Wills, Trusts and Estates - Part 4

• Sometimes, disputes arise between churches and heirs regarding lawful ownership of estate assets. Such a dispute was resolved in a recent California appeals court decision. A decedent's will left her most valuable asset (an 18-acre tract of land) to a relative, and left any "residue" of her estate (i.e., assets remaining after the payment of specific gifts, expenses, and taxes) to a religious organization. The decedent entered into a contract to sell the 18-acre tract a few weeks before her death, but the closing did not occur until three days after her death. The religious organization claimed that since the property was not in the decedent's estate as of the date of her death, the gift of the property to the decedent's relative failed ("adeemed") and the relative had no claim to the sales proceeds. Rather, the religious organization was the rightful owner of the proceeds, since ...