Family & Estates
Dying without a will hands the decision to a default order
Intestacy is not an absence of rules but a set of them, written in advance by the legal system, and the…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
Wills, probate and the arrangements people put off making.
20 articles · page 1 of 2
Family & Estates
What a will can direct, and what passes outside it entirely
A will governs a smaller share of most estates than people assume, because several common kinds of asset transfer by their own rules regardless of what the document says.
By Leela Fernandes · · 4 min read
Family & Estates
Probate is permission to act, not a hearing about the estate
The process most people call probate is largely an administrative confirmation of authority, and…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
An executor holds property for other people, and that changes everything
Agreeing to administer an estate is accepting a fiduciary role with personal responsibility attached, which…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
Will witnesses are chosen for what they do not receive
The formalities around signing a will exist to guard against fraud and pressure, and the rule keeping…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
A power of attorney is authority to act, and it ends when the giver dies
Appointing someone to act for you is a living arrangement with a hard boundary at death, and the two…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
Capacity is measured decision by decision, not person by person
Legal systems generally ask whether someone could understand and weigh a particular decision at a…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
An estate pays what it owes before it gives anything away
Beneficiaries receive what is left over, and the order in which an estate meets its obligations is one of…
· 3 min read
Family & Estates
Challenging a will means attacking how it was made, not what it says
Disappointment is not a ground; most systems allow a will to be questioned only on defined bases, and a…
· 3 min read
Family & Estates
Naming a guardian is a wish with legal weight, not a transfer of a child
A parent can record who should care for their children, and most systems treat that record seriously…
· 3 min read
Family & Estates
A trust splits ownership into two jobs and gives them to different people
The arrangement most estates rely on somewhere works by separating the person who holds property from the…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
Giving something away in your lifetime is a different act from leaving it in a will
A lifetime gift takes effect immediately and cannot usually be recalled, while a will can be changed until…
· 4 min read