Justice Stephen Field wrote for a unanimous Supreme Court in the 1869 case of United States v. Kirby that “The reason of the law . . . should prevail over its letter.” Justice Field wrote these words in support of a decision holding that a sheriff who arrested a mail carrier for murder could not
A question for you: do you have an estate plan? Of course you do, everyone needs an estate plan.
Second question: who is(are) the beneficiary(ies) of your estate plan? Someone you love and trust, I presume. Perhaps a spouse, or your children, or maybe even a worthy charity.
Follow-up questions: if your beneficiary is not
Hey everybody – it’s January! How was your New Year’s Eve? How did you celebrate? Did you go to a party? Did you host a party? Were there games at your party? What kind of games? Charades? Jenga? Maybe you went crazy and played Twister!
What did I do at my New Year’s Eve party?
Under universally accepted law, across every jurisdiction, lawyers owe vital and concrete duties to their clients. The duty of confidentiality. The duty of loyalty. The duty to disclose. And, greatest of all, the duty to inform your clients when their ideas are dumb.
Why is this last duty the greatest? Probably because it’s the most
This blog has previously mentioned the most common question we hear when people find out we work in probate litigation: “What can I do to make sure my family doesn’t fight over my property after I die?” Because I am a Fundamentally Honest Person (FHP for short!), I usually tell them the truth: “Nothing, really.”
As a child, your parents, teachers, and/or some other adult influence probably sat you down and recounted Aesop’s classic fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. “Slow and steady wins the race,” they told you. The slow, methodical, and thoughtful tortoise would always win out over the fast-paced, impulsive hare.
Well, you’re a grown-up now
Traditionally, the creation of a valid will, in California and elsewhere, required strict adherence to certain formalities. Estate law has been tepidly moving away from requiring compliance with those formalities, with a goal of prioritizing the intent of the person creating the will (the “Testator”). Nine states have gone so far as to enact laws
Operators of skilled nursing facilities want their patients to enter into arbitration agreements. While such agreements don’t eliminate the risk of litigation, they at least reduce the expense and exposure associated with potential jury trials.
California appellate courts, however, have taken an ever narrower view of who can sign arbitration agreements on behalf of patients. Just
No contest clauses generally are not enforceable against beneficiaries of California trusts when there is “probable cause” to challenge the trust instrument.
Yet the probable cause safe harbor may disappear if the contest is untimely. That’s the upshot of Meiri v. Shamtoubi (2022) 81 Cal.App.5th 606, a Court of Appeal opinion issued last week.
Narcotics Anonymous established a revocable trust to manage its literature and other intellectual property assets for the benefit of its many members. A “regional delegate group” filed a petition in Los Angeles probate court claiming that the trustee was breaching its fiduciary duties.
The California Court of Appeal, in Autonomous Region of Narcotics Anonymous v.