Judicial immunity protects judges and court personnel from being sued by unhappy litigants. Does that protection extend to people appointed by the judge under court rules? Sometimes, but not in every instance. Steve Gibson’s murder In 2013,Steve Gibson was brutally murdered in his Peoria, Arizona, home. Police soon determined that Gibson’s wife, son, and daughter…
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Although death sometimes arrives with plenty of warning, often there is none. Estate planning, of course, tries to provide a roadmap for both scenarios. The truth is, having an estate plan doesn’t always mean things go smoothly, and when things go smoothly, it’s not always because there was an estate plan. Take Luke Perry. After…
We’ve written about this issue before. Generally, your IRA beneficiary designation will control who receives your account. Your will (or trust) provisions will not override the beneficiary designation. Arizona’s community property rules won’t have much effect — in fact, they will normally have no effect. It’s all about your IRA beneficiary designation. Of course, people…
Arizona, of course, is a community property state. How does that affect the retirement account accumulated by one spouse during their marriage? Community property and the retirement account One spouse may have an interest in the other spouse’s retirement account, especially when it was accumulated during the marriage. State law, however, often takes a back…
Probate courts have broad discretion about how to handle the cases they consider. Especially when it comes to guardianship and conservatorship, the probate judge usually has considerable latitude about how to proceed. It is essential, however, that the probate judge recognize that he or she must give the litigants their due process — the rules…
Non-lawyers often assume that courts regularly appoint guardians from a list of people or agencies they have dealt with before. In fact, the people involved almost always choose the guardian, rather than the judge herself. Many states (including Arizona) do have a method for vetting a potential guardian, though. The role may be named something…
Usually, this space is occupied by a report on a recent case or circumstance. We try to generalize those specific cases for our Arizona clients. Or perhaps we tackle a larger issue that comes up regularly. Today, though, we’d like to tell you about new and upcoming changes at Fleming & Curti, PLC. We’re not…
When a married person files for a divorce, Arizona law requires issuance of an automatic injunction. The injunction prevents changes in assets or titles until the divorce is resolved. It maintains the status quo while the legal system kicks into gear. An automatic injunction also issues in other, related kinds of actions. For instance, filing…
Most people are unfamiliar with the term “surety bond”, and may never have run across the concept. When a court appoints someone to manage another person’s money, a surety bond is often involved. Different kinds of fiduciaries Depending on the context, a court might appoint a conservator to handle the estate of someone who is…
In 2014, Congress adopted the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (better known as ABLE). That new law formally introduced the concept of a “qualified disability expense”. But what kind of expenditure is a qualified disability expense? And does the term mean anything outside of ABLE? Definition of qualified disability expense The ABLE Act itself…