Partial furlough may require full pay under some circumstances

Q: Due to the COVID-19 situation, my employer has told us that everyone making over $75,000 will be furloughed for one week every month from July until December. Will I be able to collect unemployment from the Texas Workforce Commission for those weeks?

A: The short answer to your very complicated question is you should file a claim with the TWC (ww.twc.texas.gov) and see what happens. The worst is that your claim will be denied.

Note, if you are a salaried employee, your furlough week can be unpaid only if you do absolutely no work. That means no emails, phone calls or meetings. If you do any work at all, then technically you are entitled to your full salary.

Check out the TWC website for more information on COVID-19 claims.

Q: My wife and I each have children from prior marriages, and our wills contain a complex division of assets after we have both passed away. For our bank and brokerage accounts, should we name each other as the first beneficiary, and then have the second beneficiary be “my estate under the terms set forth in Last Will and Testament dated June 6, 2018”?

A: The answer to your question depends on the type of account you have.

If the account is one held as joint account with rights of survivorship, you don’t need to add any beneficiaries.

The survivorship feature means the account will pass to the one of you who outlives the other, and after you have both died, the account will automatically pass through the survivor’s estate.

If the account is held as tenants in common, then it’s a nonissue as to beneficiaries, as each of your half interest in the account will pass through your estate upon your death. Typically, you do not need to name beneficiaries with a tenants in common account.

If the account is an individual account, where only one of your names is on the account, that’s where you need to be careful. You could name each other as the primary beneficiary, but the contingent beneficiary should either be “my estate” or you should have no alternate beneficiary.

Adding the words “under the terms set forth in Last Will and Testament dated June 6, 2018” is not a good idea because there is no need to say all of that. There is also the risk that one of you might change your will and forget to change the contingent beneficiary on the account.

Of course, after one of you dies, the surviving spouse will be free to change how your properties are to be distributed.

Often, the complex division of assets is replaced by a new and very different division soon after the first spouse dies.

It often happens shortly after the children from the deceased spouse start asking about their inheritance.

Other times, the surviving spouse gets remarried (often within months of the first spouse’s death), and that introduces even more complexity into the situation.

The information in this column is intended to provide a general understanding of the law, not legal advice. Readers with legal problems, including those whose questions are addressed here, should consult attorneys for advice on their particular circumstances. Ronald Lipman of the Houston law firm Lipman & Associates is board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Email questions to stateyourcase@lipmanpc.com.