Planning
Have you thought about estate planning, but put it off because:
You don’t like to think about planning your estate because it’s unpleasant to think about your demise…?
It’s complicated…?
You think you’re not elderly enough to have to do estate planning…?
It’s expensive…?
Elder Care
Are you or a family member concerned about long-term care, how you would pay for it, and how you’re going to protect your life’s savings?
Probate
Many people are fearful of probate because they think that it will be a long and expensive process. In reality, it is not a process to be fearful of, especially if you’re being guided by an experienced estate attorney.
YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, WE HAVE ANSWERS….
Contact Us FAQEach case at Leonick Law starts with compassion — and ends with legal expertise. The following examples come from real-life cases that we at Leonick Law count among our success stories. Successful Cases
A woman and her husband were divorced for many years. Their divorce agreement stipulated that when the youngest child reached 21, the house would be sold and the proceeds split. It also said in the agreement that each party had a right to make their own estate plan. Generally, if no estate plan is made, the law says that if one spouse dies, his or her spouse and children will split the estate. If the person has no children, it all goes to the spouse. If you’ve done no estate planning, that is what could happen.
When the wife predeceased the husband, a conflict surrounding her estate developed in the family. Two of the children came to Leonick Law and said, “We have a problem because my father thinks that he’s entitled to the whole house because it was titled in the name of the husband and wife.”
It is true that when any two people own something jointly, the surviving owner assumes complete ownership. The husband was making the argument that he should have the entire house and his daughters didn’t have a right to any money or the title to the house.
However, it is also true that the divorce automatically severed the tie that the joint ownership created in the title to the house. Joint ownership was automatically broken already, and in this case the divorce decree stated that the proceeds from the house sale would be split 50/50.
We were able to impress upon the ex-husband’s attorney that the law was in our favor. The house was sold, the profits were split according to the law, with the mother’s half of the house divided equally between her three children.
