When an elderly parent is approaching the end of life, the ability of the family to come together and agree on treatment and care is vital to ease the parent's suffering. The last thing that most end of life patients want to deal with, is a family feud over the patient’s medical treatment and care. [...]
One of the main estate planning goals of many people is to avoid having a family fight over their estates. There are very few things that can be more destructive to a family than a fight over an estate. Once the fight begins it becomes nearly impossible to regain family harmony because of the deep [...]
A common question that people have about estate planning is whether they should tell their adult children about their plans. There are no easy answers. After people get estate plans they often want to know whether they should tell other people about the contents of the plan. Specifically, people want to know if they should [...]
Usually when people are planning something big that affects important people in their lives, they let those people know about their plans. However, when it comes to their estate plans many keep silent and do not tell the important people that those plans affect. That is a mistake. If you are planning to retire early [...]
After mediation failed to resolve a dispute between the three surviving children of Martin Luther King Jr. over his Nobel Peace Prize and personal Bible it now appears that the case will go to trial soon. Martin Luther King's two surviving sons and his sole surviving daughter are currently the only shareholders and directors of [...]
The estate of billionaire Bruce Wasserstein who passed away in 2009 is still under dispute. It is a sordid affair. The full details of the Bruce Wasserstein estate battle are lurid and somewhat difficult to follow. It is alleged that in 2007 Wasserstein encouraged his then mistress, Erin McCarthy, to undergo in vitro fertilization, which [...]
One of the primary goals for many people when estate planning is to avoid having their families fight over their estates. It is not always easy, but some simple steps can help. Avoiding a family battle over an estate plan is an important goal, if you want your estate to go smoothly. Nothing creates more [...]
Prince is not the only entertainer who did not make an estate plan. Snoop Dogg does not have one either and he has no plans to get one. You might think the recent death of Prince and the news about how not having an estate plan will make his estate difficult to administer would cause [...]
Before creating an estate plan that leaves your children unequal shares of your estate, it is a good idea to consider how to go about it to lessen the likelihood that your decision will be challenged. There are sometimes good reasons to leave one of your children a larger portion of your estate than another [...]
Family business owners often fear that a child’s spouse will get part ownership of the business after a divorce. As one New York family is learning, employing tricks to avoid that from happening can lead to bigger headaches. John’s Pizzeria is an institution in New York with locations all over the area. When owner Madeline [...]