Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» The new hot job: financial planner

Earlier this year, Jamie Ferrel-Epps, 31, a client manager with a major financial services firm, had an "Aha! moment" after hearing a colleague speak of a financial planner certificate program he had just ...

» Premarital Agreements and Other Areas of Law

Premarital agreements are hard to draft because they can deal with various areas of law. Estate planning and family law are the two biggies, but many different areas of property law can be affected. For instance, I recently was working on a premarital agreement, and the other attorney suggested that, if my client made contribution to his own retirement plan during his marriage, he had to make an equal contribution to his wife's retirement plan. Luckily I realized that the contribution limits for my client's retirement plan (a 401k) and his wife's plan (IRA) were not the same, so we were able to change the language in time. This is one of the reasons why I like working with a non-estate planner on a prenup, and if possible working collaboratively -- we can review the agreement from many different perspectives to make sure it "works."

» Seth Tobias Case Settlement

I've blogged about the strange case of Seth Tobias before, here. Now (here) there is news of a potential settlement.

Mr. Tobias's brothers were previously attempting to use the so-called "slayer statute" to argue that Mr. Tobias's widow, Filomena, was involved in his murder and should therefore be disinherited.

Presumably Mr. Tobias's brothers are dropping their claim for a share of the estate.

» Merrill may ditch a bundle of Bloomberg

» Wills and Provisions That Fail

I didn't start my legal career doing much estate planning; for the most part, I was a probate attorney, handling Wills that had "matured" into deceased estates. I think that's a helpful experience, as you quickly figure out from a practical perspective the difference between good provisions and provisions that fail.

Let me give an example from a Will (not drafted by me, luckily) that recently came across my desk. The Will gives most property in equal shares to the decedent's three living children, which is fine. But it also makes a gift of certain jewelry to "the first of my granddaughters to marry." Setting aside the potential inequality here -- why favor the first granddaughter only? why favor only granddaughters? -- there's a problem: none of the decedent's granddaughters have married. So what now? At the time the Will was drafted, this provision failed (it didn't work), and it still fails today.

As a probate attorney, the problem is clear. I have to file with the probate court a document listing the decedent beneficiaries (legatees). Who in the world do I list from the above provision -- all of the granddaughters? someone who can hold the jewelry in trust until a granddaughter marries? somebody else?

If the draftsperson had spent five minutes thinking about the practical ramifications of this language, he or she could have easily fixed it.