JULY 19, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 3 Jose C. Martinez lived and died in Belen, New Mexico. Mr. Martinez was the father of ten children, and in 1984 he had signed a will leaving his real estate to two of the children. In 1995, Mr. Martinez signed a document called “Revokation of Last Will and…
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JULY 12, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 2 Thomas Mullen and 28 other defendants were charged with telemarketing fraud in New York federal court. At trial, the jury convicted Mullen on two of four counts, but the trial judge decided that there had been insufficient evidence of Mullen’s intentions and set aside the conviction. The government…
JULY 5, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 1 In nearly every state, living wills and health care powers of attorney can effectively declare a patient’s wishes regarding medical treatment and authorize an agent to carry out those wishes. In some states, the two kinds of documents may be combined into a single form, and they may…
JUNE 28, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 52 Beginning in 1970, the Gary, Indiana public school system was faced with a major problem. Student enrollment was declining rapidly (the number of students was to drop by one third in the next fifteen years), and the school system found itself laying off teachers and administrators. In 1982,…
JUNE 21, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 51 Sylvia Ann Patterson and Dennis Strickland began seeing each other socially in 1963. After Ms. Patterson’s divorce in 1969, their relationship continued to intensify, until Ms. Patterson moved into Mr. Strickland’s mobile home in 1975. That year, Mr. Strickland bought a new home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and…
JUNE 14, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 50 Goldia Sevier Horne was 99 years old when she died in Arkansas. She had signed a will in 1989, leaving her estate to a collection of friends and family members. Shortly after her death, the personal representative named in that will submitted it to the probate court, and…
JUNE 7, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 49 Federal law (the Age Discrimination in Employment Act–the ADEA) prohibits discrimination “against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of such individual’s age.” The law specifically protects all employees over age 40. Recently, the California Public Employees Retirement System (“CalPERS”) was…
MAY 31, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 48 J.B. Warren, Jr. had two children, Paul Warren and Anita W. LeCornu. After the death of his wife, he prepared a will leaving one piece of real estate to his son, another to his daughter, and all of his stocks, bonds and financial accounts to his son. Mr.…
MAY 24, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 47 Kevin and Gina Spann had been married for eleven years. When they married, Mrs. Spann had a two-year-old son from a prior marriage, Steven Hill; Mr. Spann’s will left his estate to Steven, and even referred to him as his own son, though he had not taken any…
MAY 17, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 46 The National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare sounded like a good idea. Seventeen Commission members met for the first time in March of last year, and were scheduled to make a truly bipartisan recommendation on how to “save” the Medicare program by March of this year.…