Of all the assets and property that you may think of when thinking of property that is part of someone’s estate, there is one asset that often is overlooked—personal injury claims. Often, people pass away after they are injured, or even while a personal injury claim is pending in court. A Big Dilemma The personal representative or executor then doesn’t know what to do with this asset. It has a value…but not a definite one—in fact, you may not even know if the case will settle or if it’s even a good case. You don’t want to walk away from it, or ignore it—the case may have significant value for ..read more

When you create an estate plan, you probably try to make sure that all of the assets you own are accounted for; that they are being left to whom you want to leave them to, or at least that they are being disposed of in the way that you like. You are creating a roadmap for your loved ones to follow when you are gone. What About Electronic Records? But one thing that people often leave out on this “roadmap,” are records and data that are stored electronically. This may include emails, digital records, digital data, or social media posts (or access to your social media accounts and information ..read more

When planning an estate, we often give a lot of thought to our personal property, or our real property. Many of us however, fail to give thought to our business. We see our business as a separate entity, insulated from our personal passing, and just envision the business carrying on as usual after you as the owner passes away. But that isn’t always the case, and the failure to do estate planning for a business can lead to a business being devastated after going through the probate process. What Type of Business Entity? What happens to a business in probate, often depends on what kind of busine ..read more

Sometimes, people create wills and trusts and other estate plans, and mistakes happen. Sometimes, the estate documents that are created are wrong, or else, don’t accurately reflect the wishes of the person who created them. When that happens, interested parties can ask a probate court to alter the will, to reflect what the deceased really wanted, and meant to say. Reformation of Contracts This is called reformation, and it isn’t unique to wills or probate law—reformation is the act of asking a court to reform a document, to correct a mistake, or to properly reflect the intentions of the partie ..read more

One of the primary ways that wills and trusts are challenged by others in the probate courts is through what is known as undue influence. What is Undue Influence? Undue influence means that someone has exerted some kind of pressure or coercion on the deceased while he or she was alive, and that pressure influenced the deceased to execute estate documents, or to alter estate documents, in favor of the person who was exerting the influence. So, for example, an elderly person who may not be fully able to manage his or her own affairs, may be convinced by an “advisor,” a realtor, or a close confid ..read more

Let’s say that you have a challenged, contested probate case. Like any lawsuit, winning the case involves the hiring, use and testimony of expert witnesses. But you may be surprised to learn that some of those expert witnesses you need to win your pronate case may be expert medical witnesses. Why Doctors are Used in Probate Cases You don’t initially think of doctors as experts in probate cases. After all, what does a doctor have to do with a challenge to a will or a trustee or other estate document? But many challenges to estates, inheritances, and estate documents like wills, involve medical ..read more

If you are married, and you are creating an estate plan, you may want to disinherit your spouse. Before you say this sounds cruel or morally wrong, there are a lot of very valid reasons when people may want to disinherit spouses. In some cases, spouses are still legally married, but have not actually lived or acted as a married couple for many years. They may both accept that they are only married in name only, and thus, may want to disinherit each other. A spouse may have children of a former marriage that he or she wants to take care of. The spouse may want children of that former marriage t ..read more

Imagine this, quite common scenario: You plan ahead, visit your estate attorney, and put together a complete estate plan, designed to avoid probate and ensure that the things you own, pass easily and quickly, with as little court intervention by the probate court as possible. Years go by, and you end up getting divorced. You sign a divorce agreement (sometimes called a marital settlement agreement), which gives certain property to your spouse. When you pass, it turns out there is a problem: Some of the things you agreed to in your marital settlement agreement conflict with your estate plan. Yo ..read more

We have often written about probate court, why some people may want to avoid it, and about getting an attorney to help you in probate court. But what is probate court, what does it do, and is it even necessary? Changing of Ownership of Assets In simplest terms, the probate court oversees the transition of a deceased person’s assets, to ensure that they are transferred into whoever’s name those assets are supposed to be transferred to. The probate court can decide on contested issues, but also issue court orders formalizing simpler things that need to be finalized in order for property to pass ..read more

Whether you are rich or middle class or below middle class, it is very possible that you have homestead property. That means that when you create an estate plan, you should start to think about what will happen to the property, who will inherit it, and how. Of course the best option is to include your homestead in a comprehensive estate plan, so it avoids probate. But what happens if your property does go into probate? Creditor Exempt Status Homestead property is absolutely protected from creditors, to an unlimited amount, absent certain restrictions. But creditors can make claims on your esta ..read more