Sep 23
The law has its own language and much of it can be confusing to laypersons. Often the law incorporates Latin phrases such as res ipsa loquiter, which means “the thing speaks for itself.” It’s a phrase used in tort law to explain that concept that simply because something happened is evidence of negligence. The most commonly […]
Sep 12
Recently I met with a life insurance agent to talk about planning. He told me the new term for what most attorneys know as estate planning is advance planning. “Advance” as in planning prior to death, disability, accident, divorce — whatever those bumps in life’s road might be. While I’m not generally a fan of […]
Jul 26
The Criminal Investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced that details of new criminal cases involving cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, will be released soon. This announcement is most likely related to an announcement made by the IRS in 2014 that cryptocurrencies would be treated like any other property for the purpose of […]
Jul 22
Congratulations! Your son or daughter has turned 18 and is an adult. Now what do you do? The law is a fictional world that sometimes bears no resemblance to reality. It allows for the creation of legal entities such as corporations and partnerships and lets them act as if they were natural persons. It has […]
Jul 19
All too frequently the intent of a decedent is thwarted by the way she has titled her property. What happens is the decedent leaves a will saying something to the effect “I leave my account at XYZ Bank to my children, equally.” However, the account at XYZ Bank is titled in the name of the […]
May 29
A single parent with minor children faces challenges in creating an estate plan. If one parent of a couple dies, usually the child doesn’t have to leave her home and remains with the surviving parent. That parent is presumably familiar with the child’s abilities and interests, has access to whatever life insurance or other financial […]
Mar 25
Whenever I meet with clients about their wills, they always bring up how to divide the family treasures, the stuff that is in people’s houses. According to Elizabeth Stewart, author of “No Thanks, Mom,” Gen Xers and Millennials don’t prize those treasures the way their parents or their grandparents did. Here’s a list of 10 […]
Mar 1
Twin boys were born abroad. One was ruled a U.S. citizen; the other wasn’t. That was the ruling under a U.S. Department of State policy that, according to a federal judge, was wrongly applied. Andrew Dvash-Banks was a student in Israel when he met his future husband, Elad, who was an Israeli citizen. Because they […]
Feb 15
In an earlier post, I talked about the differences between joint tenancy and transfer on death deeds. Today I want to discuss the two most common forms of joint ownership, tenancy in common and joint tenancy. While transfer on death deeds apply only to real property (land), joint tenancy and tenancy in common apply to […]
Feb 11
The answer depends on what is meant by “the same.” Both will transfer title to property at death without the need for the property to go through probate, but beyond that they are different. Joint Tenancy is a form of ownership where two or more people own “undivided interests” in property. In joint tenancy the […]
