Control is something that we all desire to one extent or another. So much of our lives are spent trying to figure out ways to stabilize our lives for ourselves and our children. We work, at least in part, to provide a home environment for our children so that they can grow up and not wonder where they will lay their heads at night. We exercise and eat right so that we do not have medical issues that require a great deal of medical intervention in the future. Taking medication, attending physical therapy, and seeing the doctor frequently probably is not what you or I have in mind in terms of stability or control in our golden years.
We can look at divorce in the same way. If you have gone through a divorce, you know firsthand the difficulties associated with that process. The time that went into hiring an attorney and going through the case. The stress came with deciding essential issues regarding child custody and property division. Even the uncertainty that comes with no longer being married can be stressful. All of this was done to help to ensure a better future for yourself and your children. But for this possibility going through the hardships of divorce would not be worth the trouble.
A divorce case can decide a great deal for you. What your custody situation will look like with your children was negotiated upon. How frequently you would see your children is often a subject that is debated back and forth in divorce. Debts, property, and the division of those items can shape your post-divorce life a great deal, given that your financial money can be determined a great deal by how your property is split up after a divorce. Many people struggle financially after a divorce due in no small part to the disruption of the ordinary course of their life. Having your income cut in half is something that impacts your budget tremendously.
Helping yourself prepare for life after a divorce
You can take steps during and after a divorce to prepare yourself for life as a single person. One of those steps that would make a great deal of sense would be to create a will for yourself. Or, in the alternative, if you already have an intention, you may need to update the choice based on the changes in your life. Updating the beneficiaries on your will probably means removing your ex-spouse from being able to receive property of yours when you pass away. For instance, you may want to include the names of your children, another relative, or even your church or charity of choice as a critical beneficiary under your will.
That is the beauty of having a will: that you will be able to determine where your property goes after you pass away. This would be opposed to allowing a probate court judge to make that determination for you. Getting back to the subject that I brought up at the beginning of today’s blog post, you can exert a lot of control over your situation when you have a will. Once you pass away without a will, you leave a lot up to chance. The significant part about having a choice is that a tiny bit of effort can yield excellent results not only for you but for your family as well.
What happens to your body after you pass away?
this is probably not a question that you considered very much during your divorce or even during the process of drafting and signing a will. Of course, it is inescapable to evaluate your death when you are preparing a will. However, what happens to your body after your passing it’s a specific question to ask and one that I don’t encounter much in my work as an attorney. However, this is a question that has been asked and answered by Texas legal decisions. It may impact your willingness to have a will drafted for yourself.
Let’s suppose that your l we’re driving home from work one day and was broadsided by another vehicle. Unfortunately, you passed away in the accident, and your daughter was contacted regarding what to do with your body. Your daughter was a big believer in donating organs, and therefore she allowed an organ donation charity to harvest your organs After an autopsy was performed. An issue could arise if your daughter later takes issue with how your organs are treated or donated once they have been harvested. For example, your daughter may argue that she suffered anguish since your organs may not have been presented in the way that she understood that they would be.
Texas courts would likely hold that your daughter, in this case, would not have a specific property interest in your organs and probably would have what they call a quasi-property interest. This means that your daughter may have the authority to determine where your organs and body end up after you pass but not to the point where she could collect damages based on mental anguish over how the organs were harvested and distributed. However, courts in Texas have issued decisions regarding this subject that are important regarding property rights if you have a will.
Historically, your body wants deceased is not technically counted as property. Under English common law, your next of kin, such as your spouse or children, have held a property right to the body insofar as burial is concerned. This is not an exclusive property right, however. In my mind, exclusive property right means the ability to cell, divide, or otherwise have complete control over an item or asset. It is strange to think about your physical body in this way, but when we talk about property and wills, I can’t see another way to avoid it. Texas courts have held for many years that there is no property right in a dead person’s body. However, your family must bury, cremate or otherwise handle the body once you have died.
What is the anatomical gift act?
The Texas Legislature has recognized how quickly medical science has progressed around a deceased person’s body. The quasi-property rights of your family regarding your body have been expanded under the revised uniform anatomical gift act. This revised act grants your family the right to make an anatomical gift of your body or part of your body for a transplant, therapy, research, or education. The act even details how to make a gift before your death. To determine whose property your organs are alleged to be, we must look at the circumstances of your life before your passing.
In this case, your daughter would have the right to direct the burial of your body after your passing. This much we have already discussed. Next, there are rights for your children to be able to sue for mental anguish damages when acts are performed on your body or tissues without their consent in limited circumstances. Finally, the Texas anatomical gift act has also provided the ability for you, or you’re next of kin, to gift your tissues and organs to medical causes.
What your next step kin would not have the right to do in this situation would be to have your body for any other purpose than to bury it or otherwise attend to its final disposition. Your daughter or any other person would not have the right to use tissues unless they have been designated by the individual as a transplant to the recipient, as seen through the anatomical gift act. In short, a family member or next of kin of yours has limited rights, and it certainly is not true that your organs would become the property of your loved one once you pass away.
This is not to say that your next of kin do not have some right to perform specific actions regarding your body once you pass away; period to preserve its remains and bury your body is a legal right that we have already talked about. It is well established under Texas law. Note that a decent burial of your body includes the right to possess it in the same condition it was in at the total time of your passing. Husbands and wives also have the primary paramount right to keep their spouse’s body above any other person. Exposes would not appear to have the same freedom and would not even qualify as next of kin given the dissolution of the marriage that occurred previously.
