QUESTION

What is the legal recourse after a parent has died and the children cannot agree on how things are to be divided?

Asked on Aug 09th, 2012 on Estate Planning - Texas
More details to this question:
My mother-in-law died and she previously had put her home and land in one daughters name in the event she had to go to a nursing home. This daughter now tells her siblings it's her property. The parents previously told the daughters that everything was to be divided equally. How can we handle this?
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1 ANSWER

Workers Compensation Attorney serving Bedford, TX at Durkin & Graham, P.C.
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I am assuming there is no will. Without a will and with no surviving spouse, the estate is divided equally among the kids. However, if the house was deeded lawfully before death then it is NOT part of the estate since it was not in the name of the deceased at death. To challenge the transfer that was made before death you will have to prove fraud or breach of fiduciary duty (if the person was guardian or attorney in fact). It will be an expensive undertaking (I would be surprised if it was less than $20,000) so the value of the estate will have to be big enough to cover the costs or you won't have much luck getting an attorney. I always tell folks to wait until they are through their grief before they make a decision on something like this.
Answered on Aug 15th, 2012 at 1:18 PM

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