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Tag: Probate

Plan Your Estate

Mother Fails to Create Estate Plan

August 8, 2020
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A son looking to help his mother, learns that because he does not have power of attorney, he must go to probate court to get the legal author he needs to help his mom. Terry asks: My mother is 85 and has Alzheimer’s disease. Her condition isn’t that good. She doesn’t recognize me. I could be any one of four people to her. A few years ago I prepared a power of attorney form and sent it to her. My daughter was supposed to help her get it signed and notarized, but she never got around to doing it. I…

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Beneficiaries

Assets with Beneficiary Designation Avoid Probate

August 4, 2020
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The following assets can usually avoid probate if you name a beneficiary for that asset: IRAs 401Ks, 403Bs, 457 Pension Accounts Life Insurance Policy Annuities Bank Accounts (Money Market, Certificate of Deposit, Checking, Savings) Investment Accounts In fact, you should also name a secondary beneficiary for each asset in case your primary beneficiary per-deceases you. To Name or Change a Beneficiary Contact the company, bank or financial institution that holds your asset and tell them you want to name a beneficiary; or that you want to change your beneficiary.  The company will send you a form to complete, or they…

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Living Trust

Living Trust Lets You Avoid Probate

July 29, 2020
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Having a Living Trusts is other way to avoid probate. Living Trusts are legal documents that, like wills, allow you to detail how you want your property divided and who should care for any minor children. Unlike wills, living trusts take effect while you’re still alive. Once a living trust is created, you must transfer ownership of your property to the trust, which requires changing titles and deeds, to avoid probate. These trusts are revocable — you can change them at any time. You will be the trustee, so you continue to have control over your property, and you’ll name…

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Lawyer Living in Dead Client Home

Lawyer Living in Home of Dead Client

July 28, 2020
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Terry Erwin Stork, a disbarred Austin, Texas, lawyer has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for living in the home of one of his clients who died; and for driving the car of another of his clients. According to lawsuits and arrest affidavits, Stork systematically mismanaged or stole from the three estates worth more than $800,000 over two decades. Stork lived in the home of a deceased client from 1987 to 2002 and deposited money from the sale of the home into his own bank account. Stork pleaded guilty to felony theft charges for stealing from three estates. A…

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Avoid Probate

Probate Loves Family Fights

July 26, 2020
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While you fight, strangers get control of your money and your family’s inheritance Joyce Marie Johnson, 74, once was a real estate broker who owned multiple properties in the mountain town of Lytle Creek, north of Fontana, as well as in Long Beach and Seal Beach, all in California. Now she sits in an Orange County California board-and-care home, dementia eating away her mind, while a court conservatorship liquidates her real estate and isolates her from family members. Johnson’s problems began after her two daughters disagreed on who should have power of attorney. The family squabble was taken to probate…

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Money Draining Probate

Money Draining Probate System is Like a Plague

July 24, 2020
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How can legal professionals have such power over the life of a person, to the point that even family has no voice? It’s called probate court, which can open the door for high-priced professionals to swallow a person’s life savings and the family’s future inheritance. An investigation by the Southern California News Group reveals that conservators, guardians, fiduciaries, their attorneys and judges become almost cliquish in running people’s lives. “Often there is a little buddy-buddy system going on … sometimes a judge has friends who are attorneys,” said Thomas Coleman, a Palm Springs lawyer who specializes in representing the disabled….

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Conservator Stealing Money

Court Appointed Conservator Steals Over $1 Million

July 23, 2020
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Nashville attorney John E. Clemmons was sentence to 25 years in jail for stealing more than $1 million from wards entrusted to him in probate courts in Davidson and Rutherford counties in Tennessee. The Metro Nashville government will be paying $300,000 to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of William Link, a man who was cheated out of nearly $800,000 by Clemmons. Clemmons was first apponted as Link’s conservator in 2003, and he was placed in charge of Link’s estate following his death in 2004.  The estate funds were earmarked for the benefit of Link’s disabled daughter….

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