APRIL 25, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 15 Last week the Arizona Legislature adjourned for the year. Just before closing down the session legislators adopted a number of new measures dealing with probate court, trusts and especially guardianship and conservatorship matters. Most of the bills passed by the legislature are still awaiting the Governor’s signature, but…
APRIL 18, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 14 All you want to do is to find a lawyer to draft a simple will and powers of attorney. You ask your friends, but no one has a referral they feel unequivocally good about. A little online searching reveals that there are any number of organizations, credentials and…
APRIL 11, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 13 The Montana Supreme Court identifies him as “J.R.” to protect him from public identification, but it is possible to get quite a feeling for him, his family and the two different conservators appointed to handle his finances. In 2006, when the legal proceedings started, J.R. was 78 years…
APRIL 4, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 12 My son will be 18 in a little more than a year. He is in high school, in the special education program. What do I need to do to prepare for his eighteenth birthday? Excellent question. Assuming it is limited to legal matters (those are the only ones…
MARCH 28, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 11 Are we just too cynical? Is it possible that the flyer we received in the mail last week is genuinely valuable and the company upstanding? Could it be that it is not an annuity sales pitch aimed at seniors? On one side we see a series of “Consumer…
MARCH 21, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 10 Rebecca Susan Blair had practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio, since 1986. When the local probate court appointed her to take over as a successor guardian (of the estate — what we in Arizona would call a conservator) early in 2005, she had a good reputation and seemed to…
MARCH 14, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 9 Let us be clear right up front. The California Court of Appeals ultimately agreed that Steven Wayne Stoker had successfully revoked a will favoring a former girlfriend. He also successfully revoked the trust created at the same time as that original will. In a sense, our headline is…
Here’s a question that comes up frequently in our practice: how should the funds held in a special needs trust be invested? The answer should be obvious: a good investment plan for a special needs trust — just like a good investment plan for an individual — should consider the amount available to invest, the…
MARCH 7, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 8 Two weeks ago we answered some of our readers’ frequent questions, and we solicited more. We heard from several of you with good questions of general interest. Among those (with identifying information and some details stripped out): My wife and I do not have any obvious family member…
FEBRUARY 28, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 7 The issue arises with some regularity. A married couple, perhaps in their second marriage. Adult children. One spouse becomes ill — often, but not always, demented. The other spouse, unable to cope, turns the care of the ill spouse over to one of the children. That child figures…