The truck was a gift to you via will, so it is separate property. Possession does not change the character of the property.
If the policy is part of an employee benefit, the will does not control. Instead the Summary Plan Description should explain who receives the benefit, likely the surviving spouse. You should contact the employer benefits/ human relations department of the employer, and they will tell you who they will pay. If the policy is not [...]
(?...) ur friend has a guardian, he has been declared incapacitated and has no ability to sign a power of attorney. In any event, to change a guardianship, you must file an appropriate application with the Court which created the guardianship to change or terminate the guardianship. If your friend wants you to be his [...]
If the will created a trust for your children, and it should, then the beneficiary should be 1) primary = spouse and 2) secondary = Trustee of Testamentary Trust per last will and testament. If you have ANY doubt about what you are doing, consult the attorney who drafted the will. If an attorney didn’t [...]
No, attorneys develop forms we know and trust. Reviewing others’ documents to make sure they are good is time consuming. I wouldn’t touch an engagement to review documents drafted by a non-attorney. It would be cheaper to start from scratch using my well-tested forms.
Just for clarity because I don’t think the law is different anywhere, in Texas, a power of attorney terminates with the death of the principal, in this case your mother.
If the car identified in the will doesn’t exist, the gift lapses. You don’t substitute another car for the one described. The car that does exist, unless gifted by another bequest, becomes part of the residuary estate and goes to the person identified in that part of the will.
This could have been clarified by probate, which I gather didn’t occur. Regardless, you possess the item, they claim it belonged to your mother, that it then should be theirs (I don’t know why). But, it is too old to open an estate, and you aren’t legally or ethically obligated to turn it over to [...]
If you “can’t probate the will” that left you the house, then the house isn’t yours. In some circumstances, you can establish title by living in a place and paying taxes, which is called adverse possession. That is a risky way to try to establish title, and you would probably have to bring suit after [...]
Anything not specifically gifted to someone in the will is the “residue.” So the “rest, remainder, and residue” is the lawyer way of saying “everything else.”