The Basics: A Loved One Passed Away. Now What?
Estate planning attorneys work with families before a death to ensure the legal pieces are all in place for a smooth transition of assets free of conflict, tax savings, and the carrying out of one’s...
View ArticleUpdate: Gandolfini’s Estate Faces Huge Estate Tax Liability
Last week we discussed the recently unearthed will of former Sopranos star James Gandolfini. The document was filed with a Manhattan court late last month, with the actor’s assets being left to a wide...
View ArticleTax Issues to Consider When Closing an Estate
When a person dies, someone else must step up and close the estate. If that responsibility falls to you, as an executor you must identify all of the estate’s assets, pay off creditors, and distribute...
View ArticleCourt Applies Disentitlement Doctrine in Estate Lawsuit
This case centered on a dispute over the administration of a family trust as well as the interpretation of trust documents. Despite appealing the ruling, the defendant in the case violated court orders...
View ArticleMentally Ill Man Kills Mother and Still Wants Inheritance
In 2010, John Armstrong killed his eighty year old mother, Joan Armstrong, by bashing her head in with a brick and then stabbing her body repeatedly to drain the body of blood. However, despite this...
View ArticleBack to the Basics – Probate Administration
The death of a loved one is an especially traumatic event. Lives can be upended and surviving family members and friends can be left feeling lost and confused about how to carry on. This is...
View ArticleWRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT AS PART OF PROBATE ESTATE
PROBATE IS UNAVOIDABLE It is a fact of life that we can never plan for the worse case scenario and there is always risk in anything you do. The law recognizes this special risk, at least in part, in...
View ArticleEstate Planning and Former Spouses
Over half the marriages in the United States result in divorce. For many people, divorce ends up being one of the most difficult experiences in their life. As a result, when attorneys present a person...
View ArticleTrusts Create Order Out of Chaos
At Ettinger Law Firm, we are fond of saying “trusts create order out of chaos” — for three major reasons: First, as noted in previous columns, an ever-increasing number of Americans suffer a period of...
View ArticleYou Cannot Disinherit Your Spouse
New York law prevents spouses from being disinherited. Instead, a spouse who is disinherited may go to court and claim their “elective share” which is the greater of fifty thousand dollars or one-third...
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