Lawyer Discipline Invoked After Self-Dealing With Mother’s Estate
We often write about cases of lawyer discipline. That’s not because we enjoy relating the stories, but because they often provide guidance even to non-lawyers. For one example, many of the lawyer discipline cases involve breaches of fiduciary duty. The duties owed to an estate are the same whether the executor is a lawyer or […]
Nursing Home Resident’s Lawyer Did Nothing Wrong
FEBRUARY 23, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 8 From time to time we report on cases in which lawyers are disciplined for behavior involving clients who are older or have disabilities. We do that not out of any sense of schadenfreude, but because the behavior described in the disciplinary proceeding is illustrative of an important limitation […]
Powers of Appointment and Trust Reformation
JULY 1, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 24 Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you intend. That is hardly a novel observation, but it can have a big effect on the work you hire a lawyer to do for you. Let’s try an example. Suppose that you want to give some money to your […]
Powers of Attorney: Draft With Care and Use as Instructed
APRIL 7, 2003 VOLUME 10, NUMBER 40 Recently two different state courts addressed the exercise of authority made pursuant to a durable financial power of attorney. These cases illustrate why care should be taken both in drafting a power of attorney and in choosing an agent. In Florida, after David R. James II died, four […]
