Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» Sell This Stock. Now.
A sure sign that your stock is doomed.

» Wills provide important instructions to survivors

Often people are under the misconception that a will is only necessary if a person has a lot of assets, is wealthy or has a complicated financial planning program in place.

» More on the Referral Problem -- ADR

I spoke yesterday about the potential conflict of interest that arises when a third party (like a financial planner or accountant) refers a lot of business to an estate planner. A similar, but perhaps more serious, problem arises in the context of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and referrals.

More and more companies make their employees and/or customers sign documents stating that disputes will be settled through the ADR process. That's fair on its face, but as a practical matter, I have some questions about how this works. There are only so many ADR professionals out there -- how is the person who will handle the mediation and/or arbitration chosen? If the person is chosen by the company, then we've got a problem -- if I'm referring 100 cases a year to Bob's ADR Shop, aren't I going to be monitoring closely the outcome of those cases? And aren't I going to hire someone else if I find that Bob's ADR Shop isn't favoring my company as much as I'd like?

Carried to its logical extreme, you get situations like the one detailed in this article (thanks, Tim), about the National Arbitration Forum

» Colorado Estate Planning Treatise

Peter B. Scott and Karen L. Brady have recently published their treatise entitled Estate Planning and Taxation in Colorado .

» An Update on Small Estate Affidavits

I posted yesterday about an issue involving small estate affidavits.

This morning I learned that the Illinois Secretary of State's office has its OWN small estate affidavit form, which it prefers that you use if you are trying to change the title on an automobile. The form is available here as a pdf.

Thanks to attorney Caroline Zoes for this helpful tip!