Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» Become the Key(word) Master
Choose your words wisely for SEO success.

»  Making YouTube Pay Off
Tiny Blinkx spots a different way to pull ad dollars out of Google?s video stash.

» Powers of Attorney for College Students

Last week I was getting my teeth cleaned (no cavities -- yippee!). My dental hygienist has a college-age daughter, and one of her friends recently had a drinking "accident" (fell while drunk, and had to be hospitalized with a broken leg). Because this friend is 18 years old, his parents didn't find out about the hospitalization until their son told them (presumably he didn't want them to be surprised by the hospital bills).

This type of thing always surprises me. If I'm a parent and paying ridiculous sums to State U., shouldn't I have the right to know about my child's well-being? The law says no, but there's a way around the law: have your child sign a power of attorney for health care with one or both parents as agents, and make the power of attorney effective immediately. Then, furnish a copy of the power of attorney to the campus health center. Now -- presto! You have the right to find out about your child's health and well-being.

» Down to "The Wire"

I have praised "The Wire" before (here and here) -- I think it's the best thing I've ever seen on TV. Tonight is the series finale. It will probably be impossible to understand what's going on if you are new to the show, but there's always DVD.

"The Wire" isn't a law show per se -- although the show does touch on legal institutions -- but its creator and some of its writers have taken a unique legal position (known as jury nullification) in this article in Time magazine:

If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will — to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty — no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.

» Confess Your Tax Sins To Sweeney Todd
There’s a new movie out called Sweeney Todd. I haven’t seen it yet, but it has all the features I look for in a flick: revenge, dark humor, and even a little singing (ok, I confess that last one is a lie — I despise musicals). The people marketing the movie are doing something fun [...]