When most people think about making an “estate plan,” they jump straight to deciding who gets what when they die. But there’s a lot about an estate plan that comes into play when you are alive. The most important: your financial power of attorney. Why the Financial Power of Attorney? Every adult should have a…
Last month the United States Supreme Court ruled (unanimously) that North Carolina’s approach to taxation of trusts was impermissible. If it was a 9-0 decision, though, the obvious questions are: Whoever thought North Carolina’s approach to taxation of trusts would be acceptable in the first place? and What difference will this decision actually make for…
Here’s our round up of the past month’s developments in estate planning and elder law. We touch on elder law issues from assisted suicide to income taxation of trusts and beyond. See an item that might be of interest? Let us know what you think. Another State OKs Assisted Suicide Maine became the latest state…
We’ve hinted about it and announced it. We’ve celebrated his career and accomplishments. This week, though, it became final: Tom Curti retires. Tom Curti, Wisconsin transplant In 1973, Tom moved from his native Wisconsin to Tucson in order to attend the University of Arizona College of Law. He had grown up in a small town…
There’s one persistent problem with will contests. Academics often refer to the “worst evidence” rule. The person who signed the will can not testify about what they wanted. Wouldn’t it be great if you could take care of a will contest, before death of the signer removes the best evidence? First, though, let us make…
Is your current Mr. or Mrs. Right not your first spouse? And do you have kids from another relationship? Second marriages can be wonderfully fulfilling, but step families come with built-in tensions. If this is you, it’s essential to consider an estate plan. Otherwise, the state of Arizona has a plan, and its rules almost…
Arizona is one of the nine U.S. states operating under the principles of “community property.” The basic premise of community property: assets acquired during the period of the marriage are presumed to belong to the marital community (and thus to the spouses equally). There are lots of qualifications and exceptions, but one issue crops up…
Sometimes, you can develop a fondness for tasks that used to seem like a chore. That’s me and the brief. Having spent more than a decade in newspaper journalism, I compiled plenty of news briefs, collections of news of the day each item boiled down to a paragraph or two. These days, news bits are…
New clients frequently come to us after they have been told that they need to “get” or “set up” a special needs trust. They often don’t realize that there are different kinds of special needs trusts. Sometimes a self-settled special needs trust is the right answer. In some cases the right approach is a third-party…
You’ve signed your will and powers of attorney. Maybe you’ve even signed a living trust. But now who should get copies of your will and trust? Is the answer different for your powers of attorney? What to do with the original documents First, let’s just say a word about what you should do with the…