of a trustee. If everything is in trust and you are a beneficiary, you can sue the trustees for breach of fiduciary duty. If you are not a beneficiary , you may be out of luck.

You can contact the probate court in the county he was domiciled to see if she filed the Will. If no Will, you should check the intestate statute where he lived. In Delaware under the intestate statute when a spouse and children that are not children of both spouses, the children are entitled to receive a portion.