The Challenge of Anticipating the Future
Anticipating the future: that’s what estate planning lawyers try to do. We want to get our clients’ wishes down on paper. That means we have to help them imagine all sorts of possible developments. Will tax rules change before your death? Likely, yes. But in what ways? And when will you die, anyway? How about […]
State Court Ordered to Approve Special Needs Trust
When an individual receiving Medicaid benefits receives a significant personal injury award, federal law permits creation of a “special needs” trust to hold the proceeds. That way, the individual can continue to receive Medicaid and other government benefits. Although every state’s Medicaid program allows such trusts, state court judges often balk at the concept. A […]
Pooled Special Needs Trust Payable to Estate on Beneficiary’s Death
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 […]
Failure to File Court Accounting Ends Up Being Costly
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 15 Every state’s laws require court-appointed conservators (or guardians) of an estate to file a regular court accounting. Usually those filings must be filed every year (as Arizona law requires), but a few states permit them once every two years. No state lets you wait eight years between court accountings, as an […]
Challenge to Three-Year-Old Trust Reformation is Dismissed
JANUARY 9, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2 With the increased emphasis on (and use of) living trusts for estate planning, we lawyers are seeing more and more cases in which an old trust needs modification. Perhaps the tax laws have changed since a parent or grandparent died. Maybe what once made sense is less defensible […]
Trust Created by Spouse Using Power of Attorney is Validated
JUNE 14 , 2010 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 19 Suppose for a moment that you are trying to get your financial affairs in order. You have been married for many years, and your spouse is gradually losing the capacity to make financial or planning decisions. You are pretty sure you know what your spouse would want, […]
Non-Lawyer Trust Preparation Group Shut Down in Indiana
MAY 3, 2010 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 15 United Financial Systems Corporation looks like they can do it all. According to their website (which you will have to look up for yourself — we don’t want to point to it since it still includes information about how to sign up for the activities that have now […]
Father’s Body, Moved Once, Need Not Be Moved Yet Again
APRIL 13, 2009 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 36 Is it just us, or is the incidence of family disputes over funeral and burial arrangements on the rise? A recent court case from Indiana makes us think maybe there are still more variations on a theme we thought had long since been played out. Sherman Warren died […]
Two Life Insurance Beneficiary Designations Require Litigation
APRIL 28, 2003 VOLUME 10, NUMBER 43 When people consider “estate planning” they usually are thinking about preparing a will. Sometimes the common conception of estate planning includes preparing a trust as well, and often durable powers of attorney are also part of the plan. But two recent cases demonstrate that “estate planning” is really […]
Death of Husband Ends Wife’s Right To Spousal Maintenance
OCTOBER 14, 2002 VOLUME 10, NUMBER 15 Walter and Geraldine Brown had filed for divorce before first Mr. Brown and then Mrs. Brown became incapacitated. When guardianship proceedings were initiated for both of them, the divorce proceeding was simply dismissed. Mr. and Mrs. Brown lived in Indiana, where the language of guardianship is a little […]
