US Lawyer Database

Sec. 13.12.711. Interests in heirs and other persons.

If an applicable statute or a governing instrument calls for a present or future distribution to or creates a present or future interest in a designated individual’s “heirs,” “heirs at law,” “next of kin,” “relatives,” or “family,” or language of similar import, the property passes to those persons, including the state, and in such shares […]

Sec. 13.12.712. Nonademption of specific transfers in trust.

(a) Unless the trust provides otherwise, a beneficiary of a trust has a right to property that, by the terms of the trust, is to be specifically distributed to the beneficiary and to (1) any amount of a condemnation award that is for the taking of the property and that is unpaid when the distribution […]

Sec. 13.12.720. Family-owned business deduction.

(a) If an individual includes a provision in a will, trust document, or beneficiary designation that is designed to reduce federal estate tax liability to zero, or to the lowest possible amount payable, by describing a portion or amount measured by reference to the unified credit, applicable exclusion amount, or exemption equivalent under 26 U.S.C. […]

Sec. 13.12.704. Power of appointment; meaning of specific reference requirement.

If a governing instrument creating a power of appointment expressly requires that the power be exercised by a reference, an express reference, or a specific reference, to the power or its source, it is presumed that the donor’s intention, in requiring that the donee exercise the power by making reference to the particular power or […]

Sec. 13.12.705. Class gifts; terms of relationship.

(a) Adopted individuals and individuals born out of wedlock, and their respective descendants if appropriate to the class, are included in class gifts and other terms of relationship in accordance with the rules for intestate succession. Terms of relationship that do not differentiate relationships by blood from those by affinity, such as “uncles,” “aunts,” “nieces,” […]

Sec. 13.12.710. Worthier-title doctrine abolished.

The doctrine of worthier title is abolished as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. Language in a governing instrument describing the beneficiaries of a disposition as the transferor’s “heirs,” “heirs at law,” “next of kin,” “distributees,” “relatives,” or “family,” or language of similar import, does not create or presumptively create a […]