Hello,
I posted these questions in /r/legaladvice at https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/982eko/tx_info_an_will_probates_and_related_questions/ but there have been no responses since yesterday. I thought I'd repost them here in case anyone has some info as some of these items are applicable to this sub. This is for the state of Texas. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
I don't want to go into too much detail here, but you can probably figure a few things out by the questions. Some I just need yes or no questions on, while others may be more involved.
- Is a lawyer required for Will Probate? A lawyer said yes (probably wants to be paid) and another party said no. Since I'm not the one with the will I'm wondering if I should still get a lawyer for it to make sure it's done correctly.
- Can wills be contested/challenged?
- How do you know when a probate begins on a will? I probably didn't phrase that right, but since I don't have the will and another party is taking care of it, how do we know when it's started to make sure that it's followed through on correctly?
- Do I need a lawyer for Power of Attorney and Medical Power of Attorney? I have someone that will probably need to have these done.
- If a checking account was in the deceased spouse's name, but if it's not left directly in the will to anyone, how can it be claimed?
- Is there anything that can be done about items taken out of a safety deposit box by another party on the list of people that have access? I'm guessing a big fat no. Basically, what was in the box was supposed to go to someone else (not specifically in the will), but another party already took the items out.
- Do I need a lawyer to sign over a house?
- If a house is unable to be sold (too much work required to get it to a position to be sold that it'd never be made back with the sale), can you just surrender it to whatever government entity (local) that you pay taxes to? So if someone moves out, can't sell the house, but doesn't want to pay taxes on it, what are the options?
- Are any debts in solely the deceased spouses name able to be transferred to the surviving spouse by the creditor, or can they be written off? I don't think there are any, but if they can be written off, the better.
- Do I need a lawyer for a will?
- What can I do to protect someone from taking advantage of a family member that may not be fully capable of understanding what's going on? So if someone comes in and says "Remember, you were going to write me a check for $1000?" How can I help protect against that? Beyond taking away check books, etc.
Sorry if some of these are obvious/easy/whatever. Just a lot that I'm having to figure out, and I have too many parties involved telling me different things that may be for their benefit. Tried seeing a lawyer, but he wanted a shit ton an hour to even initiate a conversation. Like I'm ok with paying for advice, but at least let me go through the questions, and then tell me "Yes, you need a lawyer for this. This service costs X. You don't need a lawyer for that, etc" But he wouldn't even do that without being paid. It was extremely frustrating. Anyway, thank you for any advice/assistance you can give and for your time.
Submitted August 18, 2018 at 09:30AM by NightweaselX https://ift.tt/2N0qBKv
