Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Indiana

Re: Mother's rights

You do not give a lot of facts, but here goes. If your mother and father are divorced, then the only estate assets that she would be entitled to are those that were never taken out of both names. If none of the assets are in both of their names and they are divorced then she gets nothing. If they are still married, and there is no will, then the amount to be received by a wife is determined by a couple of variables. First, if the woman is the second wife of the husband, and the husband had children from a previous marriage, the the wife gets a portion of the personal property plus a one-third life estate in any real property. What that means is she has the right to live in or rent one-third of the real estate until she passes on, and then that property reverts back to the man's kids. If no children from a previous marriage, and none from the current marriage, then she gets everything that is not jointly owned by the deceased husband and a third party. If there are children from a current marriage, and there is no will, then anything not jointly owned by the deceased husband and a third party is split between the children and the wife. Anything jointly owned by the husband and the wife would go solely tot he wife.

Re: Mother's rights

Since you posed this question under both Texas and Indiana law, I can answer only as to rights under Indiana law. When a spouse dies, the survivor is automatically entitled to all property owned jointly between them - that is the home that is in both names, the bank accounts in both names, the vehicles in both names, the household goods and furnishings that are treated as owned the same as the real estate is owned. As to property for which the owner is entitled to name a beneficiary, then that beneficiary inherits or succeeds to the right and no other person (spouse or child or creditor) can defeat that right. All other property owned by the deceased spouse is commonly called probate property and because he was intestate it descends according to law - a certain % to the surviving spouse and the balance divided between the children. The surviving spouse is also entitled to the survivor's allowance out of the probate property before the amount remaining is divided.

Re: Mother's rights

I'm sorry to hear about your father. As for your mother, her rights depend on what is in the father's estate, and whether the father had children outside the marriage (i.e. children from a former marriage that your mother did not subsequently adopt). Additionally, it also depends on the amount of debts of the estate. As for the beneficiary designation, I'm not clear what you are asking about. Typically, life insurance policies with a beneficiary designation are not part of a decedent's estate, and they are not usually subject to collateral attack, absent some unusual circumstance (ie. fraud).