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xoomer

Junior Member
Texas

Hi...

I'm married and my father has a will leaving everything he owns to me when he dies (my mother is dead). What would happen if I die before my father? Would his possessions pass to my estate (my wife) or would they go to his heirs as if there was no will?

TIA
 
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xoomer

Junior Member
Follow-up

That's right...nothing is mentioned in his will about what would happen if I were to die before he does. His will only states that everything goes to me at the time of his death.
 

anteater

Senior Member
Would his possessions pass to my estate (my wife) or would they go to his heirs as if there was no will?
Neither. (Unless you have no descendants, in which case, the distribution would follow Texas' intestate succession statute.)

Assuming that your father lives in Texas, if the will says nothing about what happens if you predecease, then Texas' antilapse statute would be applicable:

Sec. 68. PRIOR DEATH OF LEGATEE.
(a) If a devisee who is a descendant of the testator or a descendant of a testator's parent is deceased at the time of the execution of the will, fails to survive the testator, or is treated as if the devisee predeceased the testator by Section 47 of this code or otherwise, the descendants of the devisee who survived the testator by 120 hours take the devised property in place of the devisee. The property shall be divided into as many shares as there are surviving descendants in the nearest degree of kinship to the devisee and deceased persons in the same degree whose descendants survived the testator. Each surviving descendant in the nearest degree receives one share, and the share of each deceased person in the same degree is divided among his descendants by representation. For purposes of this section, a person who would have been a devisee under a class gift if the person had survived the testator is treated as a devisee unless the person died before the date the will was executed.

(b) Except as provided by Subsection (a) of this section, if a devise or bequest, other than a residuary devise or bequest, fails for any reason, the devise or bequest becomes a part of the residuary estate.

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (a) of this section, if the residuary estate is devised to two or more persons and the share of one of the residuary devisees fails for any reason, the residuary devisee's share passes to the other residuary devisees, in proportion to the residuary devisee's interest in the residuary estate.

(d) Except as provided by Subsection (a) of this section, if all residuary devisees are dead at the time of the execution of the will, fail to survive the testator, or are treated as if they predeceased the testator, the residuary estate passes as if the testator had died intestate.

(e) This section applies unless the testator's last will and testament provides otherwise. For example, a devise or bequest in the testator's will such as "to my surviving children" or "to such of my children as shall survive me" prevents the application of Subsection (a) of this section.
 
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