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Originally Posted by Stearns
What happened at the court hearing that Nikki says she was pleased about? Anybody have an update?
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All I've picked up so far is that Nikki is fine with the 50/50 split of the death benefits between herself and the two children and that she had promised her husband she would take care of them if anything happened to her.
I found out there was no will. This is all from online news sources and so how true any of this is is anyone's guess. From what I have been reading, when there is no will, Texas will divide an estate between the spouse and children. 50% goes to the spouse and the other 50% is divided among the children. So even if Nikki's marriage wasn't contested by the in laws, the 50/50 division of the death benefits would have happened at probate anyway.
This also goes for joint owned property and bank accounts. Insurance with a named beneficiary does not count and if there was a will then the property would be divided according to the will. The judge has frozen everything (but technically, as far as I can figure out, if Nikki was named beneficiary of a life insurance policy it should not have been frozen). Also, as far as I know, bank accounts are not covered by a will. You have to name a beneficiary on the account and through your bank. So I'm not sure why her bank accounts were frozen unless there was no named beneficiary on the accounts.
The inlaws are going after everything claiming the marriage is not valid. They are not content with the 50% but want the lot. On the upside for couples, if there is a will then this could ward off what is happening to Nikki because contract law will take over. We also read somewhere, and this is for couples, that it is good to have a witnessed letter in your documents stating that the husband or wife is fuly aware her/his partner is transgendered/transexual. You have to have two witnesses to this letter. I would also suggest having a lawyer draw up the letter. This can help if, again, family comes along and argues the deceased spouse did not know and was defrauded.
As usual, gay, lesbian, trans people and partners have to have all kinds of documents to protect the relationship. And we have to think of any possible eventualities that might happen and try to ward them off in case they do.
From what I've learned, a will is your best protection. I've also learned about something called right of surviorship when it comes to property. If both names are on a property make sure you set it up as right of survivorship this way, when one of you passes away, the other automatically gets the property and the property does not have to go through probate.
Melissa