Estate Planning

After a 14-year battle over James Brown’s estimated $100 million estate, it appears “good” will finally prevail over the greed of Brown’s 4th “wife”.  The Supreme Court of South Carolina has recently ruled that Tommie Ray Hynie’s marriage in 2001 to the “Godfather of Soul” was invalid...

As a result of a rush to stimulate the economy early in the pandemic, the IRS apparently failed to follow its own procedures (established after recovery from the recession in 2008) and sent 1.1 million stimulus checks totaling $1.4 billion to those who are deceased.  Now...

What would happen in Texas if it were determined either before or after probate that a Will was forged?  This question becomes topical due to the recent determination by a Florida sheriff (after 2 handwriting specialists examined the Will)  that there “100% forgery” of the Will admitted...

As COVID-19 increases pressure on state Medicaid budgets as demands for Medicaid coverage become even greater, states may be inclined to expand Medicaid estate recovery giving the state the right to have a lien against the property (most commonly a homestead) of a Medicaid recipient...

A Pennsylvania woman, Cynthia Carolyn Black, was recently arrested for keeping her dead grandmother’s corpse in a freezer for 15 years to collect her deceased grandmother’s Social Security checks. Black faces charges for theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property and abuse of a...

The recent Netflix series “Tiger King” focused on the feud between an Oklahoma private zookeeper (of big cats such as tigers and lions) known as “Joe Exotic” (herein “Exotic”) who also called himself the “Tiger King” and big cat animal rights preservationist, Carol Baskin (“Baskin”)....

The coronavirus pandemic has not only resulted in the stark realization of our mortality resulting in a surge in the preparation of wills and trusts, but it has also caused the necessity for review or consider changes to the most basic estate planning documents including...

Wife needs long-term care which is very expensive (statewide average is around $6,500 per month). Medicare has very limited coverage and has been utilized to the limits resulting in husband having to private pay with his limited resources which he needs to use to take...

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