Wills, Reversal, Beneficiaries

Court Reversed Summary Judgment And Held That There Was A Fact Question On Whether A Trust Was Void Due To Forgery Or Fraud

Winstead PC on 6/26/2025

In In re Est. of Prieto, the contestant’s mother executed a will in 2008 leaving her property to a trust. No. 04-22-00038-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 6336 (Tex. App.—San Antonio August 28, 2024, no pet.)....more

Court Reversed Order Setting Aside The Probating Of A Will Where The Evidence Was Insufficient To Support The Order

Winstead PC on 4/8/2025

In In re Estate of Johnson, an administrator and a third party appealed the trial court’s judgment setting aside the probate of the decedent’s will, removing the administrator, and voiding the sale of an estate asset to the...more

Texas Supreme Court Holds That Unsworn Testimony By Attorney Regarding A Lost Will Should Have Been Considered By The Appellate...

Winstead PC on 4/7/2025

In In re Estate of Brown, a charity offered a copy of will to probate. No. 23-0258, 2024 Tex. LEXIS 684 (Tex. August 30, 2024). An attorney offered unsworn testimony regarding the reason for the nonproduction of the original...more

Court Reverses Summary Judgments On The Alleged Exercise Of A Power Of Appointment, Disclaimer, And The Statute Of Limitations

Winstead PC on 1/29/2024

In In re Estate of Wells, No. 12-23-00066-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 8475 (Tex. App.—Tyler November 8, 2023, no pet. history). The testator left a will that created a trust for his wife and descendants, named his wife as the...more

Family History Guides Interpretation of a Texas Will

Gray Reed on 2/26/2020

Generally, if your will leaves your beloved “all … right, title and interest in and to”, said beloved would receive the entirety of your interest, whether a surface estate, mineral estate, or both. But in ConocoPhillips, et...more

Court Reverses Summary Judgment On The Issue Of Whether A Testatrix Had The Mental Capacity To Execute A New Will

Winstead PC on 2/13/2020

In In the Estate of Mahaffey, a testatrix executed a new will nine days before she died of cancer. No. 04-19-00122-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 11171 (Tex. App.—San Antonio December 27, 2019, no pet. history)....more

The Texas Supreme Court Holds That The Only Consideration In Probating A Will After The Four-Year Limitations Period Is Evidence...

Winstead PC on 4/15/2019

In Ferreira v. Butler, a husband and wife divorced, and the husband married a second wife. No. 17-0901, 2019 Tex. LEXIS 375 (Tex. April 12, 2019). The second wife died, and the husband never probated her will, which left...more

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