court-appointed legal guardian

[Semperfimom]

What is the name of your state? Texas

My ex husband recently passed away, leaving somewhat of a will one he wrote himself. It was so poorly written that one attourney said the courts may not accept it. What he had he left to his two daughters one is 18 and the other 15 yrs of age. His bank accounts were POD to them, his life insurance was left to them both. The will hasn't been probated we're affraid of his poor judgement in trying to save money they'll award everything to the state. The life insurance has been divided the oldest daughter (18) recieved her portion the 15 yr. old were being told by the insurance company that because of the amount of proceeds they won't disburst the money to her until she has a court appointed legal guardian of the minor beneficiary's estate. The problem is the 18 yr old cannot get her half of the money in his bank accounts until the minor has such legal paperwork. I've talked to an attourney and she told me it would cost me 3-6 thousand a year and to get such legal documentation and 9-11 thousand for attourney fees. I would be paying money out of my pocket to get them theirs. My 18 yr old daughter has me doing the legal process of this because she is in the Marines out of state and cannot be here to take care of legel matters. We're all getting exhausted with the whole thing and need to know how and what to to about the sitiation.
Thank you.
Wendy

 

[seniorjudge]

First of all, the POD accounts and the life insurance do not go through the estate and have nothing to do with the will.

So if the will is poorly written and unacceptable to the court, anything that is left in the estate will go by intestate succession. There is no penalty for giving everything to the state if you write a bad will; if that were true, then the states would be enormously wealthy since most wills are very poorly written except for the ones drawn up by lawyers...they are merely poorly written.

So here is how the estate will be distributed (if the court says there is not will):

http://www.finance.cch.com/pops/c50s10d190_TX.asp


Texas Intestate Succession Laws

If any part of a Texas decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:

1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to depends on these situations:

* If there are surviving children or direct descendants of the decedent, the surviving spouse takes one-third of the personal property in the estate, with the balance going to the children and descendants. The surviving spouse is also entitled to an interest in one-third of the land in the estate for the rest of his or her life (a.k.a., a life estate), with the remainder going to the decedent's children and descendants.
* If there are no children of decedent or their descendants, the surviving spouse is entitled to all the personal property in the estate. The surviving spouse also gets outright ownership of one-half of the decedent's lands. The other half of any lands passes according to the distribution rules below (except that the surviving spouse gets everything if there are no surviving father, mother, or siblings, and their descendants, of decedent).

2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to:

1. Decedent's children and their descendants.
2. Decedent's parents equally if both survive. If only one parent survives, however, the estate is divided into two equal portions, one of which passes to the surviving parent and the other half passes to the decedent's brothers and sisters and their descendants If no siblings or their descendants exist, the whole estate is inherited by the surviving parent.
3. Decedent's siblings and their descendants.
4. If none of the above are available, then the inheritance is divided into two equal shares ("moieties"), one for decedent's paternal kin and one for decedent's maternal kin, and distributed in the following order:
1. To the grandfather and grandmother in equal portions.
2. If only one of the grandparents is living, then the estate is divided into two equal parts, one of which goes to the survivor and the other goes to the descendants of the deceased grandparent. If there be no such descendants, then the whole estate is inherited by the surviving grandparent.
3. If both grandparents are deceased, then the entire portion goes to their descendants, and so on without end, passing in like manner to the nearest lineal ancestors and their descendants.
4. If there is no surviving grandparent or descendant of a grandparent on either the paternal or the maternal side, the entire estate passes to the decedent's relatives on the other side in the same manner as the half.

3. State of Texas. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes to the state of Texas.

Texas Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts

* Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
* Decedent's children or lineal descendants conceived before decedent's death, but born thereafter, inherit as if they had been born in decedent's lifetime. Other persons, however, have to be alive at the time of decedent's death and be capable in law to take as heirs.
* An individual who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is considered to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of Texas' intestate succession laws. However, these rules don't apply if the end result is that the state of Texas gets the intestate estate.
* Texas' intestate succession laws, as well as other laws dealing with wills and decedents' estates, can be found in the Texas Probate Code.

Copyright 2002 - 2005, CCH Tax and Accounting - A WoltersKluwer Company. All Rights Reserved.

 

[BlondiePB]

The life insurance has been divided the oldest daughter (18) recieved her portion the 15 yr. old were being told by the insurance company that because of the amount of proceeds they won't disburst the money to her until she has a court appointed legal guardian of the minor beneficiary's estate.

Is there any reason that you cannot be appointed guardian of your minor daughter's estate such as bad credit, bankrupcty, judgements, criminal record, etc.?

I've talked to an attourney and she told me it would cost me 3-6 thousand a year and to get such legal documentation and 9-11 thousand for attourney fees.

What a bunch of crap! Ask other attorney's. If you are eligible to be guardian of the estate, this is a very simple process.

I would be paying money out of my pocket to get them theirs.

If you are appointed as guardian of your daughter's estate, your fees can be reimbursed.