Channel 26 WGNO New Orleans: “Michael Jackson's 81-year-old father wants the administrators of his son's will removed and claims there are problems with the will, specifically that it was not signed. Joe Jackson's attorney, Brian Oxman, is trying to convince a judge that there is a conflict of interest in the case and that John Branca and John McClain should be removed.”
USA Today: “Every day, says hospital ethicist Dawn Seery, someone tells her: ‘I don't know what to do. I'm afraid everyone will be angry.' When it comes to discussing end-of-life decisions, most people are unprepared, confused and frightened. Most of all, Seery says, ‘they want to know how they can recognize and decide when ‘enough is enough.'”
Jensen Law Office: “Now is the time to update your existing estate plan, or proceed with implementing a comprehensive estate plan. Why? First, we now know with certainty that the federal estate tax is not going away, and thus we should establish a plan that avoids or at least minimize this voluntary tax. More importantly, if you don't you just might end up like the host of celebrities who have made the headlines recently because they either had no estate planning or because the planning they did have was woefully out of date or otherwise inadequate.”
Houston Chronicle: “Curry Glassell, the daughter of oilman and arts benefactor Alfred Glassell, is disputing his last will in a high-profile Houston court battle that will have serious consequences for Houston's arts groups as well as for the Glassell family. One of the issues at stake is what is called an ‘in terrorem' clause in the will (also known as a forfeiture clause) that provides that anyone who contests the will is to lose whatever bequest has been granted to him or her — hence, the ‘terror' that will result if one does not follow the directives of the will. The will of the recently and tragically deceased John O'Quinn also contains a no contest clause.”
Probate Lawyer Blog: “Curious about how celebrity estate errors can help you protect yourself, your family, and your heirs? Watch this video.”
MorningStar: “When Ginnie and Alan wrote me in early 2009, they were feeling nervous about their portfolio's ability to last through what they hoped would be a long and fruitful retirement. But this couple wasn't thinking only about themselves. As parents of a daughter with special needs, they were seeking guidance on what to do to ensure that their child would be able to remain independent and have enough money to cover her needs. Their 20-something daughter was employed and living on her own nearby, but she relied on them for ongoing financial support. . . . While I strongly believe that you can tackle many aspects of financial planning on your own, without the assistance of a professional, estate planning–the process of distributing one's assets after death–isn't one of them.”
24-7 Press Release: “Many business owners are so consumed with daily operations that they don't think about estate planning. Estate planning for business owners can be significantly different than for people who don't own a business. Business owners often fail to plan properly. This can lead to conflicts among family members, higher estate taxes and even failure of the business. When the owner of a business dies, it can be disruptive to the company if the owner did not plan carefully. If you own a business, you may eventually have to decide when and how to step down. Many tools for estate planning can be used to transfer your business.”
Guardian: “As the author of three dark and violent crime novels, Stieg Larsson was at home in a dysfunctional landscape of simmering resentments and rancourous family secrets. . . . In one of the most spectacular and unlikely ascents in recent literary history, Larsson, largely unknown before his sudden death at 50, has become one of the most successful writers in the world. Some 20 million of his books, the first of which was published in Britain as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, have been sold to date in Europe alone. Last year he was the world's second best selling author after Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, and his estate is thought to be worth more than £20m. But because he and the architect Eva Gabrielsson, his partner of 32 years, never married and he died without making a will, the proceeds have defaulted to his blood relations, provoking controversy in Sweden and displeasure from Gabrielsson.”
Probate Lawyer Blog: “The trial involving whether Rock ‘n Roll pioneer & legend, Ike Turner, left a valid will has ended. As described in this prior article I wrote, the case pitted his six children (two of whom apparently are now questionable children of his) versus his ex-wife versus his friend and “sometime” attorney. I'm not exactly sure why someone would be a ‘sometime” attorney.'”
