Articles Posted in Estate Attorney

Last year we wrote about the scandal in Michigan’s probate system; about how some attorneys and real estate brokers were working together to cheat heirs out their inheritances, legally. Now another scandal has emerged with the news that Oakland County Probate Judges in Michigan have hired an attorney who is under criminal investigation. We posted…

The new tax law doubles the amount that can be passed to heirs without them having to worry about estate and gift taxes. The amount works out to about $22 million for a married couple, but is only in place until 2025. Due to this, the uber-rich are turning to what are called dynasty trusts,…

At the dawn of the digital world, something happened that most didn’t notice. Computer software that you paid money for was no longer yours. You didn’t own it, you only licensed it from the company and they had limitations as to what you could do with it. Now that concept has spread to all aspects…

In her will, Bronx widow Ellen Frey-Wouters left $300,000 to Troy and Tiger, her two cats. Her will instructed the money be used to make sure they would “never be caged” and always be lovingly cared for. The New York Post quotes Dahlia Grizzleto, a former health aide Frey-Wouters and now caretaker of the cats…

The investigative unit of a Detroit TV station uncovered some real shenanigans by the probate public administrator who stole people’s inheritances…legally.

In New York State, probate can take from 7-9 months. While that can seem like an eternity, in Ireland it can take up to 16 months. A recent report by the life insurance company, Royal London found crippling delays in the Irish probate process which have caused financial hardships on many families. This delay can…

Sometimes you just don’t know who a person really is until after the die. Here are some odd codicils to wills. Attorney T.M. Zink ,an Iowa lawyer who died in 1930, left his daughter only five dollars and his wife got zilch. He stipulated that the rest of his $100,000 estate be put in a…

A son suspected of stabbing to death his mother and sister at their $2 million home had been cut out of the family’s fortune just weeks earlier.The son, Joshua Cohen, 27, was arrested on Saturday after his mother Leah, 66, and sister Hannah, 33 were found murdered in their home London last Friday. Police described…

One of the most important tools in estate planning is a trust. A trust allows the settlor—or the creator of the trust—to control the distribution of his property either during his lifetime or after his death. The trustee, is tasked with holding the property for the beneficiary’s benefit and distributing that property in accordance with…

The New York Law Journal reports that Kings County Surrogate John Ingram barred a caregiver turned wife of a man with dementia from testifying about whether she may exercise her spousal right of election in the matter of her late husband’s estate. Irving Berk, who died in 2006, left a five million dollar estate to…