Would your organs become part of your estate after your passing?
The anatomical gift act gives you the right to designate a recipient of your organs and tissues while you are alive. Additionally, the show also gives your next of kin or executor at the time of your death the right to immediately designate a recipient. However, the anatomical gift act does not show you the freedom to select a recipient once you pass away. Additionally, your estate cannot be compensated financially for selling your organs. All the anatomical gift act does is allow a person to charge a reasonable amount of money for certain services such as removing and processing your organs. Compensation for the tissue itself is not provided for in the act.
What does this all mean for you? To sum everything up, you can designate a recipient for your tissues before you pass away. However, your estate cannot select a recipient or receive compensation for those issues once you pass away. Even if you have a will set up, this cannot be the job of your executor. You must provide for something inside your choice and likely notify the intended recipient before the passing of your intent to give them your body or organs for any purposes scientific or otherwise. you are a state that would have fewer rights to your body and tissues than your next of kin would. At least your next of kin can designate a recipient once you pass away.
This is all rather complicated. We have a situation where Texas courts have ruled that your body and your organs after your passing cannot be characterized as property of either you’re next of kin or your estate. Your next of kin have a right to determine, to an extent, what should be done with your body insofar as it includes burial or the proper and final disposition. However, this is far from clear-cut in terms of how these types of decisions will impact the circumstances of your life. We know what the law says but ultimately, how and what plays out in your specific situation is different.
Rather than leave this situation to chance, there are some steps that you can follow through with that will better position you to exert as much control as possible over your body both after divorce and after you pass away. We have already discussed that this subject matter can be complicated, and the more circumstances you have going on in your life, the less likely it is that you will be able to say for sure what will or will not happen.
What can you do to prepare for an end-of-life situation?
The first thing that I will mention in this regard is that you cannot say for certain when you will pass away. This means that if you are planning on dealing with this issue at some point in the future, that is a mistake. Since you do not know when the end of your life will come, you should seriously consider acting and dealing with what needs to be done now in planning for your life moving forward. Deciding to take concrete steps towards having a wheel drafted is probably where you should begin.
You can begin by thinking about what assets you own that do not need to be covered by a will for your wishes to be followed your passing as far as inheriting property. For assets such as life insurance, retirement plans, and pensions, I’ll allow you to list beneficiaries within the program or policy itself. These items can pass directly through to these folks without going through probate. The important thing for you to stay up to date is to ensure that your beneficiaries are based on your current circumstances. You should be sure that your ex-spouse there’s not listed on any of these forms of your policies unless it is your intent for your ex-spouse to inherit this property from you.
Next, when it comes to your life and the drafting of a will, you should consider what circumstances are relevant to you and make sure to include language in your choice that accounts for those circumstances. The best way to do this is to consult with experienced probate or estate planning attorney. I’m going to an experienced attorney who knows how to structure a will and can creatively help you think of solutions to problems you encounter in your post-divorce life regarding estate planning and preparation for end-of-life scenarios.
As we saw in today’s blog post, your next of kin have some degree of authority regarding your body and organs in terms of donation after your passing. They will have more power in terms of claiming your body and determining details for your burial. However, your estate has no property rights to your body, and even your next of kin has little in the way of property rights beyond what we have already covered. For this reason, the best thing that you can probably do regarding your wishes for your body after your passing is to think ahead.
From where I sit, that means including language in your will with your specific desires for what is to be done with your body. This means specifying your burial method, Funeral Home, other details about what you want to be done with your body after your passing before burial. If you wish to donate your body to science, a hospital, or research purposes, you should also notate this. Also, merely selecting your driver’s license that you are now an organ donor would not be sufficient for me. It would help if you noted this in your will, so there will be fewer questions about your true intentions after you pass away.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you have any questions about the material contained in today’s blog post, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law and probate law attorneys offering have charged consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are an excellent way for you to learn more about the world of probate and estate planning, as well as about how your family circumstances may be impacted by the filing of a divorce or child custody case.
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The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, routinely handles matters that affect children and families. If you have questions regarding divorce, it’s essential to speak with one of our Houston, TX, Divorce Lawyers right away to protect your rights.
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Bryan Fagan, a native of Atascocita, Texas, is a dedicated family law attorney inspired by John Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief.” He is the first lawyer in his family, which includes two adopted brothers. Bryan’s commitment to family is personal and professional; he cared for his grandmother with Alzheimer’s while completing his degree and attended the South Texas College of Law at night.
Married with three children, Bryan’s personal experiences enrich his understanding of family dynamics, which is central to his legal practice. He specializes in family law, offering innovative and efficient legal services. A certified member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, Bryan is part of an elite group of legal professionals committed to ongoing education and high-level expertise.
His legal practice covers divorce, custody disputes, property disputes, adoption, paternity, and mediation. Bryan is also experienced in drafting marital property agreements. He leads a team dedicated to complex family law cases and protecting families from false CPS allegations.
Based in Houston, Bryan is active in the Houston Family Law Sector of the Houston Bar Association and various family law groups in Texas. His deep understanding of family values and his professional dedication make him a compassionate advocate for families navigating Texas family law.
