On Being the Beneficiary of a Special Needs Trust
There’s a fair amount of information available to guide the trustee of a special needs trust. That includes the popular Trustee Handbook from the Special Needs Alliance. There’s far less help for being the beneficiary of a special needs trust. Beneficiaries might legitimately have a lot of questions. Let’s see if we can help with […]
January Review: Avoid Mistakes & Acquire a Talley?
It’s the end of the month. That’s when we like to survey the elder law landscape and share interesting or useful items that surfaced over the past few weeks. Here’s our January review: January’s Planning Tips Here are eight common estate planning mistakes from AARP. The most common errors we see out of those eight: […]
If You Help, Don’t Do It Like This
A recent case out of Maryland illustrates that helping an elderly parent can lead to criminal penalties and (gulp) jail time. Don’t help, at least not like Sharon Shivers did. As the Maryland Court of Appeals tells the story, Sharon and her dad, John, had a “somewhat strained” relationship for many years. John found out […]
Grandparent Visitation and Custody Disputes
We occasionally hear from grandparents who have visitation and custody disputes with their children. More commonly, they have disputes with their children’s spouses, partners or exes. The stories are often heartbreaking, and we want to help. Too often, our best advice is “you’ll have to learn to deal with it.” Court cases outlining grandparents’ rights […]
Damar Hamlin Illustrates POA Importance
Football fans everywhere stood stunned last Monday night when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. He was resuscitated, then carted off to the hospital. He’s now recovering from the cardiac arrest, talking and breathing on his own. But for several days, he was sedated while his medical team assessed his condition. Hamlin’s […]
ABLE and SECURE Act Sequels
It was right there in the year’s name: 2022. Lots of sequels. See all those 2s in the year? We had some of the same experience in legal circles — particularly in the ABLE And SECURE Acts In the hours before Christmas, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. President Biden quickly signed it […]
Top Ten Elder Law Lessons from 2022
At the end of each month, we take stock of elder law news and developments and share them. For the December review, we look less to outside news and commentary and instead think about what we (or others) have learned or wish we (or others) had learned before something unfortunate happened. Here are some lessons […]
Legally Required Notice in Probate Court
Legally-required notice rules in probate proceedings are straightforward. They mandate mail notice or personal service on interested parties. The person filing a probate proceeding usually must publish notice in the newspaper, as well. But what if they don’t know how to reach other family members?
Dead Celebs: Why Fight Over Who’s Executor?
It sure seems like families of dead celebrities fight a lot. And the battles are sometimes over not a lot. Like who should administer the dead celebs’ estate. Take rapper Takeoff and actress Anne Heche (who we’ve written about once or twice already).
Famous People’s Wills Are Not Always Like Yours
We often write about famous people’s wills — usually when they have died recently. So, for instance, we recently wrote about Anne Heche’s will. More accurately, we wrote about what might be her will. Sometimes we discuss the absence of a will, or other poor planning choices. Consider the continuing mess generated by Prince’s failure to plan his estate.
