Family Law

• Premarital Agreement
  One of my favorite clients came in recently with a wonderful new problem. She is getting married again. She and her fiancé had several concerns. A primary concern was the threat of my client losing her separate property assets to her new husband's ex-wife. On the other hand, they expressed their hearts' desire to combine all their assets and create a whole new life together. They liked the idea of creating community property. They did not think a Prenuptial Agreement sounded at all romantic or optimistic.
• Guardianship
  If the company divided the proceeds into three shares and then divided the share for the predeceased son into shares for his children (my client's grandchildren), the mother of the grandchildren would be the most likely candidate to go to court to be named guardian of the estate of the grandchildren and take control of those assets. This is exactly what my client did not want. She did not want the assets to go through a court proceeding (such as guardianship) and she certainly did not want either of her son's wives to be in control of those assets.
• Spousal Support
  I reminded them that the necessities of life includes paying medical bills which may extend over a long period of time if the spouse suffers a long term illness. The separate property of the ill spouse is the primary source for payments of the expenses of the ill spouse, the next source is community property of the couple and finally, the separate property of the well spouse is liable. Another concern for my client is that she will lose some of her income by remarrying. This is often the case in second marriages. Before remarrying, it is important to consider the loss of spousal support, pension or social security benefits, as well as medical and other insurance coverage.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Estate planning involves the management of your assets while you are alive and the distribution of those assets after you pass away. Assets, life insurance, pensions, real estate, cars, personal belongings and debts are all part of one's estate. Please check the Glossary for terms that are commonly used. They may have special meanings under the law.
• Wills
• Trusts
  It is critical that beneficiary designations on retirement plans, life insurance and annuities be kept up to date. In the case referred to above, a husband and wife (call them Harry and Wendy), established a revocable trust prior to the husband's death. They also had life insurance policies for which they named each other as the beneficiaries and they named their respective estates as the contingent beneficiary. Harry died first and about three years later Wendy died. Wendy had never bothered to change the beneficiary designation after Harry died. So, when Wendy died the life insurance was payable to her estate. Because the life insurance proceeds exceed $166,250 they are subject to probate and must go through the probate process before being distributed to Wendy's heirs. If Harry and Wendy had named their living trust as the contingent beneficiary on their life insurance the expensive and time consuming process of probate would have been avoided.
• Power of Attorney
  Because of the relatively new privacy laws (HIPAA), everyone should have a new advance health care directive, which should be effective immediately. This allows you to name an agent to speak to doctors on your behalf if you become incapacitated and to obtain your medical records if necessary to effectuate powers in a durable power of attorney and/or trust.
• Probate
  Jacqueline Skay, Attorney at Law, Estate and Trust Law: Probate Law: Estate Inventory, Appraisal And Record Keeping

Finance Law

• Tax Law