JUNE 16, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 22 It’s not very often that the U.S. Supreme Court involves itself in legal issues related to estate planning and elder issues. Last week, though, the Court did just that — by ruling that an inherited IRA is not exempt from the beneficiary/owner’s creditors, at least in a bankruptcy…
JUNE 9, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 21 Our clients are often confused about whether their heirs will owe any taxes on the inheritance they are set to receive. We don’t blame them — it’s confusing. Let us try to reduce the confusion. The federal estate tax limit was raised to $5 million and indexed for…
JUNE 2, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 20 We have written before — earlier this year, in fact — about whether individuals who are under guardianship have the ability to get married. When this question comes up (and it should be said that it is rare) it usually is in a context like that of our…
MAY 26, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 19 If you have had your estate plan prepared or reviewed by one of the lawyers at Fleming & Curti, PLC, you almost certainly have signed a durable power of attorney. You may have signed a document prepared by another lawyer, or even found one online or in a…
MAY 19, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 18 When our clients consider creating a revocable living trust, we usually explain that there are several benefits to that estate planning device. Chief among those benefits for most people: avoidance of probate on the death of the client. For married couples, there is usually no probate required on…
MAY 12, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 17 At Fleming & Curti, PLC, we do not handle divorce cases. From time to time, though, a divorce case raises the same kinds of issues that we see in the guardianship, conservatorship and probate cases we do handle. A recent Arizona Court of Appeals decision is a case…
APRIL 28, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 16 We have written before about the fact that, despite popular notions, will contests are actually quite rare. We have explained to our readers that mounting a will contest can be an expensive proposition, and that the likelihood of success is usually slight. Those observations remain true today, but…
APRIL 21, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 15 It is late April, and that means Spring is in full bloom in Tucson. Many of our winter visitors (we call them “snowbirds” but not mockingly or disparagingly — at least most of the time) will be returning to Illinois, Missouri, New York, Wisconsin, or other, cooler climes.…
APRIL 14, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 14 I have a new aspiration. I want my obituary to appear (at the appropriate time, of course — not before) in someone’s blog, newsletter, book or other publication as “one of the best obituaries ever” — maybe even to “go viral.” I’m just not sure I can count…
APRIL 7, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 13 From time to time we devote our weekly newsletter to a story about estate planning gone wrong — often (but not always) because of an individual’s decision to forego the help of a lawyer in drafting a will or trust. Lawyers also make mistakes, of course, but they…
