Love Actually: Planning Considerations for Marriage, Divorce, Cohabitation, the Death of a Spouse, and More
Mamma Mia!: Common Estate Planning Issues for Blended Families
Financial Planning Tips for the Sandwich Generation with Sherry Finkel Murphy
Once Removed Episode 38: The Legacy Mindset: What It Is and How to Build It
Once Removed Episode 13: It’s 5 o’Clock: Do You Know Where Your Will Is? A Lesson From Aretha Franklin
The Case of the Laughing Heirs
The Secret Child
Welcome to 'Splitting Heirs'
Ruder Ware's Elder Law Team Recognizes National Special Needs Law Month - Part 2
Law Brief: Alexis Gruttadauria and Rich Schoenstein Discuss Why You Need an Estate Plan
Inheritance Data - Digital Planning Podcast
In Halderman v. Ivy, the decedent’s will stated: “I give, devise and bequeath my 66.977 acres located on FM 1848 in Freestone County, Texas, including all livestock and farm equipment located thereon to my two children . . ....more
What constitutes undue influence sufficient to invalidate a deed? In Erikson v. Erikson, 105 Mass. App. Ct. 1115 (February 24, 2025), the Appeals Court of Massachusetts affirmed the Land Court’s invalidation of a deed on the...more
Intentional interference with expected inheritance (IIEI) was recognized as a legal claim in California about eight years ago in Beckwith v. Dahl (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1039. Last week, the Court of Appeal issued the first...more
Providing for your children is one of the primary purposes of estate planning, but what happens to your carefully crafted trust if you had children you did not know about when you created the trust? Or, what if you have...more
It’s unremarkable that California courts require that notice be given to affected beneficiaries in trust and probate proceedings. After all, the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no person will be deprived of life,...more
The Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter compiles recent Trust & Estate cases. Brother Gets the Cat – and Not Much Else - Where the decedent left his brother his “beloved old cat” and a small sum of money, and...more
In the absence of a trust that allows assets to pass without opening probate, the California probate process lasts for at least six months and can run much longer depending on the size of the estate and the nature of assets....more
Disinherited Children Lose Challenge to Mother’s Will in New York Surrogate’s Court - Matter of Loe, 2019 WL 657041 (N.Y. Sur. Feb. 13, 2019) - Can disinherited children challenge their mother’s will based on possible...more
Many California will and trust disputes arise from ambiguity in the document with respect to who is entitled to an asset. Maybe the document was hazy from the start or perhaps circumstances have changed such that the rightful...more
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2019! Leighton v. Hallstrom, 94 Mass. App. Ct. 439 (2018) - In Leighton, the Appeals Court vacated a final decree of the Plymouth Probate and Family Court settling an intestate estate....more
There has not been much case law of particular relevance in the T&E area since our last newsletter, but three recent federal court decisions—one from the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and two from the United States District...more