Texas, like many other states, prohibits a killer from receiving life insurance proceeds or inheriting from an estate. Such prohibitions are commonly referenced as either a "slayer statute" or a "slayer rule." The public policy is obviously that a killer should not financially benefit from a death he or she willfully causes. Given the sizes of many estates and life insurance policies, such scenarios are unfortunately not uncommon. Certainly, investigators and prosecutor will look to whether insurance or estate proceeds might have provided motive for a particular murder. There have even been some notorious cases of people taking out life insurance policies on acquaintances and then killing them for profit.
Read MoreMany will contests involve a challenge to the validity of a will, such as claims it did not meet formality requirements or that the testator lacked capacity or was subjected to undue influence. However, sometimes the primary dispute is how to interpret one or more provisions of a will. I find this to be most often the case when the will is not prepared by an experienced estate planing lawyer. Unfortunately, homemade wills often contain confusing, unclear, or outright contradictory provisions. Or a testator may have an excellent will drafted by a lawyer, only to make a homemade codicil that offers more confusion than clarity. The procedure for having a court determine meaning of a legal document, such as a will, is through a declaratory judgment action.
Read MoreThe Fort Worth Court of Appeals decision in In Re Meeker involves two important issues for probate litigators: entitlement to pre-suit discovery and estoppel based on acceptance of benefits. Both issues arise fairly regularly in will contests. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 202 provides a limited method to obtain discovery of facts before actually filing a suit. It is a useful tool when a litigant suspects they have a valid claim, but wish to investigate further before actually filing suit. There are some exacting requirements of the rule and the discovery tools are more limited than would be allowed in an actual lawsuit. But it can be a useful mechanism at times, particularly when a potential will contestant is unable to obtain much information through informal investigation.
Read More