JULY 9, 2001 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 2 Lawyers who represent mentally impaired clients often wonder: is the lawyer’s duty to advocate the client’s wishes, no matter how peculiar, or to act in the client’s best interests? That was the dilemma facing New Hampshire attorney Tony Soltani after his client was committed to a mental hospital.…
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JULY 2, 2001 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 1 Income tax protestors may really believe that they can choose to opt out of the federal government’s income tax system. Some objectors may think they are making an important political point. They keep losing, however, and paying extra taxes and court costs for making arguments that are simply…
JUNE 25, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 52 Sweepstakes solicitations have become a major financial problem for the elderly in America. Thousands of individuals send millions of dollars to promoters of get-rich-quick schemes every year. Spouses and other family members are often powerless to prevent the fleecing of gullible individuals as they send in check after…
JUNE 18, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 51 Last week Elder Law Issues predicted that the principal effect of the federal government’s estate tax repeal would be to make most people revisit their estate plans (and their attorney) more often. Because of the automatic “sunset” of the repeal measure in 2011, any plan addressing the changes…
JUNE 11, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 50 On June 7, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Despite extensive media coverage of tax reform, and especially of estate tax repeal, over the past six months, you may have been left wondering what it means. It turns…
JUNE 4, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 49 Marshall and J’Noel Gardiner were married in Kansas in September, 1998 after a short courtship. At the time Mr. Gardiner was 85, his new wife was 40. Mr. Gardiner died less than a year later, survived by Mrs. Gardiner and one son, Joseph Gardiner. Mr. Gardiner had not…
MAY 28, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 48 Elder law attorneys often discuss characteristics common to the older individuals they deal with. Clients frequently show up early for appointments, are unflaggingly courteous and pleasant to deal with, and seem to enjoy talking about their families and travels. One other common characteristic, perhaps arising from a Depression-era…
MAY 21, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 47 Ruth Chandler was 73 when she established her revocable trust in 1997. The New Jersey woman had no family, and so she named Summit Bank as trustee. She transferred about $1.7 million into the name of the trust. Three months later she revoked that trust and established a…
MAY 14, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 46 In 1997 a rural Arizona county Public Fiduciary stunned the state’s advocacy community when he acknowledged taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from his ward’s estates (“Mohave Public Fiduciary Pleads Guilty, Faces Certain Jail Time“). Thefts by private fiduciaries (and lawyers representing fiduciaries) are all too common, but…
MAY 7, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 45 Last week Elder Law Issues reported on Arizona’s new “Beneficiary Deed” statute. A law passed by the Arizona legislature this year creates a new, simpler way to pass title to real property, without any requirement of probate and avoiding the cost of establishing a living trust. A number…