GAY MARRIAGE GETS TEXAS INHERITANCE RIGHTS – anti DOMA ruling gives same sex marriage & gay couples inheritance & estate rights worth billion$

Same sex marriage ban in Texas keeps $$$ and rights away from same sex couples validly married in other states.    Everyone knows that inheritance rights are worth billions and billions of dollars. The Boston College Center on Wealth & Philanthropy has estimated that $41 Trillion will pass from the WWWII generation.   So what do probate, trusts, valuable homes and bank accounts have to do with same sex marriage and a recent Texas federal case?   Most states’ estate & probate laws, including Florida Probate Laws, provide   valuable estate rights   & inheritance rights for widows, heirs, next of kin and other family members—unless you are a spouse of a gay marriage.   The Florida Probate Code and estate laws, use terms like surviving spouse’s elective share, widow’s family allowance, intestate share, pretermitted spouse, pretermitted heir, to describe the valuable inheritance rights created in estates & trusts when hetero married people and family members pass away. But gay couples have not always been given those   same inheritance rights. While last June’s US Supreme Court rulings overturned DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), DOMA is still limping along, falling state by state. Those gay marriage cases were about a lot more than just gay men & women wanting to marry. There are BILLIION$ on the line in inheritance rights. Property rights. Probate rights. A Texas federal court has now issued a ruling on this issue.

GAY COUPLES’ CHALLENGE TO TEXAS LAW

Two homosexual couples challenged Texas’ law prohibiting same-sex marriage and wanted an injunction — to prevent the enforcement of that Texas law banning same sex marriage. As the Federal Court considered, there was a lot of money on the line. This same sex marriage case was about a lot more than just : can gay couples marry in Texas ? Can gay marriages and same sex marriages get the valuable protection of a state’s laws which hetero couples get are entitled to ? If the ruling is upheld, gay marriages in Texas will not only be recognized, but gay widows & the surviving spouses of gay marriages will inherit VALUABLE PROBATE & ESTATE INHERITANCE rights.

The federal court in Texas struck down prohibitions on same sex marriage.   DOMA is dying a slow death, but it seems dead in Texas — for now. The Court said that there was no “rational, much less compelling, reason for prohibiting same-sex marriage.” Texas can’t refuse to “recognize out-of-state same-sex marriage”.

Q: Who sued in this Texas same sex marriage lawsuit ?

A: A “gay couple who wishes to marry in the State of Texas but who is unable to do so because the Texas Constitution prohibits same-sex marriage, and a lesbian couple who married in Massachusetts.” (Massachusetts allows same-sex marriage. )

The Texas federal court held: “these laws are unconstitutional and hereby grants a preliminary injunction enjoining Defendants from enforcing Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage.” A huge legal victory for gay marriage — and inheritance rights for widows and surviving spoues:  a huge victory for probate rights. (Unless you are not a spouse).

TEXAS BAN ON SAME SEX MARRIAGE DENIES GAY COUPLES MANY STATE BENEFITS — INCLUDING ESTATE INHERITANCE RIGHTS, BURIAL RIGHTS AND WIDOW’S RIGHTS IN PROBATE MATTERS

The gay couple plaintiffs claimed that since Texas refused to marry gay couples or recognize same-sex marriage, that this denies same sex couples valuable benefits under state law, including

• Probate & inheritance rights afforded to married couples upon the death of a spouse, such as intestacy rights.
• The right for a spouse to bring an action for wrongful death.
• Homestead rights following the death of a spouse
• Certain legal property presumptions afforded to married couples
• Succession, estate and inheritance rights under state laws of intestacy
• Burial and funeral decisions (rights)