Adoption has been a part of society for centuries. Over time, laws have changed to ensure that adoptees are provided the same rights as those natural born to the child-parent relationship.  Adoption creates an ancestor-descendant relationship between the adoptive parent and the adopted individual. Therefore, the adoptee becomes an intestate heir apparent of the adoptive […]

A scenario clients present to me a lot is “I am not married, I do not have any children, no aunts and uncles, and my parents have passed away. What happens to my estate when I pass away?” There is one answer to this scenario and it is one that every client hates to hear.

Pursuant to the Uniform Probate Code (UPC) Section 2-102, the UPC first provides for the surviving spouse to take his/her share of the decedent’s intestate estate. However, the UPC also provides for others to take other than the surviving spouse.  UPC Section 2-103 provides for the share of heirs other than the surviving spouse. UPC

When it comes to the rules of intestacy and the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse is omitted. This is only because there is no blood relationship between the decedent and the surviving spouse. However in all jurisdictions, the surviving spouse takes a priority , in both order and amount, as an intestate heir. Regarding a

When people decide to not draft an estate plan, the rules of intestacy apply to the decedent’s estate. Most Americans pass away intestate, which means without a valid will. The decedent’s property passes to heirs which are determined by statutory rules, which establishes a default estate plan.  The interesting part about the intestacy rules is

A beneficiary of an estate has the ability to refuse to accept or inherit by executing a “Disclaimer.” Under UPC Section 2-1106(b)(3), “a person who disclaims is treated as having predeceased the decedent for the purposes of distributing the decedent’s estate.” A disclaimer may be of all or a portion of the property being left

This article will continue our discussion from last week concerning an incapacitated individual. As was explained in the last blog post, an incapacitated individual is defined as “a person that cannot make a decision for himself/herself.” Normally a doctor will have to rule an individual as incapacitated. Now I will expand on the three primary

At some point in our lives, we will become incapacitated, which is defined as the inability to make a decision for one’s self.  A person is deemed incapacitated when his/her medical professional determines one is unable to make a decision for himself/herself. Whether this is because of a surgical procedure, accident, or at the end