Episodes

Using your power of attorney should be pretty straightforward. You signed the document so that someone could handle your finances and health decisions. Those are the two main “types” of power of attorney — though different commentators variously insist that there are six, or five, or four, or three different kinds of documents. But what happens when your agent needs to act? Experiences vary widely. One big variable: the person reviewing your documents likely has no legal training. They might t...

Signing tax returns can be difficult — or even impossible — for someone who is incapacitated. Can someone else sign for them? Who — and how? To be clear, we’re not talking about an amanuensis signing. But we do like to use the word. That kind of signing involves a completely competent — but physically challenged — person directing someone else to sign on their behalf. Federal and state law recognize the ability to use that approach. But what if the signer is mentally incompetent, or incapacita...

Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs, to the initiated) are a relatively recent addition to the federal income tax rules. Using them can make a real difference in the income taxes some IRA owners have to pay. If you are over age 72 (or younger, if you inherited an IRA from someone else) you may know at least a little about required minimum distributions. Every year you must withdraw at least a minimum amount from your IRA. You can withdraw more, of course. But you pay tax on every dollar yo...

For clients with some types of assets, we frequently encounter questions about LLCs and trust funding. Should your trust be a “member” of each limited liability company, or should the LLC manager be a trustee? Do you need to change your LLC operating agreement? How do you get these interests into your trust’s name? Not every estate planning client needs to worry about this issue. But those with rental real estate, for instance, might have already set up LLCs to hold those investment properties....

Are you thinking about making changes to your estate plan? If you’re already our client, or you are in Southern Arizona, we’d like to help. But we have some advice for you in any case. In this podcast episode, we discuss some of the common mistakes we see people make. Changing your estate plan isn’t as simple as scribbling out one name, writing in a new one and initialing. That kind of “change” is almost certainly ineffective (well, in Arizona, anyway). How about writing out a new note: “here’...

What are UTMA, 529 and ABLE? And which is better for your situation? The difference can be confusing. How to make a gift, but not cause other problems because of the recipient’s youth, immaturity or limitations? Three common mechanisms are the topic of this podcast episode. We talk about (among other things): UTMA — the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (a state law, adopted in Arizona and 48 other states — this may be the year that South Carolina joins the rest of the states). §529 (education...

The “Lost Art” of codicils? What makes it lost? A listener asked several questions: Under Arizona law, may I make a codicil to an existing will? May I designate an executor? And leave everything to the executor? Provide instructions for the executor? In this podcast episode, we review these deceptively simple questions. It gives us an opportunity to talk about language, typing (including our first use of the venerable phrase “carbon paper” in years) and the utility of seeking legal counsel. ...

We’re pretty pumped. We’ve been podcasting for two years now, and that means this is our 100th episode! We started in March, 2019, with an initial podcast describing the then-recent addition of a new partner (Jacque Mingle) and the then-imminent retirement of founding partner Tom Curti. Tom’s doing fine, by the way — thanks for asking. Join Fleming & Curti, PLC, partners Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman and Robert Fleming this week while they discuss some of the changes they’ve seen, the lesson...

Do you need to keep every document you’ve ever collected in connection with your estate planning? Of course not. Let us help you with shredding your estate plan — or at least the parts you don’t need to keep around. Of course you should keep the originals of your current estate plan. But what about those drafts you got from our office? And what about the previous will and powers of attorney? In this Elder Law Issues podcast episode, we talk about the value of culling your old documents. We als...

Sometimes the very public lives (and deaths) of famous people can give us some insight into elder law issues. Take, for instance, the Larry King estate. Larry King died on January 23, 2021, after a bout of COVID-19 — though his cause of death was listed as sepsis as a result of kidney and respiratory failures. He was 87. What caught our attention, though, was that he handwrote his will — what the law calls a “holographic” will. We also were struck by media reports that his estate was worth $2 ...

If you leave your estate to your child, what interest does your child’s spouse acquire in the inheritance? What happens if your child (god forbid) dies before you? Will their inheritance go automatically to their surviving spouse? We get these questions all the time. When we’re asked, the short answer is always: “what would you like the answer to be?” Because we can write any arrangement you prefer into your estate plan. But when you do not include a specific provision, there are some default ...

We have talked and written about Arizona guardianship proceedings before. We still encounter a lot of confusion about the rules — and even the language. One thing that often confuses people: the use of “guardianship”, “conservatorship” and other similar terms. Unfortunately, states do not all use the same terms in the same way. In Arizona, “guardianship” means the authority a court can grant to one person to make personal, medical and placement decisions for another person. In Arizona, “conserv...

