You are lying on your deathbed surrounded by the many assets you own: cash, bonds,    automobiles in the driveway, the mansion.   Then you die, and your ownership dies with you. Poof.   Where does the ownership go? As you are winging your way to heaven, the ownership of your assets vests immediately in the beneficiaries of your will. If you die without a will, then ownership vests in your heirs at...

It was the $6 donut store charge.   The charge showed up on the list of my credit card transactions, which I usually check at least weekly on my bank’s website. I should say “charges” because there were five of them, each from the same donut chain, but in different states. Except I had been in Texas the entire time and had not authorized a credit card purchase from a donut...

Let’s talk about the law of unintended consequences, shall we? Sue and Sam, both Texas widowers with children, fall in love and decide to marry. They have some conflicting feelings, however. Sue wants to preserve her assets and earnings for her children after her death. She also wants to be protected from paying Sam’s debts.   Sam wants the same thing. They do some internet research and decide that they want a “community free”...