JUNE 26, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 52 When Robert L. Johnson died in Mississippi in 1938, he was largely unknown. The 27-year-old had a musical gift, and he left a number of blues recordings. There did not appear to be any valuable property in his estate at the time, though, so no probate was initiated.…
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JUNE 19, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 51 Carol Creasy worked as a certified nursing assistant at Brethren Healthcare Center in Flora, Indiana. She had worked at the facility for almost two years. Among the residents she helped care for was Lloyd Rusk, an Alzheimer’s patient with a tendency to be combative. Mr. Rusk was first…
JUNE 12, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 50 The big news in the elder law and estate planning field this week was the Friday passage (by the House of Representatives) of a bill to repeal the federal estate tax. The vote to repeal was lopsided, with a 279-136, with 65 Democrats joining the Republican majority. Does…
JUNE 5, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 49 Living wills and health care powers of attorney may take care of most of the end-of-life medical decisions you (or a loved one) will face. But for many patients the final medical decisions must be made outside of the hospital setting. Rather than doctors and nurses, the treatment…
MAY 29, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 48 People often try to solve their legal problems without the help of lawyers. Frequently they accomplish exactly what they want. Sometimes they complicate their own lives unnecessarily and expensively, when a little sound legal advice would have resolved the difficulty easily. Take, for example, the situation Montanan Boyd…
MAY 22, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 47 Lucille Lucareli had three sons: Les Lee, Leigh and Robert. She owned her home in Racine, Wisconsin, and not much else. In 1996 she gave her son Les Lee a durable financial power of attorney, and she also took some steps to plan for the possibility that she…
MAY 15, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 46 Physical, sexual, mental and emotional abuse of elderly and vulnerable adults is a growing problem not only in Arizona, but around the world. Such abuse is also a crime. Even the failure to report elder abuse may be a crime in some circumstances. Arizona law particularly protects “vulnerable”…
MAY 8, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 45 James Earl Ray was convicted in the 1969 murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray died in prison in 1998, although he had by that time filed at least eight separate appeals seeking his release. His estate now provides the legal world with an odd footnote. When Ray…
MAY 1, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 44 It has taken three decades to establish, but the notion of patient self-determination is now firmly entrenched in American law. A patient has the right to instruct that life-sustaining medical care be withheld or removed. To protect against future treatment, an individual can execute a living will and/or…
APRIL 24, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 43 In 1997 James Wrosch planned his own funeral. He made arrangements for cremation and instructed the funeral home to deliver his ashes to his good friend James Cady. He even had his mother, brother and sister sign forms agreeing that Mr. Cady could take charge of his remains.…