Guest Contributor Articles
My clients frequently claim that their number one goal in establishing an estate plan is to “avoid probate.” Upon further discussion, I discover that most have a number of misconceptions regarding what probate actually is. Probate Probate is, quite simply, the legal process by which assets owned by a decedent are transferred to the rightful […]
Part III: Who? Identifying The Participants. “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts[.]” ~ William Shakespeare’s As You Like It In addition to making clients face their own mortality, estate planning presents an […]
I have helped many people draft their estate plan documents and most have been traditional in the sense that they want to be “fair” to their descendants. If there is a spouse all goes to them, next to their kids in equal shares. Further, the testator (persons for whom the estate plan has been drafted) […]
Although most of us would consider our estate planning attorney to be superhuman, the fact of the matter is that sometimes they are unable to perform their duties. In a recent case, the district court found that the physical and mental ailments of an estate planning attorney did not provide reasonable cause for the estate […]
Across the board, the significant majority of personal injury lawsuits and workers’ compensation claims are resolved through settlement. The reasons for the high percentage of cases that settle are myriad. Our crowded court system and resulting delays can wear down litigants; the increase in alternative dispute resolution helps cases resolve before trial; the inherent unpredictability […]
A few months ago, I wrote about the importance of having life insurance to help provide for your family upon your death. Today I write about life insurance again, but from a different perspective: what if something unexpected happens to your child? I know that no one likes to think about this scenario, but just […]
Part II: Why? Framing the Issue. “Art is a nation’s most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves and to others the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish.” ~Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Arts & Humanities […]
One of the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn is a decrease in the size of institutional endowments, just at the time when reliance on those funds may increase in order to offset a simultaneous reduction in other (e.g. contribution) income. Because stock market performance does not directly coincide with economic health, particularly in a […]
Make Sure Your Money Goes to the Right Person after You’re Gone There is so much information available about personal finances that you could spend your entire life reading all of it and you would never reach the end. Usually personal financial topics are geared toward what to do with your investments or how to […]
What happens to your medical records when you die? Who has access to them? How long are they retained? Why are we asking these questions? When someone dies, medical records can be important for several reasons: 1) If the decedent owned a life insurance policy, the insurance company may need the records when processing the […]
Everyone should have an estate plan. Estate planning attorneys say that a lot, and we mean it! But this is even more critical for farming families. There are many unique issues and problems that play an important role when planning for families with farms, among them: estate taxes, complicated probates, business succession, emotional ties and […]