Episodes

We’ve written and spoken about the need to complete funding of your trust. It’s not enough to just sign a revocable living trust document — no matter how beautiful and effective it might be. Your work is not done until (in most cases) nearly all of your assets are retitled into the trust’s name. Funding your trust takes time, patience and diligence. We can help with, but not complete, most of it. You need to visit your banker, your stockbroker or investment advisor, and your retirement plan adm...

“Deed fraud” IS a thing. It is not widespread, but incidences appear to be growing. But what is it, and what can you do to protect yourself? Recent reports focus on fraudulent documents filed with County Recorders (or similar offices in other states and jurisdictions). Thieves then resell the property, or borrow money against it — and vanish. Homeowners are surprised to learn that their property has been “sold.” Of course, those transactions are fraudulent, and can usually be set aside. But if...

This past month, Fleming & Curti, PLC, partner Robert turned 70. Elizabeth has some questions for him.

Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules for retirement accounts often confuse our clients. No surprise — they are surprisingly complex. In this episode, we try to explain some of the complicated rules. Pretty much everyone understands the basic rules: mandatory distributions staring at age 72, inheritors generally have ten years to empty the account they inherited, etc. But here we focus on some of the less-known and more-complicated rules.

After you decide to hire Fleming & Curti, PLC, for your legal needs, the first thing you receive from us is an “engagement agreement.” It helps set the scope of our work, the things that are not covered — and, yes, the fees we will charge. That might mean a description of how our fees will be calculated, or the actual (flat) fee itself. But that document is essential to starting our relationship.

Are you acting as a fiduciary, managing someone else’s affairs? Get help. Not from online do-it-yourself tools, but from actual professionals who can analyze your needs and those of the person for whom you are acting. It’s better for you — and better for them.

When we have an initial client consultation, we are very particular about who attends, what information we collect and how the first meeting should proceed. Sometimes our rules confuse or even irritate our clients — but they make sense. Let us explain.

What did those of us who practice elder law learn from Britney Spears? That we need to start with a definition of terms. Ms. Spears was under a conservatorship in California. But that term means something different in Arizona. Not only are the procedures different — the very terms differ.

At Fleming & Curti, PLC, we routinely counsel family members to avoid the guardianship process if there are suitable alternatives. Why? Because of the cost, time and loss of personal autonomy involved in Arizona guardianship proceedings. Though sometimes there’s just no available alternative, we try to explore all the options before incurring significant legal fees for our clients. We think it’s the right thing to do.

Now that you’ve moved to Arizona, do you need to update your estate plan? We talk through some of the issues. We start with: your old documents are probably still valid — but they might no longer reflect your current wishes. After all, more than just your address has changed.

Last week we gave listeners our Top Ten Reasons NOT to Sign a Trust. This week we follow up with the flip side: our top ten reasons TO establish a living trust. And please remember: We’re Arizona elder law attorneys, and we don’t know the law or practice in states other than Arizona, and Your mileage may vary.

While we do prepare living trusts for many of our clients, some of them simply do not need (or, sometimes, want) to sign a trust. Several years ago our weekly newsletter listed our top ten reasons not to sign a living trust. In this podcast episode, we review those reasons. Note that we are not telling people who fit within one or more of the headings we list here that they should not have a living trust as part of their estate plan. We’re just giving some cover to those who decide they’d rathe...

Maybe you’ve made an initial appointment for your parent to come visit Fleming & Curti, PLC, lawyers. Or you’ve made your own appointment but want to bring along a trusted family member. We’re happy to have them come along, but they won’t be joining us in the conference room — at least not for an initial estate planning discussion. But the family member might wonder: why do I have to wait in the waiting room? Our quick answer: because we want to be clear that everyone understands — the concerne...

Britney Spears’ very-public conservatorship dispute taught us all a lot about how guardianship and conservatorship work. Unfortunately, the news reports mostly taught us how news reports can confuse issues. We all needed a definition of terms. “Conservatorship” in California (where Ms. Spears’ case played out) is different from the same term in Arizona. Guardianship and conservatorship terminology varies a lot by state, as it turns out. And (no surprise here) California happens to be a bit of a...