Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas

Re: probate wills trusts and estates

It isn't necessary to list each child by name, although you can if you want to.

If you wish to devise your estate among the children, the typical language is to the effect of "divided equally among my children".

You need to be specific in how you express you intent to distribute your property. For example, with six children, they are probably going to want to sell the house and divide the proceeds. If you want one of the children to live in the house, you can grant a life estate in the house to that child and when he/she dies, the house can be sold and the proceeds divided among the surviving children. The first choice is usually better because all of the children share equally in your estate.

You can have a will drafted pretty inexpensively by an attorney and I recommend that you do. You don't get a second chance to fix a will if you draft it incorrectly, and it can end up being an expensive probate battle among the family, so you need to get it right the first time.

In addition, there are other estate planning issues that you should address that are not part of the will. I have some of these issues explained on my blog:

http://www.bashorlaw.com/wordpress/?cat=3

Best wishes to you, and congratulations on making your will. It is a huge favor to your kids to have a will and less than half of adults have a will. It can really throw a family into turmoil when a parent dies without having a will.