Will preparation is an important part of the estate planning process. By creating a will, you are taking proactive steps to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes when you are no longer around to make key decisions. Unfortunately, the death...
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Probate Litigation
What do the concepts of “testamentary capacity” and “undue influence” mean?
Someone’s will can provoke a number of disputes between their heirs, especially when there are allegations that the testator (the person who wrote the will) either lacked the appropriate testamentary capacity to make the will valid or was subject to undue influence...
What are the reasons you can challenge a will in Colorado?
When someone has died with a will, it is not uncommon for a family member or sometimes a friend or a person with a professional relationship with the decedent to have reason to suspect something is not right about the will’s terms or the circumstances around its...
Fraud can be the basis of a Colorado will contest
It is a safe assumption that most wills filed with probate courts are authentic. This is the conclusion of law professor Mark Glover of the University of Wyoming College of Law in an article in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. After extensive...
Dealing with a home/cabin after the death of a parent
A death in the family can be difficult, no matter the circumstances. Take time to grieve, but do not wait too long before starting with estate administration functions, especially if you need to deal with real property like a home or cabin.If you are designated a...
Inheritance, probate and Colorado common-law spouses
Colorado is one of a handful of states that still recognize common-law marriages, which are relationships in which the partners agree to be married and hold themselves out as married even though they have not followed state-sanctioned marriage requirements. If the...
3 reasons you might challenge a will
According to a recent CNBC report, estate taxes are surprisingly not the biggest threat to estate plans – families are. The reasons for this follow familiar patterns of human conflict: miscommunication, unrealistic expectations and a history of family drama....
The 4 main steps of Colorado probate
This process is one that few people think about until they have to figure out how to deal with the estate of a loved one. For many this first-time involvement with the probate system illustrates the mess that can be left behind without proper planning.Probate is the...
Harper Lee estate unhappy with characters in Broadway adaption
Artistic license, the scope of contract provisions and how Calpurnia would have acted are all involved in the dispute. If the parties cannot resolve their disagreements, it could delay the stage opening of "To Kill a Mockingbird."While she was still living, Harper Lee...
Can spousal support survive after the payor dies?
This question involves two separate legal practice areas: family law and probate law. In September, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that in most situations spousal support/maintenance payments end when the obligor (spouse ordered to pay it) dies.In cases where the...