You probably already know a thing or two about the ABLE Act. It offers new flexibility and autonomy for people with disabilities. Now residents of Arizona can open an ABLE Act account with the new AZ ABLE program. What is ABLE? The Achieving a Better Life Experience Act passed Congress in 2014. It permitted states…
ELDER LAW ISSUES
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We’ve written about this issue before. Don’t put your property in joint tenancy with your child (or children) as a means of avoiding probate. It’s a mistake. Talk to a lawyer. Why don’t people believe us? Though we write impassioned pieces about the problems with joint tenancy, a funny thing happens when we look at…
It’s a problem we see increasingly often. A trust will name a trustee, and even a successor trustee. What’s the problem? The successor trustee is not available, or fails to act, or is otherwise no longer the right choice. How does a new trustee take over? It is sometimes difficult to figure out when the new…
Theresa Givens settled a personal injury lawsuit in 2011. She would receive a little over $250,000 in settlement proceeds. In order to keep her Medicaid benefits, she put her lawsuit settlement into a pooled special needs trust. Before she could even get any serious benefit from the trust account, she died in November, 2011. Pooled…
If you act as guardian or conservator, you know that it can be a challenging job. Sometimes you need legal counsel. If you incur attorney fees, can you charge them to the estate? The general rule is that you can collect your attorney fees from the estate. There are exceptions. If your actions benefit you…
Disclaimer is an important tool in the estate planning toolbox. After an individual’s death, they obviously can’t fix any estate planning mistakes. Sometimes a disclaimer will allow the decedent’s intentions to be carried out. But there are problems with disclaimers. It is important to figure out how to use the strategy fairly and effectively. Joanne…
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act became law at the very end of 2017, and affects taxes for the current year. Many commentators have dissected how the tax cut law will affect tax rates, and business taxes. That’s not all the Act contains, however. A number of changes will particularly affect our older clients or…
Do you have specific burial or cremation wishes? Perhaps you have explained those to your family. Maybe you have written them down. You might even have made the arrangements — and paid for them in advance. Will your family — and the funeral provider — follow your wishes? Funeral/burial law varies by state First, we…
An Arizona guardianship and conservatorship case involving a Disney heir seems to have stumbled to a conclusion. It took six hotly contentious years and (reportedly) millions of dollars in legal fees. The case involves interesting legal issues and intense family drama. One side issue: the appointment of a “guardian ad litem”. What is a guardian…
Elder law and estate planning — which is what we practice at Fleming & Curti, PLC — doesn’t usually include divorce and family law issues. Sometimes, though, the two practice areas overlap. As, for instance, when a divorce decree effectively changes an estate plan. ERISA preemption Before we tell you our story this week, we…