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Arizona Restricts Use of “Self-Settled” Special Needs Trusts

JANUARY 12, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 28 Last week Elder Law Issues described how a “Special Needs” trust can be used to protect the beneficiary’s access to public benefits programs like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid (in Arizona, AHCCCS or ALTCS). There is one glaring problem with Special Needs trusts just now in Arizona, […]

Special Needs Trust Can Protect Benefits After Personal Injury

JANUARY 5, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 27 Joseph is eighteen years old and requires total care. He has been in his current condition, unable to speak or move and unresponsive to most stimuli, for five years. His family believes his condition is a result of improper treatment he received during a hospital stay, and lawyers […]

Divorce Court Orders Support For Adult Child With Disability

DECEMBER 29, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 26 Laura F. is a 28-year-old autistic woman. She has always lived with her parents, and they have provided for her care. In the past decade she has worked several part-time jobs at sheltered workshops, but she has never held a full-time job, never even earned minimum wage, and […]

CPR Efforts May Have Violated Nursing Home Rights Law

DECEMBER 22, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 25 Many of our clients have a visceral reaction to the idea that they might be “kept alive by machines” after they are no longer able to make health care decisions for themselves. That is why they sign “advance directives” like health care powers of attorney and living wills. […]

Lawyer Loses Her Own Case, Faces Bar Disciplinary Action

DECEMBER 15, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 24 Sherri K. apparently thought her stepfather Clifford H. (the court opinion does not disclose family names) needed protection. She asked the California courts to appoint her as conservator, and she alleged that there was an emergency requiring immediate action. Without giving notice to her stepfather or other family […]

Appointment of “Next Friend” In Divorce Reversed on Appeal

DECEMBER 8, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 23 It is a common problem facing lawyers and litigants. What can be done if one of the parties to a lawsuit is a minor, or an incapacitated adult? Who makes decisions about the litigation if one party lacks legal capacity to handle their own financial and personal decisions? […]

Medicare Changes Will Include Prescription Drug Coverage

DECEMBER 1, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 22 With the U.S. Senate’s approval of sweeping new Medicare provisions the public discussion has focused on whether the changes will be good for the program, its beneficiaries and the nation as a whole. Much controversy has also centered on the politics of the changes—including whether Republicans or Democrats […]

Malicious Prosecution Case Against Lawyers Dismissed

NOVEMBER 24, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 21 Sherry Zachary was sure that her brother Raymond had taken advantage of their mother. She was so sure that she hired California lawyers John L. Guth and Jeffrey T. Stromberg to file a lawsuit against Raymond. Eventually Raymond sued the lawyers—though not successfully. The first lawsuit filed by […]

Hospital Gets No Credit For Care Not Paid By Medicare

NOVEMBER 17, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 20 While in Via Christi’s St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kansas, for tests, Lyle Rose fell out of his bed and hit his head. He suffered a subdural hematoma (a blood clot in the brain) and developed other complications. He stayed in the hospital for over a month, but […]

Home Health Agency Declares Bankruptcy, Blames Medicare

NOVEMBER 10, 2003 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 19 Home health care benefits available through the Medicare program have been curtailed in recent years. The effect of the government’s crackdown on home health care costs has been felt not only by patients, but also by health care providers themselves. Take, for example, the case of Idaho’s Community […]

Robert B. Fleming

Attorney

Robert Fleming is a Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He has been certified as a Specialist in Estate and Trust Law by the State Bar of Arizona‘s Board of Legal Specialization, and he is also a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. Robert has a long history of involvement in local, state and national organizations. He is most proud of his instrumental involvement in the Special Needs Alliance, the premier national organization for lawyers dealing with special needs trusts and planning.

Robert has two adult children, two young grandchildren and a wife of over fifty years. He is devoted to all of them. He is also very fond of Rosalind Franklin (his office companion corgi), and his homebound cat Muninn. He just likes people, their pets and their stories.

Elizabeth N.R. Friman

Attorney

Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman is a principal and licensed fiduciary at Fleming & Curti, PLC. Elizabeth enjoys estate planning and helping families navigate trust and probate administrations. She is passionate about the fiduciary work that she performs as a trustee, personal representative, guardian, and conservator. Elizabeth works with CPAs, financial professionals, case managers, and medical providers to tailor solutions to complex family challenges. Elizabeth is often called upon to serve as a neutral party so that families can avoid protracted legal conflict. Elizabeth relies on the expertise of her team at Fleming & Curti, and as the Firm approaches its third decade, she is proud of the culture of care and consideration that the Firm embodies. Finding workable solutions to sensitive and complex family challenges is something that Elizabeth and the Fleming & Curti team do well.

Amy F. Matheson

Attorney

Amy Farrell Matheson has worked as an attorney at Fleming & Curti since 2006. A member of the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council, she is primarily responsible for estate planning and probate matters.

Amy graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in political science and English. She is an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School and has been admitted to practice in Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Fleming & Curti, Amy worked for American Public Television in Boston, and with the international trade group at White & Case, LLP, in Washington, D.C.

Amy’s husband, Tom, is an astronomer at NOIRLab and the Head of Time Domain Services, whose main project is ANTARES. Sadly, this does not involve actual time travel. Amy’s twin daughters are high school students; Finn, her Irish Red and White Setter, remains a puppy at heart.

Famous people's wills

Matthew M. Mansour

Attorney

Matthew is a law clerk who recently earned his law degree from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. His undergraduate degree is in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Matthew has had a passion for advocacy in the Tucson community since his time as a law student representative in the Workers’ Rights Clinic. He also has worked in both the Pima County Attorney’s Office and the Pima County Public Defender’s Office. He enjoys playing basketball, caring for his cat, and listening to audiobooks narrated by the authors.