Joint accounts are accounts, usually with a financial institution, where more than one person has rights to the account.  Deciding what those rights are is a problem often faced in contested probate cases. Are they survivorship accounts where the survivor gets all of the account and the money does not got through a will or probate? Are they non-survivorship accounts where the money does not go to the survivor but passes through the will and through probate?

Accounts with community property owned by both spouses are treated differently than accounts between non-spouses (See below.)

The courts look at the documents creating the account and the words used to determine the type of account involved.  Often, the financial institution will use a pre-printed form that has boxes to check.  The card will be filled out correctly but no box will be checked!  Or two conflicting boxes will be checked!  Since all accounts are presumed to be non-survivorship accounts, the burden of proof is on the person claiming that the account is a survivorship account to prove that it is.  If the boxes on the signature card are not checked, too many boxes are checked or as one jury found, checked later by someone not the owner of the account, then the account is not a survivor account.  The account would pass through the owner's will or through his estate. However, the courts are more likely to find that two spouses intended to create joint accounts with right of survivorship than the are likely to find

In Texas, informal adoptions like informal marriages are recognized. 

A formal adoption is where the court system is involved.  A suit for adoption is filed.  The state investigates the adopting parents to make sure that they are good candidates for adoption.  The home will also be inspected to make sure that the adopted child will be provided for.  Once a report is filed, the judge approves the adoption and the adopted person becomes the child of the adopting parents with the same rights as a natural born child.  That means that the adopted child inherits not only from the adopting parents but through them.  They will inherit from grandparents and aunts and uncles to the same degree that a natural born child would inherit from them.

An informal adoption is similar to a common law marriage in that no formal legal proceedings are involved.  These adoptions may be called adoption by estoppel, equitable adoption or adoption status by the courts discussing them.  The courts treat these as contract cases in that once the facts are established, the heirs of the adopting parent are estopped from denying the adopted child his inheritance rights.  The courts look for an enforceable agreement between

What property is inherited by your heirs in Texas if you die intestate (without a will) depends on what kind of property you have at your death. There are two kinds of property that are relevant to probate: probate property and non probate property. Non probate property includes joint accounts with right of survivorship, life insurance policies, retirement funds, IRA's, and any other account where you designate a beneficiary when you create the account. When you die, if you did not name your estate as the beneficiary, the property does not go to your estate to be distributed to your heirs, rather, it goes to the beneficiary or beneficiaries that you designated when you created the account. 

Probate property is further designated as community property or separate property.  You can find a discussion of these terms on this site under the Glossary by clicking on the words. You only have community property if you are married at the time of your death. If you are not married, are divorced or are a widow or widower when you die, all of your property is separate property.

Married – separate or community property

Separate Property –

• If no children – all personal property to spouse; one half of real property to spouse, balance to parents.  If no parents living and no brothers or sisters or their descendants living, all to spouse.
• If children – one third of personal property to spouse, balance to children.  Spouse has a one third life estate in real property, balance to children who also get spouse’s share once he/she dies.

Community Property -

• If there are children -
  
  • If all children of the deceased person are children of surviving spouse – all to spouse.
  • If some children of the deceased person are not also children of surviving spouse, all of decedent’s one half of the community will go to the children.
• If there are no children or descendants of the deceased – all to surviving spouse.

Not Married - only separate property

With children - 

• All to children.

No children -

• To parents if they survive.
  • If there is one surviving parent and no siblings or descendants of siblings, all to surviving parent.
  • If there is one surviving parent and some surviving siblings, one-half to parent, siblings divide balance.
  • If there is no surviving parent but some surviving siblings, each sibling, or their descendants if they did not survive, is entitled to a share of the estate based on the number of siblings.

Note: When the intestate's children, descendants, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, or any other relatives of the deceased standing in the first or same degree alone come into the distribution upon intestacy, they shall take per capita, namely: by persons; and, when a part of them being dead and a part living, the descendants of those dead shall have right to distribution upon intestacy, such descendants shall inherit only such portion of said property as the parent through whom they inherit would be entitled to if alive (i.e. per stirpes or by the root and not per capita.) Probate Code §43.

Example: An intestate dies who was never married and who had no children. His parents predecease him. He had three siblings. Sibling A has one child and survives the intestate. Sibling B has two children but predeceases the intestate. Sibling C has three children and also predeceases the intestate. The estate is divided per stirpes and not per capita. The intestate's property is divided into three parts. The surviving sibling A gets one third; the two children of sibling B share one third and the three children of sibling C share one third.

Example: An intestate dies who was never married and who had no children. His parents predecease him. He had three siblings. Sibling A has one child. Sibling B has two children. Sibling C has three children. All of the siblings predecease the intestate. The estate is divided per capita and not per stirpes. The estate is divided into six shares and each of the surviving nieces and nephews receive one sixth.

The foregoing information is general in nature and does not apply to every fact situation. If you are concerned about inheritance laws, have an inheritance dispute, a property dispute or want information about contesting a will, we can help. Please go to our main site www.theprobate.net and use the contact form to contact us today. We would love to learn about your case and there is no fee for the initial consultation.

Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and others are heirs for the purpose of distributing the estate of the deceased if he died intestate and if the deceased had no spouse or children. Even if the deceased had a spouse but no children, the other relatives may be entitled to some of the property. The rule is, if you can't go down the family tree, you go up then out on to the branches to determine who inherits.

If you have questions about your inheritance rights and would like to talk to an estate planning attorney or a lawyer who is familiar with inheritance and probate law to advise you about your inheritance rights, click on the "Contact Us" tab at the top.

A pretermitted child or a "forgotten child" is a child of the deceased who is born after a will is made and is not mentioned in the will.

Most states have statutes that deal with this issue. In Texas, the statute provides that if the child is not otherwise provided for by the deceased parent, the child will take a portion of the estate even though he is not mentioned in the will.

If you have questions about your inheritance rights and would like to talk to an estate planning attorney or a lawyer who is familiar with inheritance and probate law to advise you about your inheritance rights, click on the "Contact Us" tab at the top.

PS: A recent case dealt with inheritance and both of the requirements for a child to be considered a pretermitted child. To see a discussion of the case on inheritance rights of pretermitted children, click here.

The foregoing information is general in nature and does not apply to every fact situation. If you are concerned about inheritance laws, have an inheritance dispute, a property dispute or want information about contesting a will, we can help. Please go to our main site www.theprobate.net and use the contact form to contact us today. We would love to learn about your case and there is no fee for the initial consultation.