Sometimes people want to leave their husband or wife completely out of their estate plan. But can you disinherit your spouse? Last week we talked about disinheriting family members generally. Not that we’re in favor of it — in fact, few of our clients want to completely disinherit children or other close family members. But there is a lot of mythology about the topic. Do you have to leave $1 to anyone you want to disinherit? (Spoiler alert: no — in fact, it’s a bad idea.) Do you need to mention...

Can you disinherit a family member? Do you have to leave something to children, spouses and other close relatives? Last week, in our Elder Law Issues newsletter, we wrote about disinheriting a child. Particularly, we addressed the increasingly common request we see from clients: what if I don’t approve of my child’s politics, or lifestyle? But there’s also a broader question to address, which we tackle in this podcast episode. CAN you disinherit a family member? Don’t you have to leave somethi...

We, like you, had begun to wonder if 2020 would ever end. But it did! Happy New Year, 2021! We learned a lot in the past year. From client needs to trust administration challenges to office management — there was a lot to absorb. On top of that, we moved into new office space (and we love it!) just weeks before having to lock down. In fact, we foolishly talked and wrote about 2020 New Year’s Resolutions — and then watched them get blown away by events! For 2021, we anticipate some changes and ...

If you are trustee of an Arizona trust, you must provide information to “qualified beneficiaries” of the trust. But who are those people? If you join us for this week’s podcast episode, we’ll help you understand the legal phrase, its meaning and effect. We hope that helps you figure out how to discharge your legal responsibilities. Perhaps you are a trust beneficiary. We can help you figure out what information you are titled to receive. This week’s podcast episode is for you, too. Arizona la...

There are trust reporting requirements for every trustee. Those requirements vary depending on the circumstances, though. Is the trust revocable or irrevocable? Who are the current beneficiaries? What happens to the trust after the death of current beneficiaries (or, perhaps, the passage of time)? As we discuss in this podcast episode, Arizona’s trust reporting requirements are fairly specific. They derive from the Uniform Trust Code, which Arizona adopted in 2008. Does Arizona’s version of th...

You have a long pattern of making gifts — to your children, to other family members, and to charities. Do you want to continue to make those gifts after incapacity? You need to make your intentions clear now, while you are still able to express those wishes. Perhaps you are managing someone else’s affairs. Maybe you are acting as trustee, court-appointed conservator, or agent under a power of attorney. Can you make (or continue) gifts from their assets despite their current limitations? The rul...

We’re already in December! That means (among other things) that it’s time to consider your end-of-year gifts. You already know that you are limited to making gifts of $15,000, right? Wrong! There is no such limit, as we explain in this week’s podcast episode. The “limit” is just on gifts that escape any reporting requirement at all. If you make a gift over the $15,000 figure, you do have to file a gift tax return — but that doesn’t mean you have to pay any tax. Nor does the recipient have to pa...

Addiction and mental health issues in the family — these two problems confront many of our clients. In this week’s podcast episode, we talk about some of the planning concerns facing clients with family members who are not able to manage their own care or finances. That often (but not always) means that clients create (or at least consider) third-party special needs trusts. Does every impaired family member require a special trust? Not necessarily. But possible future treatment, limitations on ...

Are you moving to Arizona? Welcome to the desert! Yes, it’s warm here — but it’s a dry heat. Even if you completed your estate plan before moving, you’ll want to revisit it here. Your existing estate plan won’t be invalidated because of your move, but there are a number of things we do differently. Join us for a plain-language explanation about some of the things you’ll want to address after your move to Arizona.

Clients sometimes tell us: “I hate my trust.” What they usually mean, of course, is that they don’t understand it. Or perhaps they think they paid too much to set it up. Sometimes clients believe they no longer need a trust. So should they revoke the trust and start over? Usually the answer is “no.” As we explain in this week’s Elder Law Issues podcast episode, once a trust is in place there’s almost never a good reason to revoke it. Even if we would not recommend that you create a trust in you...

Everyone knows that it’s important to arrange your estate to avoid probate. Is everyone (always) right? In other words: is probate bad? In every circumstance? Join us for our weekly “Elder Law Issues” podcast episode while we discuss the bad things about probate. Spoiler alert: we’re not going to tell you that it’s a good thing for your estate to be subjected to the court process. But probate may not be as bad as you think. Probate avoidance, like so many legal issues, is about balancing costs...

It’s election season. Maybe you already knew that. Actually, by the time you hear this podcast episode you’ll likely know how things turned out. We didn’t know when we recorded, but we did know how we would adapt. The bottom line: we know the election will have a big effect on us (individually and collectively) and on many of our clients and the people we serve. But we’re confident that there will be things we can do to address the changes. People will still need estate planning, health care a...