The sad saga of former millionaire Marie Long who is now destitute continues, but now it involves other players in the affair.  The Maricopa County Superior Court is not sure how to handle allegations that Judge pro tem Lindsay Ellis may have done something improper in connection with the Marie Long case in her court. Arizona Republic:  “A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Monday questioned whether he has the authority to determine if another judge violated conduct rules when she sent a draft of a key ruling to lawyers for only one party in an ongoing case. . . . Superior Court Judge Robert Budoff suspended the probate case of Scottsdale resident Marie Long, in which Ellis had ruled that a group of caregivers

Private Wealth:  “The uncertain state of the transfer tax laws creates some tax planning opportunities, but many more pitfalls and uncertainties. Retroactive reinstatement is a possibility, although likely to engender constitutional challenges that will take years to resolve. How do these uncertainties affect most estate plans?”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Someone decided to sneak a copy of Michael Jackson's living trust document to the press, and a British website has the complete document online for your reading pleasure. . . . So what does the King of Pop's trust reveal? . . . charity gets the first 20%, with the rest split equally into two separate pots to be held for the benefit of his children and his mother, Katherine. When Katherine passes, her share goes onto the children.”

thenewsstar.com:  “Question: What exactly is an estate plan? I hear people talking about them, but I am not sure what one is exactly? Where do you get one? Who does that for you?  Answer: Even though you are not sure what an estate plan is, I've got news for you: You've got one.Once you learn what it is, you may or may not like it. And you can, in fact, take steps to change aspects of it — to shape it more to your liking.”

The U.S. tax law contains something called the generation-skipping transfer tax (GST).  The GST is intended to prevent the transfer of wealth from one generation to a person of two or more generations below the giver without paying federal estate or gift tax.  The GST applies when transfers of property by gift or at death by a person to a person that skips a generation such as to a grandchild or great-grandchild and the value of the property transferred exceeds the estate/lifetime exclusion amount. In the pre-GST days (before 1976), people could create a trust that provided that assets transferred to their children and their descendants and held in trust would benefit each generation as long as the child or descendant were alive (the trust

New York Times:  “some 70 percent of second marriages end in divorce. So here’s the practical question: how do you address the financial needs of the new couplings that arise from the old ones?  The financial issues of so-called blended families may seem similar to other families, but the emotional issues around those decisions are much more intense.”

NY Daily News:  “Dennis Hopper will be buried . . ., but the fight over his estate, estimated at $40 million, is just getting started.  On one side stands Hopper's estranged wife, Victoria Duffy, who, at 42 was 21 years young than the late “Easy Rider” star.  On the other, his eldest daughter, 47-year-old Marin . . . .” See “Dennis Hopper's wife to continue fight into probate court.”

A Newstimes article explains why people need an estate plan now and the dangers of procrastination.

A Newstimes article explains why people need an estate plan now and the dangers of procrastination.

Private Wealth:  “Establishing the true ownership of an artwork can be a daunting task, but necessary to guard . . . against financial and legal risks.  It should be axiomatic that no prudent art collector would buy an expensive work without establishing credible and lawful title to it. But simply having a title often isn’t good enough to secure the right of ownership. A good title can be easily spoiled if it is discovered that there was a theft in the artwork’s history (perhaps one of the “forced sales” that occurred during World War II). Art theft victims now have more means than ever to wage disputes, and recent court decisions have returned works of art to former owners even when the statute of limitations

Private Wealth:  “Second marriages can quickly turn the execution of an estate plan into a bitter court battle. . . . There’s nothing that brings contention to the execution of a will like a second marriage.  Sometimes second spouses take money for themselves and their own kids at the expense of their spouse’s first children. Sometimes, it’s the first spouse’s children who go through all kinds of machinations to make sure their stepmother or stepfather, and their kids, get nothing from the estate.”

CNBC:  “This story is about death and taxes—and estate planning.  If you don’t make appropriate financial plans, loved ones could pay unnecessary taxes, miss an inheritance, or wind up in a permanent rift. So, no matter what your net worth, you’ll need more than just a will to manage your death portfolio.”

The Seattle Times:  “Talk with enough estate-planning attorneys and you hear the distressing, sorry sagas resulting from no — or poor — estate planning. ‘Family, money and death are a combustible combination',”

Professor Laura Cunningham of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law has published an article called “The FLP, the Transfer Taxes, and the Income Tax.”  The abstract says: “Despite repeated calls for reform, Congress has declined to act to curb transfer tax avoidance through the use of family limited partnerships (‘FLP’s'). Use of FLP’s allows taxpayers to substantially leverage their exemption from estate tax, and reduce the effective rate of tax on even the most liquid investment assets. This article reviews the current state of the law in the Tax Court on FLP’s, renews the call for Congressional action, and explains why FLP’s are not just a ‘death tax' problem.”

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Guardianship and conservatorship proceedings exist to help those who are incapacitated, usually due to age or disability, and can't make proper decisions for themselves.  While these court cases help many thousands of people each year, they can also expose people to fraud and abuse.”

Free Money Finance:  “One of the best tools that estate planning attorneys, financial planners, and CPA's have at their disposal for estate planning is life insurance. Estate plans big and small, complex to simple, and extraordinary to typical almost always involve some form of life insurance policy to complete the estate plan.  Here are some of various things to understand about using life insurance in the estate planning process as well as tips for what type of strategies you may want to investigate further when crafting your estate plan.”

Private Wealth:  “When marriages end, sometimes it takes more than a prenuptial agreement to keep assets in the family.”

Morningstar:  “Tips on everything from tax breaks to Medicare drug benefits.”

Gerry W. Beyer and Jessica B. Jackson have written an article entitled “What Estate Planners Need to Know About Firearms.”  Here is the abstract: Estate planning professionals must familiarize themselves with national and state gun laws and use approved estate planning techniques to represent clients effectively who own or are interested in owning firearms. Failure to comply with national and state laws can lead to fines of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison. This article aims to educate estate planning professionals on how to protect their client’s ownership, transfer, and possession rights of National Firearms Act (NFA) weapons, while alive, when incompetent, and at death. In addition, this article addresses how to protect a client’s family members and friends from illegally possessing or