Let`s say you`ve been married but separated from your spouse for several years. You draw up a will that leaves the entire estate to your children. Since all state probate laws give legal spouses the right to inherit, your separated spouse could file a civil lawsuit to claim his or her share of the assets. If the court agrees that you were wrongly excluded from your estate, you may receive an amount equal to what you are entitled to under your state`s estate laws. [Important: Traditionally, Jewish, Christian and Islamic laws each have their own customs with respect to heirs.] Inheritance is simply another way of designating who could inherit your estate if you died without a will. Making a will can help your heirs avoid legal and financial headaches after your death. And it`s also important to understand what rights you have as a legal heir if a family member dies. This is important because New Mexico law requires that heirs to an estate be listed in an application for the appointment of a personal representative, even if an heir is omitted or expressly disinherited in a will. An heir is a person who is legally identified as a person who is entitled to be the beneficiary of the estate assets when no will or trust is available. Dying without estate planning is called a dying estate, and in cases where this happens, state law dictates how an estate is passed and which heirs are entitled to assets. Heirs also have the right to contest the terms of a will if the deceased leaves one. This may be necessary if a legal heir is excluded from a person`s will in violation of state probate laws.
HERITAGE, UNCONDITIONAL. Term used in civil law and borrowed from the Civil Code of Louisiana. Unconditional heirs are those who inherit without reservation or inventory, whether their acceptance is express or implied. Code civ. by Lo. 878. This article explores who an heir can be and how he or she could receive an inheritance from you if you die without proper succession planning. When is the reading of the will? TRUTH: This usually only happens in movies. Once the will is issued, the personal representative must notify the spouse, children, heirs and administrators. An heir to the throne: An heir to the throne is the person who is considered the most logical and who is likely to be entitled to receive assets from an estate – their claim cannot be legally ruled out due to the birth of another heir. Simply put, an heir to the throne is the first person in an order of succession.
Nor are they limited by definitions of who is heir and who is not. Wills and trusts allow you to designate a person as the beneficiary of your choice, as long as the usual rules necessary for the legal validity of these documents are respected. You can set the conditions by stirpes (the share of each deceased descendant is divided among his heirs) or by representation (the shares of the surviving beneficiaries of the deceased descendants are aggregated and divided into equal shares, depending on the number of survivors at this level). By representation is the concept used in New Mexico when there is no will, but you can also see that the term per stirpes is used in a will. Who else can challenge a will? The short answer is that all heirs with legal status could do so at will. If an heir feels that he or she has been wrongly excluded, he or she may raise an issue with the will in probate court. This order presupposes that the deceased was married. If they were not married, the probate court would consider their children heirs. If they had no children, their parents would be the next to inherit. If both parents are deceased, their siblings would be the next heirs.
HEIR, BENEFICIARY. Term used in civil law. Beneficiary heirs are those who have accepted the inheritance on the basis of a regularly drawn up inventory. Code civ. by Lo. 879. If the heir fears that the inheritance will be burdened with debts that exceed its value, he accepts with the help of the inventory, and in this case he is only responsible for the value of the estate. See inventory, benefits of. In a trust or will, the inheritance rights of an heir are specifically defined. In the absence of a formal estate plan, heirs are legally considered to be the next of kin.
This means that if an estate owner dies without a will or trust, their heirs are entitled to the property and assets of the estate. As already mentioned, succession is dictated by state law, but in most cases it follows spouses – children – descendants – close relatives. HERITAGE, IRREGULAR. In Louisiana, irregular heirs are those who are neither testamentary nor legal and who have been established by law to assume the estate. See Civil Code of Lo. 874. If the testator has left no descendants, legal ancestors or secondary parents, the law requires either the surviving husband or wife, his biological children, or the State to inherit from him. Art., 911. This is called irregular succession. If you know who your legal heirs are, the easiest way to protect their inheritance rights is to make a legal will. A will is a legal document that allows you to specify who you want to inherit from your assets and what assets you should inherit. You can also use a will to appoint a legal guardian for minor children.
When looking at an heir versus a beneficiary, it is important to understand that there are distinct differences between the two terms.