Do I need a Will?

Yes, every person who wants to determine where their property goes upon their death should write a Will.  If you fail to write a Will, the State of Texas will write it for you, and you may not like the results. For instance, if you die married and you have children from a prior marriage or relationship, your children together receive your share (half) of the community property, not your spouse.  If the only community asset is a house and you have a child from a prior marriage, upon your death as an intestate, all your children together own your half of the house.

 People who fail to write a Will and die are called Intestates.  An intestate is a person who died without a Will.  The Texas Probate Code will direct where the intestate decedent's property will be distributed in those situations where a person fails to write a Will.  The Texas Probate Code provides that if the intestate decedent was not married at the time of death, his real and personal property pass to his descendants.  If there are no descendants of this unmarried decedent, then it passes to his father and mother in equal shares.  If either parent, or both, are not surviving, then their share passes to the decedent's brothers and sisters and to their descendants.  We'll stop the explanation there for unmarried intestate decedents, but should it go further, we would need to talk about moieties.  The Texas Probate Code also provides that if the intestate decedent was married and had a child, then the surviving spouse takes one-third of the personal estate with the remainder to the child, or children and their descendants.  The surviving spouse is also entitled to a life estate in one-third of the real property of the deceased with the remainder to the child, or children and their descendants.  If the married intestate decedent had no children, then the surviving spouse is entitled to the entire personal estate and to one-half of the real property of the deceased with the other half going to surviving parents, or brothers and sisters, or their descendants, or if none, then to the surviving spouse.  Now, if the property of the deceased is community property, and many times that is the only type of property that person might own, then the Texas Probate Code provides a different result.  In those situations where the married intestate deceased had no children or all the children are from the surviving spouse, then the surviving spouse is entitled to all the community estate.  However, should the married intestate decedent have children from another person than the surviving spouse, then the surviving spouse only receives their own half of the community and the decedent's  children or descendants.