When a woman and her husband first were married, back in the mid 1990s, they set up wills that would basically just leave all of the assets and wealth to the surviving spouse if one of them ended up passing away. When they got divorced in 2007, things clearly had to change. As the couple had both a waterfront home and another home in Texas, they determined that the husband would get to keep the home in Texas and that the wife would get the waterfront home.
In fact, the woman even went to that home after the divorce and lived there until she passed away. She was just 43 years old. The property was special to her because her family had owned the land for generations.
After her death, which her ex-husband learned about on the Internet, he came forward with the older wills, saying that he was entitled to the lakefront property. Under the terms of those wills, which gave everything to the surviving spouse, he said he should get both plots of land.
The woman’s family, though, says that they worked on paperwork to keep the lakefront house in the family. Her parents essentially gave up their right to it so that it would go to the woman’s brothers instead. The whole case is now set to go to court as both sides believe that the legal paperwork says that they should be given the house.
This story shows just how important it is not only to have a will, but to clearly alter or replace that will when a major change must be made to the estate plan.
Source: Watertown Daily Times, “State’s highest court to consider Clayton woman’s disputed will” Brian Kelly, Feb. 28, 2015
