John Wick - What You Need To Know about the Corporate Transparency Act
Once Removed Episode 24: Expressing Goals and Intent for the Trust
Once Removed Episode 22: Building Flexibility into the Estate Plan
Once Removed Episode 20: Helping a Beneficiary Purchase a Home
Once Removed Episode 19: The Step-Transaction Doctrine and the Case of Smaldino
Next Generation Legacy Management - The Essence of Developing, Managing and Implementing a Plan for Future Generations
A Primer On Trusts - A Podcast with Janathan Allen
Once Removed Episode 13: It’s 5 o’Clock: Do You Know Where Your Will Is? A Lesson From Aretha Franklin
Charitable Bequests With Guest Stephanie Hood
Once Removed Episode 12: SLATs and the Case of McKim vs. McKim
Once Removed Episode 11: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, or SLATs
Digital Planning Podcast Episode: Family Office Technology Solutions
Digital Planning Podcast Episode: The Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act
What is a self-proving affidavit?
The Importance of Beneficiary Designations
Basics of Estate Planning
The Case of the Disappearing Trust
Protecting Your Estate Plan from Challenges: No-Contest Clause Explained
The Secret Child
Welcome to 'Splitting Heirs'
The benefits of a Revocable Trust are three-fold. Firstly, assuming that the Revocable Trust is properly funded with all of a person’s assets, a Revocable Trust helps avoid a state’s probate procedure, which can be costly...more
The September 2024 Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and GRATs is 4.8%, a decrease from the August 2024 rate of 5.2%. The September applicable federal rate (“AFR”) for use...more
Newcomers to probate litigation are frequently surprised by how differently things work in probate court, as opposed to your more straightforward civil courts. (And how do those newcomers know how civil courts work? Law &...more
In In re Kelly, a former executor and the trustee of a testamentary trust initiated a probate proceeding in a county court at law. No. 11-24-00066-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 3735 (Tex. App.—Eastland May 30, 2024, original...more
A gun trust is a specialized legal tool designed to help firearm owners manage and transfer firearms in compliance with federal and state laws. It provides a secure framework for owning, managing, and passing down firearms,...more
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently issued an interesting ruling regarding the ability of a litigant in probate litigation to recover attorney fees from the trust in dispute, even if all parties agree to such payment. In...more
In a Sept. 11, 2023 JDSUPRA posting I questioned the doctrinal and practical utility of partial legislative codifications of equity’s principles-based jurisprudence, such as the UTC, the very institution of the trust being a...more
Most US homeowners and business owners understand the importance of an estate plan; they just never seem to get around to completing the task. What do you need to know about a trust? Why are trusts a central component of any...more
Because so many things can change with time, we recommend that our clients review their estate plans every three to five years and update plans as needed. These periodic reviews help to ensure that your affairs are in order,...more
In the recent case In Laureen Gordon Revocable Trust, the Michigan Court of Appeals digs into these questions. Gordon Trust involved a fight between an uncle and his niece and nephew primarily over the distribution of family...more
This update will address the following issues: whether a party has a right to jury trial in trust modification and other similar actions, what are the standards for pretrial receivership and injunctive relief in trust...more
DURING YOUR LIFE - When preparing your estate plan, it is of utmost importance to ensure that you have documents in place so your spouse or another trusted individual can make medical and financial decisions on your...more
Estate planning involves discussing personal topics such as family, finances, and future goals. A well-designed estate plan will preserve your legacy for generations to come. Therefore, creating an estate plan is one of the...more
People often assume that if their estate isn’t taxable, they don’t need to have an estate plan. In 2023, a Massachusetts estate tax return must be filed if the value of the deceased person’s gross estate exceeds $1 million. A...more
Retitling your assets to conform with your desired plan is essential to successful estate planning. Whether this means changing ownership of an asset altogether, adding a joint owner, or changing a beneficiary designation,...more
As demonstrated in our Gold Medal Bakery case, with corporate fiduciary claims, there can be thought-provoking challenges and issues presented by the question of whether a claim is direct or derivative. Probate and trust...more
It may seem odd to hear a lawyer say this, but much of my work as an estate planner is helping people avoid future entanglements with lawyers. I regularly help my estate planning clients identify places where litigation or...more
This newsletter is intended to keep readers informed about developments in probate and fiduciary litigation in Massachusetts and New York. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in...more
Zachary Young is a private professional fiduciary with CMY Fiduciary Services in Sacramento. His mother, Carolyn M. Young, began work as a fiduciary in 1986. Zach received his bachelor’s degree in business and communications...more
Intentional interference with expected inheritance (IIEI) was recognized as a legal claim in California about eight years ago in Beckwith v. Dahl (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1039. Last week, the Court of Appeal issued the first...more
Providing for your children is one of the primary purposes of estate planning, but what happens to your carefully crafted trust if you had children you did not know about when you created the trust? Or, what if you have...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has idled workers and the coming weeks will bring more news of business closures and bankruptcies. After a decade of sustained growth, we are facing a recession of uncertain depth and duration. The New...more
Many clients create an estate plan, then put the documents safely away, until they are needed. However, they have forgotten to complete one final important step. Trust funding is the most overlooked estate planning tool....more
Tracy M. Potts has nearly three decades of experience in California with estate planning, administration and litigation. A Texas native, she earned her law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law. Her...more
In our monthly department meetings, the trusts and estates group at Weintraub keeps current by reviewing recent cases and discussing how they could affect our practice. See below for some highlights from the past few months: ...more