With blended families, the standard provisions for intestate succession (the distribution of money if you do not have a Will) can produce results that are very different than a person might prefer, or even expect.
Under Oregon law, a divorced spouse will be treated as pre-deceased for purposes of inheritance from their former spouse under a Will that existed before the divorce, in most cases.
Many people do not think they have enough money to need a Will.
Others think they will spend everything before they die.
Sometimes people die unexpectedly, of course, and do not get around to spending their money.
Some people (and even some lawyers) question whether a person can make a Will or an Estate and Incapacity Plan providing for their children before they have any children.
It is perfectly possible, and perfectly simple to do this.
The current health crisis is causing some people to think seriously about creating a Will or a Trust. It is causing others who have been thinking of this to stop putting it off, and to start actually working toward finding a lawyer to work with them on estate and incapacity planning.
Many people are worried by the Coronavirus/COVID 19 pandemic, and are limiting their social contacts, and abiding by guidelines for social distancing.
It is not uncommon for people who have married late in life, or who are living with a significant other to whom they are not married, to want to protect that other person, and make sure that the other person has a place to live as long as they need it, while also ensuring that their own child
It is not uncommon in a divorce for a couple to agree to a settlement where one former spouse gets the lifetime use of a certain home or investment property, with the understanding that the other former spouse’s children will ultimately receive the real estate.
A question sometimes comes up in estate planning situations where a parent wants to be sure that a child gets a home or some other certain piece of real estate, but does not want to transfer the property immediately.
A life estate is created when someone gives the current rights to real estate to a third party (or retains these rights themselves), while giving the rights to that same piece of property to someone else after the holder of the current rights passes on.