APRIL 18, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 15 Your estate is simple, your family relationships clear, your intentions easy to understand. Why can’t you just write your own will, and save the legal fees? Because of Esther Hill, that’s why. Actually, that’s not her real name — we change the names of most of the people…
ELDER LAW ISSUES
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APRIL 11, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 14 It is unusual to see an appellate court decision overturning an order appointing a guardian (of the person) or conservator (of the estate). Judges tend to be protective about elderly people showing even a little evidence of mental decline — often to the point of paternalism. It was…
APRIL 4, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 13 March was “Write-a-Will” month (sometimes referred to as “Why a Will” month). Though we’ve never understood the difference, August will be “Make a Will” month again this and every year. In the United Kingdom, every March and October are “Free Wills” months. Or is it April?Or is that…
MARCH 28, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 12 A recent case from the Alaska Supreme Court addresses special needs trusts. It doesn’t break any legal ground (the decision actually focuses on an entirely procedural issue), but it does give us a chance to talk about common problems arising in the administration of such trusts. “T.V.”, then…
MARCH 21, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 11 You have decided to create a revocable living trust, naming your oldest daughter as successor trustee. Your trust directs that, upon your death, $10,000 is to go to each of your grandchildren, $50,000 to the Good Intentions charity, and everything else will be divided equally among your three…
MARCH 14, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 10 Our good friend Amos Goodall, a nationally-known elder law attorney in State College, Pennsylvania, wrote our newsletter for this week. Amos explains a particularly confusing and complicated issue. The Social Security retirement program basically gives back, with some small interest, funds you and your employer have deposited into…
MARCH 7, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 9 We occasionally get questions from our clients involving ownership of real estate — usually around the creation, funding or administration of a living trust. These questions are particularly common, and since we got them (from different clients) in the last two weeks, it seemed like a good time…
FEBRUARY 22, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 8 This week, a letter from Fleming & Curti, PLC attorney Amy Farrell Matheson, addressed to a father (not, as it happens, her father so much as your father): Dad, we need to talk: We love you and want the best for you. Over the past few months, we’ve…
FEBRUARY 15, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 7 We live in an increasingly mobile world. That assertion is hardly controversial. The reality that America’s patchwork of over fifty separate legal jurisdictions can make for confusion and conflict is well understood by lawyers and observers. A recent guardianship and conservatorship case involving two states (neither of them…
FEBRUARY 8, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 6 Sometimes court proceedings are necessary in order to resolve differences of opinion — but almost everyone recognizes that it is good to seek resolution by a simple agreement when the parties can resolve their differences outside court. Mediation, for instance, is a great way to resolve many legal…