The AARP Retirement Survival Guide — How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times and Bad
Review by Linda Greenberg, Esq., Palos Verdes, California Book by Julie Jason My review is on “The AARP Retirement Survival Guide – How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times and Bad.” The author, Julie Jason is a personal money manager who started her career as a securities lawyer 30 years ago. Her goal in writing […]
Amending Your Will–Caution: Do Not Try This At Home
FEBRUARY 20, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 7 OK — you’ve signed your will and paid the big lawyer’s fee. Now you want to make a change. Do you know how to modify your will? Can you do it without incurring another fee? Shouldn’t it be easy to make the change? All that might have been […]
The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read
Review by Christina Nevins, Esq., Boynton Beach, Florida Book by Daniel R. Solin Let me first say that I don’t usually enjoy reading financial planning books. Don’t get me wrong. I do read them, because I know that I need the information contained in them. I just don’t enjoy the process, finding that many are […]
Guardians Control Care Decisions, But Authority Is Not Absolute
FEBRUARY 13, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 6 A Texas probate judge appointed Frederick and Lorraine Cooper (see note below) as guardian of their adult developmentally disabled daughter Cathy in 2003. Three years later, Cathy moved into a group home in Grapevine, Texas. After Cathy had lived there for about two years, the group home operator […]
Book Review – Smart Women Don’t Retire
Smart Women Don’t Retire – They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time; The Transition Network and Gail Rentsch (June 2008). A review by Heather D. Barron, Esq. I reviewed Smart Women Don’t Retire – They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time. I specifically wanted to know how retirement differs for women […]
Maine Service Cutback Leaves Disabled Minor Without Program
FEBRUARY 6, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 5 Here’s an anecdote that we expect to see repeating itself over the next few years. It involves a fifteen-year-old boy with severe disabilities, and the Maine state Medicaid program. It also involves Maine’s efforts, like those of other states (including Arizona), to trim its eligibility roles for Medicaid, […]
Will Rejected in Illinois but Approved by Indiana Courts
JANUARY 30, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 4 We are frequently surprised by how much trouble people cause for their families and heirs by not taking simple steps to properly plan for their estates. One thread that often recurs involves a fear (or perhaps disapproval) of lawyers, leading to failure to get good legal advice about […]
Why You Should Not Create a Special Needs Trust
JANUARY 16, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 3 Let’s say you have a child with “special needs,” or a sister, brother, mother or other family member. You have not created a special needs trust as part of your own estate plan. Why not? We know why not. We have heard pretty much all the explanations and […]
Challenge to Three-Year-Old Trust Reformation is Dismissed
JANUARY 9, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2 With the increased emphasis on (and use of) living trusts for estate planning, we lawyers are seeing more and more cases in which an old trust needs modification. Perhaps the tax laws have changed since a parent or grandparent died. Maybe what once made sense is less defensible […]
Court Rule Changes Will Affect AZ Fiduciaries in 2012
JANUARY 2, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 1 Two weeks ago we detailed some of the statutory changes facing guardians, conservators and other fiduciaries in Arizona beginning with the new year. At the same time the legislature was working on those changes, the Arizona Supreme Court was considering changes to the rules and procedures governing probate […]