Like

Wills, Trusts and Probate – Fall 2012 Assignment #1 – due Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012

INTESTATE SUCCESSION DAY AT THE LAW OFFICE

Your new boss, an attorney whose practice includes wills and probate, has taken a three week vacation to Hawaii. She trusts you to speak to the potential customers who call with legal questions and report back to her when she gets back in. Give your responses to the following facts:

I.

Mamie Bennett came in on Monday morning and needed help with her deceased husband’s (Robert Bennett) estate. They were both 67 when they married and he passed away last month at the age of 78. Robert had two children by his first wife (the wife passed away in 1994) and Mamie had three children, but one child died. The child that died had two children, and Mamie was close to them. Robert did not have a will.

1. They purchased a home together in 2002, which was their domicile.

2. Robert kept his previous home in addition to the one he and Mamie owned.

3. They had purchased a Winnebago diesel (the big one) last summer and took three trips in it.

4. Robert got a $100,000 settlement from a stent manufacturer for damage to his

heart, which he placed in a certificate of deposit.

5. Robert’s 98 year old mother died last year and left him $11,000, which he used to purchased gold coins.

6. Mamie gave him a Rolex watch worth $4,000.

7. Their Wells Fargo checking account is in both names with $18,480, styled “Robert Bennett and Mamie Bennett, JTWROS”.

8. A $10,000.00 life insurance policy that Robert purchased to benefit Mamie after his death, but did not designate a beneficiary.

Tell Mamie who would receive the property listed above according to the Texas Property Code.

II.

Edna Rickets died without a will last November, and her husband, Thomas Rickets came in to the office to see what he needed to do anything to put the house “all in his name”. They married in 1946 and had...