In past blogs we have discussed the need to have an experienced estate planning lawyer draft your trust. In California, a case has recently been filed against Legal Zoom, an online site that markets wills and trusts without the need to meet with an attorney. The case involves a man…
Celebrities are always providing estate planning lessons for the rest of us. Gary Coleman who died in Utah in May at age 42 is the latest celebrity whose estate planning was a disaster. There are at least 3 wills, maybe more, that have been found and the fight has already…
Will and trust contests continue to produce interesting stories, whether among the rich or the ordinary. This past February, a judge in Hong Kong ruled that the estate of billionaire Nina Wang will not go to her feng shui consultant but to the charitable foundation she and her husband Teddy…
Previous blog posts have discussed the fact that in 2010 there is no federal estate tax imposed on a person’s estate, no matter how large the estate. In 2009, the federal estate tax was levied on estates over $3.5 million. In 2010 there is no estate tax because Congress failed…
Recently we had a post on our estate planning blog about electronic wills, now only recognized by the state of Utah. What about electronic marriage? Two law professors at Michigan State University are advocating e-marriage. Their suggestion arose out of a situation where a Marine Sgt. met a Japanese woman…
The first federal trial to determine if the Constitution allows states to ban same sex marriage began this week in the U.S. District court in San Francisco. The trial, which is supposed to last 2-3 weeks, involves a challenge to Proposition 8 which was passed by 52% of the voters…
You may remember that when famous baseball player Ted Williams died, his body was sent to the Alcor Life Extension cryonics company to be kept frozen until such time as medical advances could bring him back to life. Reportedly Williams’ head is being kept frozen separate from the rest of…
Back in October, we reported on the case of Brooke Astor’s estate where prosecutors alleged that Brooke Astor’s son Anthony Marshall and his lawyer cheated Brooke Astor out of an estimated $60 million by convincing her to change her will when she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The two were…
Recently several reports have come out predicting that life expectancy is on the increase. Males born in the 1900’s could expect to live into their 60’s. A male born in 2005 can expect to live into his late 70’s. Mac Arthur Research Network on an Aging Society estimates in a…
The U.S. House of Representatives will vote perhaps as early as this week on legislation to extend the current estate tax rates permanently. Currently the tax rate is 45% of any estates in excess of $3,500,000. As previously discussed in past blogs, $3,500,000 was the tax exemption for 2009. In…