Family & Estates
A modest estate often does not need the full process
Most systems provide a lighter route where what someone left is small or simply structured, and knowing…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
Wills, probate and the arrangements people put off making.
20 articles · page 2 of 2
Family & Estates
Digital accounts rarely pass to a family the way possessions do
Much of what people accumulate online is licensed rather than owned, and even where value exists the…
· 3 min read
Family & Estates
Living together for years does not create the rights people assume it does
The belief that long cohabitation produces something like marriage is widespread and, in many systems…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
When no attorney was appointed, somebody has to be appointed by a court
Where an adult can no longer make decisions and nothing was arranged in advance, most systems provide a…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
A joint account raises the question of whose money it ever was
The bank’s rules about who may withdraw are not the same as the law’s answer about who owns the balance…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
A beneficiary who is unhappy with an executor is not challenging the will
Complaints about how an estate is being administered are a different category from complaints about whether…
· 4 min read
Family & Estates
Systems divide property on separation in two very different ways
Some jurisdictions apply a fixed property regime chosen at the start of a relationship, while others give a…
· 3 min read
Family & Estates
Life events can revoke a will without anybody touching it
A will can be undone deliberately, by destroying it or replacing it, and in many systems automatically by…
· 4 min read