DE Talk | Resiliency & Determination: The Military Spouse Employee Makeup
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 7 - Invisible Scars: The Impact of Coercive Control on Children
DE Under 3: An Explanation of the Current Federal Budget Bill Confusion
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 5 - Parallel Proceedings: The Intersection of Criminal Law and Family Law
DE Under 3: U.S. GAO Report on Military Spouse Employment Focused on Challenges of Part-Time Work
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 2 - Mortgage Mastery: Charting a Financial Course Post-Divorce
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 1 - The Truth Behind Coercive Control
Jewish Divorce Talk: Episode 8 - Narcissism and Parental Alienation Talk
Once Removed Episode 12: SLATs and the Case of McKim vs. McKim
Once Removed Episode 11: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, or SLATs
Jewish Divorce Talk: Episode 6 - “Let’s Gett Serious” Talk
Let's Talk About Common Law Marriage
Let's Talk What to Bring to Your First Family Law Appointment
The $6 Million Wedding
Immigration Settlement Clears the Way for Thousands of H-1B and L-1 Spouses to Work in the US
Marriage and Divorce Considerations for Health Care Providers
Employment Law Now V-96- LOTS of Big Employment Law Developments
Let's Talk Finding a Family Law Lawyer
Let's Talk Family Law 101
The Latest on E-2 Visa with Citizenship-by-Investment
The case for couples to get (or at least strongly consider) a prenuptial agreement is simple: it is much easier to get into a marriage than it is to get out of one. ...more
Today’s federal estate and gift tax laws may be remembered as the most generous to wealthy families since the Great Depression. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) doubled the federal estate, gift, and generation skipping...more
With continuing uncertainty regarding the federal estate tax laws, the Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) is a popular option that helps high net-worth individuals maintain flexibility while maximizing their financial...more
Married couples often have wills naming one another as their primary beneficiary. People also often name their spouse as beneficiary of retirement accounts and life insurance policies. Upon commencing a divorce action,...more
As a bit of background, there is a distinction between probate assets and non-probate assets. Probate assets are distributed according to your will during a probate administration whereas non-probate assets are distributed...more
The landscape of marriage in the United States has transformed significantly, particularly for same-sex couples, following pivotal legal battles that sought to recognize their right to marry. Understanding the nuances of...more
So, you have remarried. Perhaps it has been 30 months; maybe 30 years. When you got together the guy/girl moved into your crib. It’s always been titled in your name and it’s the house you got in your divorce from No. 1. Now...more
What is known as the IRS survivor’s penalty, and is there anything that can be done to provide for a surviving spouse as we age? The “survivor’s penalty” is the likelihood that a surviving spouse will face higher federal and...more
Let's be honest. Legal documents are not written in anyone's love language. On Valentines Day, we undoubtedly would prefer to exchange thoughtful presents, enjoy an intimate meal with our significant other, or blush at the...more
In In re Estate of Wells, No. 12-23-00066-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 8475 (Tex. App.—Tyler November 8, 2023, no pet. history). The testator left a will that created a trust for his wife and descendants, named his wife as the...more
Prenuptial agreements (or “Prenups” as they tend to be referred to colloquially) tend to have an unfair reputation as a societal matter. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for critics of prenuptial agreements to view them as the most...more
Last week, I blogged about the new statute that closed the block hole that existed when a party who held most or all of the assets died during while a divorce was pending. Specifically, the new statute permits the court to...more
Unknown to many Floridians, Florida enacted the Community Property Trust Act which went into effect on July 1, 2021, and established the ability to convert non-community property into community property. The community...more
A prenuptial agreement, or “prenup”, is a contract or agreement between prospective spouses made in contemplation and advance of marriage. A common misconception is that prenups are only needed if you are a celebrity or have...more
In Reece Trust v. Reece, a husband created a trust for his wife, and they then began divorce proceedings. No. 22CA1393, 2023 COA 89, 2023 Colo. App. LEXIS 1456 (Colo. App. September 28, 2023)....more
Divorce can be a challenging and emotionally draining experience, leaving individuals with numerous legal and personal matters to resolve. Amidst all the turmoil, it is vital for people to understand the significance of...more
In Michigan, the process for an individual to take their spouse’s last name is fairly simple, but does require taking action with both the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Michigan Secretary of State. The first...more
When I first read the precedential ruling of the Pennsylvania Superior Court in Shell v. Shell, I really didn’t find it noteworthy enough to write about. This is a case where a spouse discovered that her husband was moving...more
In Castello v. Ex’r of the Est. of Castello, the decedent died leaving a will that left his property to his wife “for life” and then to his three children by a prior marriage. No 03-22-00012-CV 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 4454 (Tex....more
The answer to this question is: it depends. In general, all assets in either party’s name or in which either party has a beneficial interest at the time of the divorce are subject to division in the overall division of...more
During the divorce process, one often overlooked area is updating your estate plan. Divorce can impact beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and other assets and can also have tax...more
Beginning in 2020 a new topic entered the estate planning world based on studies done at Cornell University. Cornell started what they call a “Family Reconciliation Project” and in 2021 they published data indicating that in...more
Death of a Parent- In the context of a family-owned business, it is often the case that the matriarch or patriarch of the family is also the chief executive of the business. They may have founded the business, or they may...more
In this episode of “Splitting Heirs,” Warren K. Racusin, partner and Chair of Lowenstein’s Trusts & Estates practice, speaks with Sharon L. Klein, EVP, President - Family Wealth, Eastern U.S. Region & Head of National Divorce...more
Transfer on Death (“TOD”), also known as Payable on Death (“POD”), account registrations are a popular way to avoid the requirement to pass assets through probate upon death and operate as an alternative to retitling assets...more