The Saga of Fran and Dave

9 Dec 2022 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:00

In this YouTube video, attorney Jerry Taylor narrates a real‑life estate‑planning case involving Fran and Dave, a couple in their late 60s who added their son Jonathan to the title of all their assets—home, bank accounts, rental properties, and a farm—to avoid probate for their heirs. Years later, Jonathan caused a fatal car accident, was sued, and a $3 million judgment was entered against him. Because Jonathan’s name was on the couple’s assets, the judgment creditor attached those assets, threatening the couple’s estate. Taylor uses the story to illustrate the dangers of simple joint‑ownership strategies for probate avoidance and invites viewers to propose alternative legal solutions, promising to share his own answer in the comments.

Chapters

My name is Jerry Taylor. I'm a lawyer. I've tried cases all over the country. I've gotten multimillion-dollar verdicts, and I've handled estates in every state in the country. But tonight, let's see how well you know the law. Here are the facts. This is the true story of Fran and Dave. Fran and Dave were in their late 60s. They had one son, Jonathan. Fran and Dave wanted to leave everything to Jonathan when they died. Fran and Dave did not want Jonathan to have to go through probate, which is a year or two long process that you have to go through if all you have is a will. They decided they would put Jonathan on the title of all their assets. They added his name to the deed on their home, to their bank accounts, to the deed of 2 rental homes and a farm. A few years later though, Jonathan got into a bad car accident that was his fault. A person was killed in the accident and their estate sued Jonathan. Eventually a trial took place and a verdict was entered against Jonathan for $3 million. Jonathan only had $1 million in insurance. Fran and Dave then found out that all the assets that had Jonathan's name on it were being attached by the estate of the person who was killed. This could have been easily avoided. You tell me in the comments what your solution would have been and I'll give you my answer in the comments as well.