Nonprofit Law Blog: “A charitable lead annuity trust (CLAT) is an irrevocable split-interest trust in which the income interest is to be paid over to one or more charitable organizations, in the form of an annuity, and the remainder interest is to be paid over to one or more noncharitable beneficiaries. Typically, CLATs are designed to provide an annual payment that is level throughout the trust term – either a stated amount or percentage of the value of the initial trust corpus. But according to attorney Jerry McCoy, an expert on charitable tax planning, unlike the case with a charitable remainder annuity trust, “a CLAT may provide for an annuity amount that is initially stated as a fixed dollar or fixed percentage amount but increases during the annuity period. The only stipulation is that the value of the annuity amount must be ascertainable at the time the trust is funded.”
National Underwriter: “Association for Advanced Life Underwriting officials believe that before Congress recesses it will extend the 2009 estate tax levels for another year, but won’t deal with permanent reform until next year. Tom Korb, AALU vice president of policy and public affairs, made his cautionary comment in the wake of statements by House Democratic leaders pledging to enact legislation before the end of the year that would extend indefinitely the 2009 tax levels.”
Trusts & Estates: “Don’t bet on any. Congress just might do nothing and send us back to the 2001 scenario—permanently. . . . The landscape in which all wealth advisors manage trusts and create estate plans is about to be altered dramatically. But those changes may not be the ones everybody is expecting. I talk to many colleagues about estate tax reform and everyone says that the federal lawmakers ‘have got to do something.' But do they?”
Arizona Republic: “Estate planning was tough enough even before the age of online financial accounts and social media. Now that so many things have gone digital, there are even more issues to ponder. . . . ‘The ultimate question is what happens to these digital assets when somebody dies.' Chances are a lot of electronically active Americans haven't pondered such questions and even fewer have done anything about them. That's a safe bet considering that about half of Americans haven't even performed estate-planning basics such as getting a will, according to surveys.”
Fobres.com: “The money might be drying up in Hollywood, but there's still plenty of cash being made in the graveyard. The 13 iconic figures on Forbes' list of the Top-Earning Dead Celebrities grossed a collective $886 million in the past 12 months.”
North Jersey.com: “With all the hoopla coming out of Washington regarding the health care overhaul, not much attention is given to the fact that a hefty tax is scheduled to take a siesta in 2010. George W. Bush and the Republican Congress in 2001 tried to kill the estate tax, which they liked to call the ‘death tax.' However, they could not get the 60 votes required in the Senate, so, instead, they scheduled declining tax rates and increasing exemptions from the tax through 2009 with a zero estate tax in 2010.
Under current law, the exemption amount from the estate tax in 2009 is $3.5 million, which removes all but a few estates from Uncle Sam's tax. However, the exemption amount is scheduled to fall back to $1 million in 2011 and the tax rate will go back to 50 percent. It would be a safe bet to wager that Congress will borrow an idea from Rahm Emanuel and, ‘Never let a crisis go to waste.' Currently, there are three major bills in Congress dealing with a ‘fix' of the estate tax.”
Special Needs Answers: “When helping older clients quickly qualify for Medicaid coverage of long-term care, elder law attorneys often ask right at the outset, ‘Do you have a relative with special needs?' The reason this question is so important is because under federal Medicaid law, someone applying for Medicaid long-term care (nursing home) benefits can transfer her assets into a special needs trust for the ‘sole benefit' of a person with disabilities, and that transfer will not disqualify the Medicaid applicant from receiving benefits. In other words, a senior who is willing to give away her assets to a person with special needs, and who meets all the other Medicaid eligibility requirements, can almost always qualify for Medicaid quickly.”
New York Times: “To deter lawsuits, many estate plans include a no-contest clause, which provides that anyone who formally challenges the plan gets nothing. Brooke Astor, the New York philanthropist, had one in her will. Michael Jackson reportedly used one in his living trust, a private document that disposed of most of his assets. . . . These clauses are becoming more important as people live longer, said Dana G. Fitzsimons Jr., a lawyer with McGuireWoods in Richmond, Va., who handles will contests.”
Edge.com: “Same-sex couples face many financial planning issues that married couples do not. However, like married couples, we have similar financial planning objectives, such as:
The North Carolina Estate Planning Blog has a list of twelve common estate planning mistakes.