Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas

Separate property is your husband's property acquired prior to the marriage or during the marriage by gift or inheritance. Community property is everything else.

At his death, without a Will, the community property is divided in half. You keep your half and his children (born to or adopted in any marriage) get his half. Separate property is a bit trickier, especially with oil and gas assets included. His separate real estate passes 1/3 to you, but that 1/3 is limited by your lifetime. At your death or abandonment, the interest that you inherit joins up with the 2/3 that his children inherited. In the end, his children own the separate real estate. Separate personal property passes 1/3 to you and 2/3 to his children.

The catch with oil and gas interests is that their property nature can and does change. Oil and gas are real property when in the ground and personal property once they're brought out of the ground.

If your husband is reluctant to write a Will, perhaps you might appeal to his sense of economy and efficiency. Administering estates without a Will is far more time-consuming and expensive. Just as an example, an administration with the necessary heirship proceeding could easily cost the estate several thousand more dollars and many more months.