Planning for what happens after your death is very important. Many people understand how essential it is to create an estate plan, but fail to go far enough. Simply creating a do-it-yourself will, or even going to a lawyer to get a will written, is not necessarily going to be sufficient to protect your assets more »
Tonja B. Carter is the lawyer, spokeswoman and trustee of the estate of Harper Lee, the best-selling author of the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Harper Lee has been in the news as of late mainly due to the release of her book “Go Set a Watchman”, the publishing sensation of the year. Some consider more »
Young or old, after the financial devastation of the six months, we have more reasons than ever take a fresh look at our financial and estate plans. Most of us planned for increased financial assets in the future. Very few of us has planned for less money. Those who are retired or plan to be more »
Up until last month, Whittier, California was best known for being the hometown of Richard Nixon — and me. It looks like this honor will now pass to Nadya Suleman’s octuplets and her six other kids. I’m still waiting by the phone for Nadya to call me for some estate planning advice. I assume that more »
Over their lives, people tend to accumulate a lot of “stuff”: furniture, clothing, knick-knacks, books, personal collections, etc. And when they die, that stuff gets passed on to their loved ones, taking up space in their garages, looking oddly out of place in their dining rooms, or sitting in storage simply because the heirs can’t more »
Late-in-life second marriages are becoming commonplace in American society, and with it, anxiety has been rising among stepchildren. Estate planning lawyers have had to pay greater attention to the particular concerns and needs of blended families because also becoming more common is the courtroom brawls between stepparents and stepchildren and stepsiblings. The first concern I more »
Not long ago I received a call from Mary, a client of mine who lives in a large Orange County retirement community. My client’s 87-year-old brother Bill lives in the same town, a few door down, and is having some health problems. (As they used to say on Dragnet, the names have been changed to more »
Tom Benson had once anointed his daughter and grandchildren as his heirs. Today, Benson and his third wife are waging an ugly courtroom fight for control of New Orleans Saints and his $2 billion fortune. Benson’s story seems like a plot from a US soap opera but it really has turned into a bitter courtroom more »
There has been much news in recent days about the need for Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance and the recent reports of large increases in premiums and big insurance companies announcing that they will not sell any new policies. The subject deserves more time and space than one blog article, so today I will touch more »
One of the most important tasks that one should complete during their lifetime is to make a Will. A Will is a document that specifies the distribution of your property in case of your death. It also appoints an executor who will have the responsibility to ensure the accurate execution of the distribution that you more »
After a loved one passes away, the personal representative (fiduciary) on behalf of the estate or trust is responsible for managing the estate and distributing the assets.When the decedent has a valid New York will or trust in place…
Under New York Law, a guardian is a person who has the authority to take care of your minor children if you are unable to as a result of a mental incapacity, illness, disability or you pass away. The legal guardian has the same authority and powers as a parent…
