We haven't talked about relatives in awhile. That hit home seeing some write-ups of the recent release of the biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the Little House on the Prairies books - you know, the books the TV series was based on. Not exactly an article that would normally make one ...
How important is the handling of debt during the probate process? Well, let's put it this way, probate courts probably wouldn't exist as we recognize them today if it weren't for the question of debt after death. Wills have been around since ancient times. They go back to the Greeks and Romans. One...
This is from a friend who was an attorney who once did a fair amount of estate planning in the late ‘90s in the Greater New York City area. Stick around for the punchline: “I had a client who owned brownstones in Manhattan and apartment complexes in Brooklyn and Queens. Neat guy – French aris...
If you've been reading our blog for any length of time, you know that precious little of what happens in Probate Court is private. Look at it this way, it it was we wouldn't have enough material for one blog, never mind dozens. [caption id="attachment_1507" align="alignleft" width="300"] (Photo cre...
You probably know what your house is worth at any given time. Your 401k, pension plan, bank accounts, are all easy to value, you can find them on-line in a matter of minutes. But what about personal items, especially items that we think might be valuable but are entirely dependent on the marketplace...
A lot of estates are comprised of businesses that still have to operate while the probate court does its work. And more than a few of those estates are the estates of the owner and sole decision maker of that business. That complicates matters. As it has been since the unfortunate death of Prince ea...
Sometimes the best way to understand a complex situation is to look at the worst case scenario. You know, the scenario where every possible thing that can go wrong - intentionally or accidentally - does go wrong. So, about undue influence. Here's a summary of what may well be the most egregious exam...
'Dead Hand' is not the title of one of next season's Walking Dead episodes. It is a term used to describe certain clauses in some wills and trusts. From the Beastie Boys to the great playwrights Eugene O'Neill and Edward Albee, to Franz Kafka, to parents worried about the spending habits of their a...
We write and talk a lot about valuations during the probate process. We tend to take the valuation process a little for granted. After all, usually it's 'get the asset appraised, maybe a few times to be safe, then move on'. It's not always that easy, however. Figuring out what something is worth at...
We work with probate and wills and estates every day. Every time we think we've seen it all, something new comes up. Probate matters can cross over into almost every imaginable area of the law while, certainly, involving all manner of human emotions. Today's proof of that is the Alan Thicke estate....
Here's a quick story. A father runs a successful farm. He and his wife have two children, both boys, a couple of years apart. The boys grow up, go to college, go on to solid careers. Mom dies, dad remarries. The boys, now in their late forties are not happy. Dad, though, is. The boys never accept th...
Lawyers in estate planning and probate cases sometimes have a unique perspective on families and relationships. Not Tolstoy "every happy family" perspective, but a pretty in-depth perspective nevertheless. That is hardly a secret, it seems that families know it - or at least sense it - most of the t...
