Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

»  The 10 Commandments Of Muni-Bond Investing
Many municipal-bond insurers are in deep trouble--but that doesn't have to be the case with your muni-bond portfolio.

» Client Work Breakdown

It's always hard for a lawyer to figure out what to call him/herself. What type of lawyer am I? Well, I'm the type of lawyer who currently has 33 active client files, in the following areas:

Estate Administration/Probate/Trust Administration: 18 (plus 3 "inactive" client files), or 54.5%

Estate Planning: 10 (plus 6 "inactive" client files), or 30.3%

Estate Litigation: 4, or 12.1%

Guardianship: 1, or 3.0%

» Stock Certificates and Probate

One of the things that I emphasize as an estate planner is "making things easy" for the people who will ultimately handle your estate, by getting yourself organized. That saves them a lot of aggravation, and will also save your estate a fair amount of money, as no one will need to pay an attorney $200+ per hour to figure out how many bank accounts you had, or whether you executed a Will.

Columnist Christopher Yugo espouses the same philosophy in this Q&A regarding stock certificates. As a probate attorney, stock certificates are a real nuisance (and it sounds like Mr. Yugo has had the same experience). The best approach is to set up a brokerage account, and let an investment professional take care of fulfilling all necessary transfer agent requirements.

» WaMu buy gives JPM 15% of bank-broker market

» Ethics and the Estate Planner

The Second Annual ACTEC/ALI-ABA Live Telephone Seminar/Audio Webcast entitled Top Ten Ethical Challenges Facing Estate Planners will be held on Thursday, October 16, 2008 at the following times: Eastern 12 noon ...