Oregon Wills, Trusts, and Probate

Drafting a coherent and well-mapped estate plan will ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes. An estate plan is personalized for you and may, but does not have to include, documents such as a will, trust, advanced care directive, healthcare surrogate designation, and/or inter vivos trust. It does not matter what your family situation or your age, it is imperative to revise these documents whenever something significant happens in your life (retirement, marriage, death, birth, or incapacity). An Oregon estate planning attorney can be helpful in preparing and updating your estate plan.

Oregon Will

An Oregon probate court may not admit an erroneously worded will to probate. As a result of erroneous language, your money and property may not be disbursed exactly according to your plan. To create a proper will in Oregon, you need:

1. Witnesses: An Oregon will must be signed by the testator and witnessed by two witnesses each of whom observes the testator sign or acknowledge his signature on the will. A witness to the will may be a beneficiary of the will.
2. Notarization: Though a few states do require a will to be notarized, Oregon does not require the will to be notarized for it to be legal. Requesting that witnesses sign an affidavit swearing that they signed the testator’s will in front of a notary, however, will make the will self-proving. Having a self-proving will can be beneficial because the will is automatically admitted to probate upon the testator’s death. Without a self-proving will the original witnesses to the will must be located and attest to the will in court in the county where the decedent lived.

If you are not sure about requirements for a proper Oregon will, or if you want to be sure that all the legal formalities and requirements have been met in drafting your will, contact an Oregon wills attorney to aid in your preparation of your will and other estate plan documents.

Changing a Will in Oregon

To change your Oregon will: Execute a codicil with amendments or additions to your will, or physically destroy (by burning, obliterating, or tearing) your will and create a new will in its place that will control. Discuss any changes or amendments to your will with an Oregon will attorney who specializes in drafting wills to ensure that the changes meet the requisite legal formalities and requirements for a proper will in Oregon.

Oregon Trust

You may want to consider utilizing a trust instrument to dispense with your money and property after your death. Trusts are adaptable, private, and can save you money on estate taxes and probate costs. In addition, trusts may be constructed for many purposes and in many forms, such as: charitable trusts, educational trusts, living trusts, life insurance trusts, etc. Trusts can also be either revocable or irrevocable, depending on what you prefer. To get more information on setting up a trust, or for assistance, speak to an Oregon trusts lawyer.

Oregon Probate

Property that a testator mentions in his will must be admitted to probate before it can be disbursed. Oregon law decides what to do with property not mentioned in the will, or with the property of a decedent who does not leave a will, based on the degree of relationship each potential beneficiary has to the decedent. This method of distribution is called intestate succession.

It may be unclear who should inherit property distributed according to intestate succession, or property allocated with ambiguous language in a testator’s will. As such, any interested party may petition the probate court for a definitive answer regarding to whom the property should be dispersed, and in what amounts.

Oregon provides for simplified probate procedures if the decedent’s estate is worth $200,000 or less, not more than $50,000 of which is personal property and $150,000 of which is real property.

In Oregon, the following relationships are significant in determining who has an interest in an estate that passes by intestate succession:

1. Spouses
2. Children (adopted, out of wedlock, or half bloods included)
3. Grandchildren
4. Parents
5. Siblings

• Some property may avoid probate:
  • non-probate assets –a person is unambiguously named as a beneficiary in the trust or will and the property goes directly to that person;
  • contract assets – money designated for a specific person such as money from a life insurance policy, IRA, or inter vivos trust; and,
  • jointly held property –property held by both the decedent and other people. Upon the death of one of the parties, ownership of the property is automatically conveyed to the other parties. Such property could include, for example, houses, cars, or bank accounts.

The terms of a will may be disputed even after a will’s creation. Because a dispute over the terms is possible, you should seek advice from an Oregon probate lawyer if you have questions about the durability of the provisions in your will.

Oregon Statutes

Oregon Revised Statutes, Chp. 112 – Oregon Probate Code

1. Probate Code: Wills
   • Oregon Revised Statutes, Chp. 112, §§ .225 – .435.
2. Probate Code: Intestate Succession
   • Oregon Revised Statutes Chp. 112, §§ .015- .115.
3. Probate Code: Administration of Estates
   • Oregon Revised Statutes, Chp. 112, §§ .810-.830.
4. Oregon Uniform Trust Code
   • Oregon Revised Statutes, Chp. 130, §§ .001 et. seq.