Trust Benefiting Lawyer Creates Undue Influence Presumption
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 21 To be valid, a will or trust must reflect the intentions of a competent signer. If the signer is deemed to have been subject to the undue influence of someone else, the document can be invalidated. Even documents carefully prepared by lawyers sometimes get successfully challenged. When the lawyer is a […]
Determining Which State Has Jurisdiction Over a Trust
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 20 Let’s say you have a disagreement with your sister, who is trustee of a trust your parents created. Your sister lives in Montana, though she has a winter home in Arizona. Your parents lived in Arizona when they died. They signed their wills and trust in Arizona, and their lawyer was […]
Special Needs Trust Can Receive Child Support Payments
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 19 A divorced couple has a child with a disability, and one spouse is paying child support to the other. But what happens when the child turns 18? Does anyone still pay child support? If so, to whom? And what effect does any child support have on the (now adult) child’s eligibility […]
Even Without State Statute, Court Approves Trust Decanting
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 18 When a trustee transfers assets to a new trust with the same beneficiaries (but different terms), it is often called decanting. “Decant” is an analogy: the trustee is, in a sense, pouring trust assets from an old vessel into a new container, and improving the quality of the trust in the […]
What Happens When Someone Dies Intestate?
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 17 Even with regular prompting, about half of people never get around to completing even basic estate planning. If they never do get a will signed, we lawyers say that they have died “intestate”. But what does that really mean for their loved ones? Note that the information we provide here is […]
Guardianship, Conservatorship and Jury Trials in Arizona
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 16 Suppose someone has asked the Arizona courts for appointment as your guardian and/or your conservator. A trial has been set to consider the petition. Do you think you should be entitled to a jury trial before a guardian or conservator is appointed? Under Arizona law, you are entitled to a jury […]
Failure to File Court Accounting Ends Up Being Costly
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 15 Every state’s laws require court-appointed conservators (or guardians) of an estate to file a regular court accounting. Usually those filings must be filed every year (as Arizona law requires), but a few states permit them once every two years. No state lets you wait eight years between court accountings, as an […]
Organ Donors Need to Address Some Choices
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 14 Here at Fleming & Curti, PLC, our standard estate planning service includes not just your will, but a financial power of attorney and a health care power of attorney. We also ask whether you would like to be an organ donor at death. Your response may reflect your religious traditions, experience […]
Surcharge Against Trustee for Benefiting Self
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 13 We see problems of trustees misbehaving all too often. Frequently those misbehaviors start from small decisions and are magnified over time. A trustee can be “surcharged” for actions benefiting the trustee at the expense of the trust. That can mean penalties as serious as forfeiture of all rights to receive benefits […]
Should You Share Your Estate Plan With Your Family?
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 12 You’ve done the thoughtful estate planning work we urged you to do. You signed your will, your powers of attorney — maybe you even created a living trust. Now what? Do you share your estate plan with your family? There is neither a requirement nor a prohibition — the decision about […]