Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» The Ethicist on Switching Guardians

"The Ethicist" column in today's New York Times magazine addresses the issue of whether to tell your friends that you are removing them as guardians of your children under your Will. The column is here.

I'm not an ethicist (insert attorney joke here), but I agree with Randy Cohen that there is no need to tell the friends about the switch. Especially when you are switching to family members (most people understand that blood is thicker than water). Maybe I feel this way because my wife and I did something similar. We named our friends as guardians of our daughter, but then switched to my sister and her husband once they got settled and had kids, and we saw that their parenting style matches ours.

A similar ethical issue (not discussed in "The Ethicist") involves telling people that they are named as guardians. I'm always surprised that people DON'T tell their friends/relatives that they have named them (or plan to name them) as guardians. I know this always makes for a heart-warming film ("lovable moppet(s) show up at the door of self-absorbed yuppie, who then discovers the value of family"), but it's significantly less heart-warming in real life. My advice: talk to those you plan to name, BEFORE you do so. (They may say no. That's what happened to the people my in-laws asked, when my wife was a kid.) And talk to those you have named, AFTER you do so, to fill them in on how things will work.

» Gentlemen Prefer Dividends
Preferred stock can offer outstanding dividends, capital appreciation, and safety to boot.

» Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry and Probate

I enjoyed Audrey Niffenegger's first novel, The Time Traveler's Wife. Haven't seen the movie -- looks a little too sappy -- but the book was great.

Right now I'm working on Ms. Niffenegger's newest, entitled Her Fearful Symmetry. I've just started it, but the novel appears to be a riff on the old idea of "stay in a haunted house overnight to get an inheritance." Two American twenty-somethings (twins) get the following letter (which I have edited) from the attorney for their English aunt, who has passed away:

Dear Julia and Valentina Poole,

I regret to inform you of the death of your aunt, Elspeth Alice Noblin.... Last September, knowing that her illness would soon result in her death, she made a new will. I am enclosing a copy of this document. You are her residuary legatees; that is, she has bequeathed you her entire estate, with the exception of a few minor bequests to friends and charities. You will receive this inheritance when you reach the age of twenty-one.

The bequest is given to you with the following conditions:

1) Ms. Noblin owned an apartment in London.... She bequeathed this apartment to you on the condition that you both live in it for one year before you may sell it.

2) The entire bequest is given on the condition that no part of it shall be used to benefit Ms. Noblin's [twin] sister, Edwina, or Edwina's husband, Jack (your parents). Also, Edwina and Jack Poole are forbidden to set foot in the flat or inspect its contents.

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

» The Legal and Tax Aspects of Same-sex Relationships

We have half-day pricing options available . The member price is $129, non-member is $189, and law student is $70. To register for a half day , please call the CBA Member Service Center at 223-4400. The seminar will cover the representation of same-sex couples in estate planning, divorce, and immigration; trial and appellate tactics used by ...

» Estate Tax Limbo: Three Steps To Take Now
The lapse of the federal estate and generation-skipping taxes has created opportunities and pitfalls.