A will that identified the sole vested beneficiary as "Ryan Living Trust" made the following provision for the distribution of property: "I give all of my property of whatever nature and kind and wherever located to my revocable living... Read More
A common plan among our married clients is to leave their property to their spouse, either outright or in trust - oft-referred to as the "I Love You" Will. Sometimes, love is lost and the couple divorces. We recommend our clients update their... Read More
Dear Liza: Does a person receiving a gift from a sibling in another country have to pay gift tax on that gift in the United States? In the United States, gifts are not considered ordinary income, so you don’t have to report them or pay income tax... Read More
In this Analysis, Andrew L. Martin, Chief Court Attorney of the Nassau County Surrogate's Court, guides you through some of the more common problems an attorney will encounter in New York Surrogate's Court practice to make your next visit to the... Read More
Every now and then, blogging will get someone in "trouble." See e.g. Rakofsky v. Internet , in which one Joseph Rakofsky sued a whole bunch of bloggers and other media over their posts criticizing among other things, his competency and ethics... Read More
I get a bunch of e-mails from people who want to know where to start with Mississippi probate. Many of them have not considered whether probate is really required. As I've mentioned in my discussion of how to determine whether Mississippi probate... Read More
In some states if real estate is owned by two people it may pass to the survivor even if they are not husband and wife. However in Florida it depends on whether or not they are husband and wife. If a property is owned by two people who are husband and... Read More
Maybe it's the season, but I have gotten a lot of calls recently about will contests. A will contest usually happens when your heirs are surprised by what your will says, or by what you have left when you go to the great beyond. I have represented... Read More
The Supreme Court's Appellate Division recently upheld New York County Surrogate Nora Anderson's decision in the probate proceeding of Rosalin E. Melnick 942 N.Y.S.2D 45 (A.D. 1Dept 2012) [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ... Read More
The decedent, Theodore D. Pendergrass, was a paraplegic. His wife, Joan Pendergrass held his power of attorney. After the decedent's death, Mrs. Pendergrass applied for and received letters testamentary pursuant to a will dated March 25, 2009 and... Read More
One of our first articles outlined the ways that our clients in Massachusetts and on Cape can avoid probate. In fact, avoiding probate is one of the most frequent goals we hear when first meeting with clients. But the information gap we encounter most... Read More
By Shirley L. Kovar | In this Emerging Issues Analysis, Shirley L. Kovar, a partner in the Estate & Trust Litigation Practice and International Private Client groups at Henderson, Caverly, Pum & Charney, LLP in San Diego, identifies some of... Read More
Dear Liza, my parents do not have a living trust in place. I need to help them set one up. My father and mother are 91 and 83 respectively. My father has a form of dementia that prevents him from making decision about his property. My Mother is fully... Read More
CALIFORNIA : California Wills and Trusts Drafting System Now powered by HotDocs®, this easy-to-use software will help you create customized wills, trusts and many other estate-related documents from scratch. Based on the enormously popular... Read More
Probate is a state court supervised procedure to authenticate a Will and to pass ownership of a deceased person's assets to the beneficiaries under that Will. If a person elects to have a probate by signing a Will (rather than signing and transferring... Read More