Recent Articles
Prenuptial Agreements As Part of Wedding Planning
Premarital agreements (prenuptials) are becoming more prevalent because many people have acquired property and assets before getting married and would like to protect them. High-profile cases put prenuptials on the cover of the tabloids, but they are not just for the rich and famous. A prenuptial should not be regarded with skepticism or as… Read More »
Life and Death Issues
An Advance Health Care Directive is a written document in which one person (the principal) designates another person (the agent) to make medical decisions on the principal’s behalf when the principal is unable to make medical decisions for him or herself. The principal may also predetermine which decisions should be made in certain medical… Read More »
Forcing a Property Co-Owner to Sell
Our lives are constantly changing, which in turn changes our plans, our goals, and our commitments. Dissension among heirs can arise when two or more family members (usually siblings or cousins) inherit a piece of real estate, and those life changes affect the new owners’ plans for the property. If there is a dispute… Read More »
Don’t Wait to Probate
I was first introduced to the court proceeding called “probate” as a result of a frantic call I received soon after I began practicing law. The caller, a real estate agent, was handling an escrow and found that the sale couldn’t be completed because the seller (his client) didn’t have title to the property…. Read More »
Expressing Your Medical Preferences
You may have heard of the term “living will.” A living will is a written statement about the types of medical care you want (or don’t want) if you become incapacitated. This is a different document than the “will” used for estate planning purposes. The living will is only concerned with health care issues,… Read More »
Legal Check-Up
Your estate plan should be reviewed periodically to make sure that it is “evergreen” — that it accurately reflects your life circumstances and preferences. Here are a few questions you can answer to complete your estate planning check-up: Do you have a will or trust? Do you need to make changes to your will… Read More »
Pay Now or Pay Later
You may have heard and read about the benefits of a living trust as an estate planning tool. You may think it is the right thing to do — but you’re stopped cold by the price tag. Let’s look at the range of offers. The lowest price I’ve seen for a living trust is… Read More »
Is a Gentle Nudge In Order?
I have found that some people need a gentle nudge to start and/or complete their estate plan. Sometimes a spouse, an adult child, or a close friend can motivate or encourage another person to do what he or she knows is the right thing to do. Every family has at least one trusted and… Read More »
Keeping What Is Yours
There are many married couples today who entered marriage with assets that were their separate property but did not create a premarital agreement. There are also spouses who received property during the marriage by gift or inheritance which is by law their separate property. Often the spouse with the separate property wants to keep… Read More »
“What’s Love Got To Do With It?”
In times past, premarital agreements (also called prenuptial agreements) were associated with only the rich and famous. Because people are becoming more informed and sophisticated about planning their estates, some people are obtaining prenuptial agreements as part of planning for marriage. This is especially true where a couple planning to marry have accumulated assets… Read More »