Matthew Curtiss, Esq

Ten Towns Work To Preserve Salmon River Watershed - Courant.com

It is often said it takes a village to raise a child. When it comes to protecting and preserving the Salmon River watershed, it's going to take 10 villages working together.

Since 2008, when the Salmon River Watershed Conservation Compact was signed, officials from Bolton, Colchester, Columbia, East Haddam, East Hampton, Glastonbury, Haddam, Hebron, Lebanon and Marlborough have been working with the Nature Conservancy to come up with a plan to protect the 96,000-acre watershed. The Salmon River is a pristine waterway — one of the cleanest in the state — that flows from the confluence of the Blackledge and Jeremy rivers to the Connecticut River.

via www.courant.com

Great to see that such a great river system is being watched over. I grew up camping and fishing the Salmon, and I can't wait to bring my daughter there to introduce her to fly fishing.

Her last gift: A little house in Newton, just for the cats - The Boston Globe

NEWTON - Muriel Bayne’s love for her cats was well known on Staniford Street in Auburndale. Neighborhood children called her the “Cat Lady’’ and Bayne’s pets were often seen contentedly peering from a picture window at the small ranch house where she lived for decades.

But Bayne, 77, had a weak heart. And after her husband’s death in 2001, she started worrying about what would happen to her cats when she died. So she penned a will, leaving them the home and a $300,000 trust. Weeks later, Bayne’s heart gave out.

That’s how Shadow, Dolly, Lady, and Spot became trust fund cats.

via www.boston.com

A good reminder that Connecticut recognizes pet trusts. For more info, take a look at my previous post on the subject.

WSJ- Feng Shui Master's Claim to Dead Heiress's Fortune Denied

to a close Tuesday, with a judge denying a feng shui master's claims that he is the rightful heir to the estate of one of the world's richest women.

Nina Wang, the chairwoman of chemical company Chinachem, one of Hong Kong's largest real estate companies, died in 2007, leaving behind a fortune estimated by Forbes to be $4.2 billion. Within days of her death, Tony Chan, a practitioner of feng shui, a traditional Chinese practice of aligning structures to maximize positive energy, claimed Wang had left him everything in a 2006 will, contradicting a 2002 will in which Wang had left everything to a charitable foundation.

via www.law.com

Looks like maximizing positive energy didn't work this time.  The extrinsic evidence regarding the Testator's consistent referral to the contents of the 2002 Will seemed to be the most important aspect of this case.

Will of Stephen Bruton, ‘Crazy Heart’ Composer, Is Disputed - NYTimes.com

Mr. Bruton died of cancer in May in Los Angeles shortly after completing work on the film’s soundtrack, for which he helped write six songs, four of them with Mr. Burnett. In the two months before he died Mr. Bruton filed for divorce from Mary Bruton and signed a will that left her $100 beyond their community property. The will, which named Mr. Burnett as executor, left the bulk of his $1.2 million estate to his brother.

In court papers contesting the will Mary Bruton accused Mr. Burnett of exerting undue influence over Mr. Bruton as his health deteriorated and said her husband was under the effects of medications and progressive dementia that rendered him incapable of managing his business affairs. The dispute comes as “Crazy Heart” is gaining momentum in the Oscar race in both the acting and the music categories and as the soundtrack has climbed the country music charts — which could produce royalties far exceeding those from any of Mr. Bruton’s other work.

via www.nytimes.com

Another movie which I want to see, but likely won't until it comes to Netflix.

Remember the standard for incapability: it's not "incapable of managing your business affairs". It's whether you were "incapable of making a will". A much lower hurdle to jump over.

Thanks again to Attorney Matt Berger.

Heirs fight test case to appoint their own executors for will - Times Online

A retired civil servant is bringing a High Court test case today over the fees charged to thousands of bereaved relatives each year by will-writing firms when they act as executor of a will. David Khan, 69, from Norwood, South London, is taking legal action against Will Drafters, the Croydon-based firm, claiming that it will charge twice as much as a competitive quote obtained elsewhere.

His case will test whether families have a right to appoint whom they wish as executors to obtain probate and carry out the wishes of the deceased.

via business.timesonline.co.uk

In Connecticut,an executor or administrator can be removed for one of four statutory grounds under CGS 45a-242:

            (1) The fiduciary becomes incapable of executing such fiduciary's trust, neglects to perform the duties of such fiduciary's trust, wastes the estate in such fiduciary's charge, or fails to furnish any additional or substitute probate bond ordered by the court,

            (2) lack of cooperation among cofiduciaries substantially impairs the administration of the estate,

            (3) because of unfitness, unwillingness or persistent failure of the fiduciary to administer the estate effectively, the court determines that removal of the fiduciary best serves the interests of the beneficiaries, or

            (4) there has been a substantial change of circumstances or removal is requested by all of the beneficiaries, the court finds that removal of the fiduciary best serves the interests of all the beneficiaries and is not inconsistent with a material purpose of the governing instrument and a suitable cofiduciary or successor fiduciary is available.

Interestingly, the firm in question which the beneficiaries seek to remove is a "will writing" firm and not a law firm.  The fee being charged does not seem too extravagant, but at the same time, when beneficiaries see their shares diminished by fiduciary fees,the natural inclination is to scrutinize the executor if they are not family.

Thanks to Attorney Matt Berger for the heads up on this article.