Do you enjoy do-it-yourself projects? How about your estate planning? Can’t you just write your own will? How about online trust forms? And wouldn’t it be cheaper if you just prepared your estate planning documents and then paid a lawyer to review them for you? In this podcast episode, we talk about DIY estate planning.…
Three weeks ago, the leading American company selling long-term care insurance suspended sales of its lead product. Last week, the company restarted sales — but only by direct online contact. In other words, brokers and insurance salespeople are now cut out of the loop for the largest seller. What does that mean for the marketplace,…
Guardianship, conservatorship, power of attorney, living will, surrogate decision-maker — what does it all mean? We talk about guardianship and conservatorship. Join us as we define some of the terms and introduce you to the basics of surrogate decision-making. As always, of course, we are talking about Arizona law. Some of the terms are different…
Judicial immunity protects judges and court personnel from being sued by unhappy litigants. Does that protection extend to people appointed by the judge under court rules? Sometimes, but not in every instance. Steve Gibson’s murder In 2013,Steve Gibson was brutally murdered in his Peoria, Arizona, home. Police soon determined that Gibson’s wife, son, and daughter…
For your estate planning to work, you need to coordinate your beneficiary designations. Did you name the right beneficiaries on your life insurance, your IRAs and retirement plans, and your bank and brokerage accounts? Did you know that you can also name beneficiaries for your real estate (at least in Arizona) and your vehicles? Beneficiary…
Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman and Jacquelyne J. Mingle are now partners in the law firm of Fleming & Curti, PLC. What does that mean for the future of the firm? Will the name change? And what about the possibility that partner Thomas A. Curti might actually be retiring — is there truth to that rumor?…
We’ve written about this issue before. Generally, your IRA beneficiary designation will control who receives your account. Your will (or trust) provisions will not override the beneficiary designation. Arizona’s community property rules won’t have much effect — in fact, they will normally have no effect. It’s all about your IRA beneficiary designation. Of course, people…
Arizona, of course, is a community property state. How does that affect the retirement account accumulated by one spouse during their marriage? Community property and the retirement account One spouse may have an interest in the other spouse’s retirement account, especially when it was accumulated during the marriage. State law, however, often takes a back…
Probate courts have broad discretion about how to handle the cases they consider. Especially when it comes to guardianship and conservatorship, the probate judge usually has considerable latitude about how to proceed. It is essential, however, that the probate judge recognize that he or she must give the litigants their due process — the rules…
Non-lawyers often assume that courts regularly appoint guardians from a list of people or agencies they have dealt with before. In fact, the people involved almost always choose the guardian, rather than the judge herself. Many states (including Arizona) do have a method for vetting a potential guardian, though. The role may be named something…