Fox News:  “Just one day after the shooting massacre last week at a Florida high school, the woman who cared for the alleged shooter and his brother reportedly filed court papers seeking control of their inheritance, which could total up to $800,000. Roxanne Deschamps also had Zachary Cruz, the brother of shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, involuntarily committed to a mental facility shortly after the massacre, the New York Post reported, citing a family source.”

Elder Law Journal:  “We all will die, but the American health care system often impedes a peaceful death. Instead of a quiet death at home surrounded by loved ones, many of us suffer through overutilization of sometimes-toxic therapeutic interventions long past the time when those interventions do more good than harm. This article proposes revisions to health professional training and payment policy to eliminate as much as possible physical and existential suffering while progressing through the terminal phase of illness.”

DailyMail:  “Freeway motorists pulled aside to watch the Rev. Billy Graham's motorcade as the religious leader's body moved across his home state of North Carolina on Saturday. Well-wishers came to the mountain chapel at the training center operated by his evangelistic association in Asheville after he died Wednesday at his North Carolina home at age 99.”  

JDSUPRA:  “The rest and residue of my estate, both real, personal and mixed property of every kind and character whatsoever I may own or have any interest in at my death, is hereby bequeathed to my husband, ARTURO HERNANDEZ, to do with as he desires. Upon the death of my husband, ARTURO HERNANDEZ, I give, devise and bequeath any of the rest and residue of my estate both real, personal and mixed property of every kind whatsoever that he may own or have any interest in to my son, ERIC H. FARLEY.”

Trials & Heirs:  “Would comedian Richard Pryor be laughing or rolling over in his grave?  When Quincy Jones sat down for a recent interview with Vulture, he casually inferred that Marlon Brando slept with both Marvin Gaye and Richard Pryor.”

Lexology:  “When Michael Jackson died in 2009, he left behind a convoluted legacy that has presented issues for fans and tax collectors alike, and the legal repercussions are ongoing. At the time of his death, Jackson’s reputation had suffered from allegations of child abuse, drug use and erratic behavior. The circumstances of his death, however, heightened fans’ sympathy for the tragic “King of Pop.” Because of this, Jackson’s estate is embroiled in a legal dispute with the IRS over the value of Jackson’s name and likeness.“

USA Today:  “John Mahoney, who as the cranky, blue-collar dad in Frasier played counterpoint to pompous sons Frasier and Niles, has died. Mahoney was 77.“

DailyMail:  “A woman is believed to have been buried alive by mistake and lay conscious inside her coffin for 11 days before trying to fight her way out of the stone tomb.“

Wills, Trusts, & Estate Prof Blog:  “Patients with serious or life-threatening illness are frequently asked to make complex, high stakes medical decisions. The impact of anxiety, low health literacy, asymmetric information and inadequate communication between patients and health care providers, family pressures, rational apathy by health care providers, cognitive biases of both patients and health care providers, as well as other factors, make it quite difficult for patients in these circumstances to process and comprehend the strategic uncertainty and resultant risks and benefits of, and alternatives to, whatever therapeutic or life-prolonging treatment physicians are offering.”

JDSupra:  “As Shanna Yonke mentioned in her January 22, 2018 Legal Update The New Tax Law Provides Estate Planning Opportunities, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on December 22, 2017.  The Act (officially, Public Law 115-97) is the most sweeping tax legislation to be enacted in decades.  It is broad in scope, complicated, and will impact almost every aspect of tax, estate, retirement, and business planning.”

The Media Online: “What will happen to your Facebook account when you die? What about all your photos shared on social media, your texts with loved ones, or documents on cloud-storage systems? In just the two-year period from 2012 to 2014, humans produced more data than in all of human civilization before that – and the pace is only accelerating.”

The Legal Intelligencer: “Do you have an estate plan? If not, you are not alone. Fewer than half of Americans have an estate plan—the percentage varies between 55 percent and 70 percent, depending on which survey you rely upon. For those of you with an estate plan, there are mistakes that can be easily avoided. In this article, I will specifically address the issue of retirement plans and beneficiary designation forms.”

DailyMail: “A student who flushed her hamster down the toilet when Spirit told her she couldn't fly home with it, is now attempting to sue the airline for causing emotional distress. Belen Aldecosea claims she didn't have any other options but to kill her pet Pebbles rather than miss her flight back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in November after staff informed her that rodents were not allowed aboard.”  

Bloomberg: “When Ikea’s Ingvar Kamprad died Saturday at age 91, he was ranked No. 8 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index thanks to his control of a global retail fortune valued at $58.7 billion. His wealth will now be dissipated because of a unique structure put in place by Kamprad to secure the long-term independence and survival of the Ikea concept. Kamprad disputed his status as one of the richest men on the planet, having decades earlier placed control of the world’s largest furniture seller into a network of foundations and holding companies.”

Wills, Trusts, and Estates Prof Blog: “Jackie Kennedy’s father commissioned a portrait of his daughter after a horse-riding accident that left the then-19-year-old unconscious for several days. The painting was commissioned in 1950 but was only recently discovered. It is believed the portrait was stolen from Grey Gardens, a now-dilapidated estate belonging to Kennedy’s cousin and aunt.”

TG Daily : “When most people think of estate planning, they think of their own personal estate. But proper estate planning for a business will help protect the very thing you've worked so hard to build. Without a proper plan in place, your business can go from thriving to bankrupt in the event of your demise.”

Forbes :  “I read the latest summary sheet of our law firm’s disputed probate, estate and trust cases and came across an insight that should have been obvious (but wasn’t): About 50% of our active disputed-estate cases involve litigated differences between stepmothers and their stepchildren.”  

TMZ : “The alleged grandson of Charles Manson has just lost his bid to get the killer's remains. A judge just ruled Jason Freeman does not have a right — at least not now — to pick up the remains from the prison where Manson died.”

Washington Post :  “Michael Joyce’s memory, and some of his speech have been snatched by Alzheimer’s. The disease is so advanced that he forgot he was married to his wife of 38 years. But he is in love with her, and he is also an honorable man, so he proposed to her on a recent morning. She said yes.”