Trusts and Estates Section

Extrinsic evidence is admissible to determine whether a document was intended as a will even when the terms are unambiguous. Read more

Persons who hold estate property or receive it on or after the date of death are personally liable for unpaid estate taxes on that property. Read more

Trial court abused its discretion by applying the wrong legal standard when it defined “special needs” more narrowly than allowed under the trust instrument and special needs trust law in general. Read more

A settlor must follow the modification method set forth in the trust for an amendment to be valid. Read more

A number of cases have chipped away at the clarity of statutes instructive of a trustee’s duty to account, report, and inform. Read more

The IRS restated ALL the required minimum distribution (RMD) regulations in 2022. The new (proposed) regulations set out a SIMPLE EASY 4-step process for determining the “countable beneficiaries” of a trust named as beneficiary of a retirement account. Read more

The Probate court has the power to appoint persons to protect a conservatee’s interests and the power to deny appointment of proposed conflicted counsel as conservatee’s independent counsel. Read more

Special administrator had discretion to pay statutory fee earned by administrator’s attorney to third-party judgment creditor in partial satisfaction of attorney’s judgment debt. Read more

Absent express authority under a power of attorney, an attorney-in-fact may not create a survivorship interest in the principal’s funds by depositing funds into a joint account, of which the attorney-in-fact is a joint owner. Read more

In this episode, our guests, Marguerite Lorenz, Master Trustee, and Todd Stephenson, estate liquidator, will be discussing the difficulties that are encountered in dealing with personal property after someone has died. Read more