Intestate Succesion
A man died intestate, leaving behind his wife and the three children they had together. Neither the man nor his wife had any other descendants.
How will the man’s intestate estate be distributed?
Entirely to his wife.
A man died suddenly in a car crash, leaving no will. The man’s son had been a passenger in the crash and had died from his injuries approximately six days after the man. The man’s family, including his grandchildren from the son, was embroiled in a dispute in probate court over the distribution of the man’s intestate estate. The governing jurisdiction had adopted the Uniform Probate Code.
What evidentiary burden do the man’s grandchildren have in proving that the son survived the man?
The grandchildren must show by clear and convincing evidence that the son survived the man by five days.
A man had stated for many years that he wished to leave his entire estate to his son. The man’s son urged him to execute a will to that effect, but the man was very busy and never got around to doing so. The man’s son drafted a will himself and then slipped it into a pile of other business documents that the man was signing. The man signed the will, unaware of what he was signing.
Is a court likely to find that the will is valid?
No, because the son committed fraud in the execution, and the harmless-error rule does not apply.
A woman’s parents divorced when she was two years old. The woman’s mother remarried. The woman’s stepfather raised her like his own daughter throughout her childhood. The woman’s biological father did not maintain contact with her or pay any child support. The woman died intestate at the age of 20, without a spouse or descendants. These events occurred in a jurisdiction that follows the Uniform Probate Code.
Can the woman’s biological father inherit from her intestate estate?
Yes, because the woman’s biological father is still legally her parent for purposes of determining collateral relatives and intestate succession.
A woman executed a will that left $50,000 to her son. Prior to the woman’s death, she gave her son a cash gift of $30,000. Several months after making the gift, the woman wrote the son a letter indicating that she intended the $30,000 to be a partial satisfaction of his inheritance. The son replied with a letter thanking his mother for the gift and acknowledging it as a partial satisfaction of his inheritance. At the time of the woman’s death, the woman’s will made no mention of the inter vivos gift of the $30,000 to her son.
How much will the son inherit from the woman’s will?
$20,000, because the son acknowledged the gift as a partial satisfaction of his inheritance.
A man and a woman lived together out of wedlock. The woman gave birth to a girl. The man and the woman continued living together for one year after the girl’s birth. The man raised the girl and held himself out as her father. The man and the woman then separated, and the woman married another man, who legally adopted the girl. The first man then died. The jurisdiction has adopted the Uniform Probate Code and the Uniform Parentage Act.
Will the law presume the first man to be the girl’s father for purposes of intestate succession?
No, because the girl was born out of wedlock and the man did not satisfy any of the criteria for presuming paternity.
A woman died intestate, leaving behind her husband and a child that they had together. Her husband also had two children from a previous relationship. The woman’s intestate estate was valued at $325,000. The controlling jurisdiction had adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC).
How much will the woman’s husband inherit?
$275,000