Do I Need a Prenuptial Agreement?
Love Actually: Planning Considerations for Marriage, Divorce, Cohabitation, the Death of a Spouse, and More
Mamma Mia!: Common Estate Planning Issues for Blended Families
How Much an Arizona Divorce Will Cost
DE Talk | Resiliency & Determination: The Military Spouse Employee Makeup
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 7 - Invisible Scars: The Impact of Coercive Control on Children
DE Under 3: An Explanation of the Current Federal Budget Bill Confusion
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 5 - Parallel Proceedings: The Intersection of Criminal Law and Family Law
DE Under 3: U.S. GAO Report on Military Spouse Employment Focused on Challenges of Part-Time Work
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 2 - Mortgage Mastery: Charting a Financial Course Post-Divorce
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 1 - The Truth Behind Coercive Control
Jewish Divorce Talk: Episode 8 - Narcissism and Parental Alienation Talk
Once Removed Episode 12: SLATs and the Case of McKim vs. McKim
Once Removed Episode 11: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, or SLATs
Jewish Divorce Talk: Episode 6 - “Let’s Gett Serious” Talk
Let's Talk About Common Law Marriage
Let's Talk What to Bring to Your First Family Law Appointment
The $6 Million Wedding
Immigration Settlement Clears the Way for Thousands of H-1B and L-1 Spouses to Work in the US
Marriage and Divorce Considerations for Health Care Providers
The Restatement (Third) of Trusts, specifically §104, lists four general areas in which the beneficiary’s actions may lead to an assumption of internal liability to the trust estate: (1) A loan or advance to the beneficiary...more
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently answered these questions. In re Guardianship of AMS, No 372183, 2025 WL 452248 (Mich Ct App Feb 10, 2025) (unpublished). AMS was married to Thomas, and she had two daughters, Theresa...more
In Banister v. Banister, the trial court found that a wife breached her fiduciary duty to the husband, committed fraud on the community estate, and wasted community assets. No. 03-21-00517-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 4063 (Tex....more
In the recent case of Schaddelee as Cotrustee of Ronald Schaddelee Irrevocable Trust v. Deleon as Cotrustee of Ronald Schaddelee Irrevocable Trust, 2023 WL 4143639 (Mich Ct App Jun 22, 2023) (unpublished), the Michigan Court...more
This newsletter is intended to keep readers informed about developments in probate and fiduciary litigation in Massachusetts and New York. ...more
Estate planning for the happily married - Hedge your bets with a SLAT One of the biggest challenges of estate planning is dealing with uncertainty. For 2022, for example, the federal gift and estate tax exemption is $12.06...more
Getting remarried? Understand your spouse’s inheritance rights - If you’re getting remarried, you may have very different expectations than you did when you married the first time, especially when it comes to estate...more
Intentional interference with expected inheritance (IIEI) was recognized as a legal claim in California about eight years ago in Beckwith v. Dahl (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1039. Last week, the Court of Appeal issued the first...more
The Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter compiles recent Trust & Estate cases. Brother Gets the Cat – and Not Much Else - Where the decedent left his brother his “beloved old cat” and a small sum of money, and...more
A recent United States District Court opinion highlights the importance of providing summary plan descriptions and certificates of coverage for insured benefits. Discussion - In this case, the employee enrolled her lawful...more
In Robins v. Robins, an ex-wife sued her ex-husband for breaching fiduciary duties regarding the sale of their former marital residence. No. 02-16-00285-CV, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 3534 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth May 17, 2018). ...more
In In re Ng, after a jury found that a deceased trustee did not breach fiduciary duties, a trial court nonetheless ordered the deceased trustee’s spouse to prepare an accounting of the trust. No. 09-17-00386-CV, 2017 Tex....more
In Hughes v. Hughes, a husband and wife sued each other for various claims, including breach of fiduciary duty. No. 13-15-00496-CV, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 3489 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi April 20, 2017, no pet. history)....more
In Shearer v. Shearer, Corrine and John were married from 1990 until 2008. No. 12-14-00302-CV, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 5685 (Tex. App.—Tyler May 27, 2016, no pet. history). John became ill in 2009 and was admitted to a hospital...more
Massachusetts courts have issued decisions on several topics of interest, including whether a revocable spendthrift trust may properly be included in a marital estate, what happens to assets left to a named beneficiary who...more
Internet commenters and legal analysts alike are buzzing about the Ashley Madison hack. The website -- which billed itself as a networking site for anyone who wanted to discretely arrange an extramarital affair -- has already...more