Empowerment Through Hero Generation with Nicole a`Beckett and Dr. Shruti Roy
Navigating Solo Aging with Dr. Gerda Maissel
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 503: Listen and Learn -- Present and Future Estates (Part 2)
Mamma Mia!: Common Estate Planning Issues for Blended Families
Once Removed Episode 38: The Legacy Mindset: What It Is and How to Build It
Next Generation Legacy Management - The Essence of Developing, Managing and Implementing a Plan for Future Generations
Once Removed Episode 13: It’s 5 o’Clock: Do You Know Where Your Will Is? A Lesson From Aretha Franklin
Authorization for Final Disposition
Digital Planning Podcast Episode: Family Office Technology Solutions
Digital Planning Podcast Episode: The Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act
What is a self-proving affidavit?
The Importance of Beneficiary Designations
The Renoir Spelling Bee
Basics of Estate Planning
What You Need to Know About NFTs - Digital Planning Podcast
The Case of the Laughing Heirs
Protecting Your Estate Plan from Challenges: No-Contest Clause Explained
The Secret Child
Welcome to 'Splitting Heirs'
Interview with Cody Barbo - Digital Planning Podcast
The public often has a misconception that in order to disinherit an heir, one must give the heir a nominal gift in the Last Will and Testament, typically $1.00, $10, or some other such minimal amount. A recent North Carolina...more
In In re Estate of Wright, decedent’s son appealed an order finding that his mother died intestate. No. 13-23-00043-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 8078 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi November 21, 2024, no pet. history)....more
In In re Estate of Martinez, a decedent left a holographic will, and a potential recipient of property under that will offered it for probate and sought a declaration regarding a devise of property. No. 04-22-00708-CV, 2024...more
In Mynard v. Degenhardt, a decedent’s grandson offered a will to probate, and his aunt opposed that admission due to an alleged holographic codicil that allegedly revived a previous will. No. 14-22-00773-CV, 2023 Tex. App....more
In In re Estate of Martinez, a son appealed an order finding that his mother’s holographic will devised certain property to his daughter. No. 04-22-00708-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 1258 (Tex. App.—San Antonio February 21, 2024,...more
A handwritten or scribbled will signed by the testator is technically known as a holographic will, and many people try to prepare their own wills in an attempt to be frugal. However, are holographic wills valid in...more
In In the Estate of Hohmann, the decedent died without leaving an executed will, but his caretaker found a hand written document wherein the decedent stated his wishes for his property. No. 04-20-00237-CV, 2020 Tex. App....more
You may have read in the news, that Aretha Franklin reportedly left holographic, or handwritten, wills in her home. Originally, it was thought that Ms. Franklin died intestate (or without a last will and testament). When an...more
When Aretha Franklin died in August 2018, at age 76, the initial belief that she left no will, followed by the discovery of three wills in her Detroit-area home, foreshadowed the potential emotional and financial...more
Typically, only those of us who are trusts and estates attorneys geek out over the fascinating problems that handwritten wills create. But when those wills were written by a music icon worth $80 million, suddenly this topic...more
Movies, television, and books like to present wills in dramatic ways--handwritten notes, videos, deathbed utterances--but what actually makes a will valid? The law varies depending on what state you live in, but there are...more
Legendary singer Aretha Franklin was thought to have died without a will, but the recent discovery of handwritten documents in her home is calling that into question. A representative of her estate has asked a Michigan...more
Recently a Texas intermediate appellate court affirmed a trial court’s ruling to admit a Will for probate when the decedent did not personally sign it and only communicated his desires by blinking. In the Texas case, the...more
Although much wealth passes today through trusts and beneficiary designations, we occasionally handle California probate disputes that turn on the validity of wills, sometimes involving high value estates....more
February Interest Rates for GRATs, Sales to Defective Grantor Trusts, Intra-Family Loans and Split Interest Charitable Trusts - The February § 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs...more