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Even With No Estate Tax, Some Tax May Be Due on Inheritance

Some tax may be due on inheritance

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 […]

Ward Seeks Court Permission to Marry His Girlfriend

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 […]

Making Your Power of Attorney More Useable — and Useful

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 […]

Home Refinance Can Foul Up Estate Planning

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 […]

State Court Does Not Control Social Security Payments

Social Security payee

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 […]

Will Contests Must Be Based on Actual Evidence

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 […]

Do You Need New Documents When You Travel Outside Arizona?

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. […]

Here’s a Project For You: Write Your Own Obituary

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 […]

Do-It-Yourself Will May Not Save Costs After All

Do-it-yourself

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 […]

Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship, or Community Property?

Community Property

MARCH 24, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 12 Which is better? How should we take title to our house? How about our brokerage account? These questions are really common in our practice. The answer is actually pretty straightforward, but we do need to lay a little groundwork. Arizona is a community property state. That means that […]

Robert B. Fleming

Attorney

Robert Fleming is a Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He has been certified as a Specialist in Estate and Trust Law by the State Bar of Arizona‘s Board of Legal Specialization, and he is also a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. Robert has a long history of involvement in local, state and national organizations. He is most proud of his instrumental involvement in the Special Needs Alliance, the premier national organization for lawyers dealing with special needs trusts and planning.

Robert has two adult children, two young grandchildren and a wife of over fifty years. He is devoted to all of them. He is also very fond of Rosalind Franklin (his office companion corgi), and his homebound cat Muninn. He just likes people, their pets and their stories.

Elizabeth N.R. Friman

Attorney

Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman is a principal and licensed fiduciary at Fleming & Curti, PLC. Elizabeth enjoys estate planning and helping families navigate trust and probate administrations. She is passionate about the fiduciary work that she performs as a trustee, personal representative, guardian, and conservator. Elizabeth works with CPAs, financial professionals, case managers, and medical providers to tailor solutions to complex family challenges. Elizabeth is often called upon to serve as a neutral party so that families can avoid protracted legal conflict. Elizabeth relies on the expertise of her team at Fleming & Curti, and as the Firm approaches its third decade, she is proud of the culture of care and consideration that the Firm embodies. Finding workable solutions to sensitive and complex family challenges is something that Elizabeth and the Fleming & Curti team do well.

Amy F. Matheson

Attorney

Amy Farrell Matheson has worked as an attorney at Fleming & Curti since 2006. A member of the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council, she is primarily responsible for estate planning and probate matters.

Amy graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in political science and English. She is an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School and has been admitted to practice in Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Fleming & Curti, Amy worked for American Public Television in Boston, and with the international trade group at White & Case, LLP, in Washington, D.C.

Amy’s husband, Tom, is an astronomer at NOIRLab and the Head of Time Domain Services, whose main project is ANTARES. Sadly, this does not involve actual time travel. Amy’s twin daughters are high school students; Finn, her Irish Red and White Setter, remains a puppy at heart.

Famous people's wills

Matthew M. Mansour

Attorney

Matthew is a law clerk who recently earned his law degree from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. His undergraduate degree is in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Matthew has had a passion for advocacy in the Tucson community since his time as a law student representative in the Workers’ Rights Clinic. He also has worked in both the Pima County Attorney’s Office and the Pima County Public Defender’s Office. He enjoys playing basketball, caring for his cat, and listening to audiobooks narrated by the authors.