Spouses, Estate Planning, Appeals

Court Reversed Summary Judgment And Held That There Was A Fact Issue On Whether The Testator Had Mental Capacity To Execute A Will

Winstead PC on 10/3/2023

In Castello v. Ex’r of the Est. of Castello, the decedent died leaving a will that left his property to his wife “for life” and then to his three children by a prior marriage. No 03-22-00012-CV 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 4454 (Tex....more

Court Applies Harmless Error Rule to Validate Will Benefiting Ex-Fiancé

Downey Brand LLP on 6/27/2023

Typewritten wills in California generally require the signatures of two witnesses to be found valid, but the harmless error rule can save the day. Probate Code section 6110(c)(2), as recently discussed, provides that a will...more

Daughter Liable for Interfering with Stepmother’s Inheritance

Downey Brand LLP on 9/29/2020

Intentional interference with expected inheritance (IIEI) was recognized as a legal claim in California about eight years ago in Beckwith v. Dahl (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1039. Last week, the Court of Appeal issued the first...more

Court Holds That A Husband Had No Interest In His Deceased’s Wife’s Real Estate That Was Obtained Via A Gift Deed

Winstead PC on 1/23/2020

In Leland House v. Webb, a husband sued his deceased wife’s executor to quiet title in real estate that she obtained from her aunt. No. 06-19-00054-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 10012 (Tex. App.—Texarkana November 19, 2019, no...more

Your Slice of the Pizza – Only Directly Inherited Asset Qualifies as Separate Property

Downey Brand LLP on 11/26/2019

It is widely understood in California that inherited assets, unlike assets earned from labor, are the separate property of the receiving spouse. But what if the assets do not come directly from a parent and instead pass from...more

Court Affirmed The Probate Of A Will Where The Testator, A Quadriplegic, Blinked His Desires To Draft And Execute The Will

Winstead PC on 11/26/2018

In Estate of Luce, the court of appeals affirmed a trial court’s admitting a will to probate where the decedent did not personally sign it and only communicating his desires by blinking. No. 02-17-00097-CV, 2018 Tex. App....more

T&E Litigation Newsletter - December 2016

Goulston & Storrs PC on 12/19/2016

The last several weeks have brought us two decisions in which issues of family law intersected with T&E issues. First, the decision in Heystek v. Duncan, Case No. 15-P-1201, 2016 Mass. App. Unpub. LEXIS 1113 (Nov. 21,...more

Update Beneficiary Designations After Divorce or Annulment

Carlton Fields on 12/16/2016

On July 1, 2015, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal held, with a few exceptions, upon entry of a final judgment of dissolution or annulment, any provision of a will that “affects” a former spouse is void under...more

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