Harper Lee valued her privacy while she was alive. Her will suggests that she also values it in death. After writing To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee mostly kept out of the public eye. She did not release another book for decades and made very few appearances. She died in 2016. Journalists and literary historians…

An alarming number of our clients have fallen victim to scams.  Some are clever- getting to know an elderly person over a period of time before conning them out of their money. Others rely on the vulnerabilities and sympathies of seniors. A common one is for the scammer to call a grandparent and tell him…

When clients come into our firm to execute their Wills, they often comment on the seal and linen Will backing.  The basics of executing a will have not changed very much in decades. To be certain that a will is valid, it  must be signed by the testator in front of witnesses, who also must…

Many of our clients are concerned about what will happen to their  individual retirement accounts which are often their largest asset. They want to make sure that the funds can help their families for years to come. Because of the tax status of an IRA, it is important to consider how to pass it to…

One of the worst aspects of elder fraud is that it often seems like there is very little that can be done about it. After a scammer has taken advantage of an elderly person, it is difficult to recover any lost money. Local law enforcement are sympathetic, but they are often unable to prosecute. This…

It seems almost cruel in a way that nursing homes are as expensive as they are. People who have saved well for their retirements and intended to leave something to their heirs in an estate plan often face steep nursing home bills. If a stay in a nursing home is long enough, then all their…

When Medicare patients are ready to leave a hospital after an extended stay, they often are not ready to go home and resume their normal lives. They might need to be transferred to another facility, such as a nursing home or a rehabilitation center. It depends on the needs of the specific patient being discharged….

Every parent with multiple children knows that despite being raised in the same house, they all turn out differently. They have different abilities and often very different attitudes about things. Children also have different levels of financial responsibility.  Nevertheless, most parents do want to leave all their children an equal inheritance and they do not…

A reader recently asked a NWI Times column “Can an individual establish more than one trust?” It seems that the reader was curious whether he could have more than one trust and if creating a second trust would automatically revoke the first one. These are common questions because most people are more familiar with the…

Blended families are often the ultimate source of problems in estate litigation. When there are children from multiple marriages and stepparents who all have a potential stake in an estate, fights over the estate are more likely to occur. Those in blended families just have fewer bonds than more traditional families. The Financial Timesrecently discussed…