Matthew Curtiss, Esq

So you're taking the Connecticut Bar Exam....

I have no sage words of advice except to relax.  You've done the practice exams, you've written out essays.  You're dialed in on how much time to spend on each multiple choice question and each essay.

Day 1 will go by quicker then you imagine and you'll be tempted to rehash it all out in the parking lot with your former classmates.

Just leave and go relax.

The night, I walked down the street from my hotel to find a nice looking bar and ordered a burger and a pint.  Freaking out over flashcards in my hotel room before a day of essays was not going to increase my chances of passing.  Keeping calm and acting like a human being seemed the best approach.

So relax and get throught it. You'll be fine.

World's Worst Law Blogger nominated for LexisNexis Top Blog Award

I'm as surprised as anyone. 

I started this blog not as a passionate outlet for all my thoughts on the law but as a means to keep research skills taught, my writing fresh and non-legalese, and to have fun with technology. I certainly wasn't sure if I had the stamina to maintain a daily blog practice (or even monthly for that matter).

So when I received an email saying this blog was nominated as a candidate for the LexisNexis Top 25 Estate, Probate, and Elder Law Blogs of 2011, I was floored.  Was it a joke?  Was the email embedded with links to Russian pharmacies? 

So I guess this is my obligatory post to say how honored I am (which I am!) but also to suggest that people looking to promote my blog as a potential award winner to also look at the others in the Estate, Probate, and Elder Law category. 

 

How to Protect Your Family From Estate Tax Uncertainty

An Illinois woman inherited not quite $100 million this year. Estate taxes could consume 53 percent, 45 percent, 16 percent or none of it, depending on whether the federal and/or Illinois estate taxes -- which both lapsed on Jan. 1, 2010 -- are reinstated retroactively. "It's wacky to have so many scenarios and not know what the tax is," complains Richard A. Lang, a Chicago partner of McDermott, Will & Emery representing the estate.

You're not crying for the heiress or her lawyer? Then consider another Lang client, a widow trying to divide her late husband's modest estate with the children from his first marriage without incurring ill feelings or big lawyers' bills. The husband's will was tied to the defunct federal estate tax. Now, by one legal reading the widow gets everything outright. By another, all the assets go into a trust that ultimately goes to the children, with the widow having access to the trust's earnings (and, if need be, principal) while she's alive. "This is going to be worked out," Lang vows.

via abcnews.go.com

For us in Connecticut, we have the added fun of working with the probate courts to facilitate the 2011 consolidation.   Smaller courts which will be closing shop early next year do not want estates left open, if possible, before handing cases off to the new regional courts.  Executors for estates on the edge of federal taxation  likely being advised to wait until Congress finally acts (or not acts) rather than distribute out assets to beneficiaries (running the risk of incurring tax liability and having no assets on hand to cover the bill).

Johnstown woman's will recorded on wood | NewarkAdvocate.com | The Newark Advocate

NEWARK -- When attorney Larry Shafer walked into Probate Court at the Licking County Courthouse recently, he saw a first in his 30 years of practicing law: He was confronted with a will written on a piece of wood.

The last will and testament was written by Marilyn S. Rhodeback, of Johnstown, in 1996.

Rhodeback was living in Florida at the time, and her husband recently had died.

Her daughter, Debra McHugh-Clark, also of Johnstown, said her father had died without a will and Rhodeback knew she had to get her own affairs in order.

The closest thing she could grab was a piece of shelving, about 14 inches by 14 inches, that was left over from a shelf recently built for a microwave.

During the intervening the years, Rhodeback made changes to the document, dated it, and had her sisters sign the final version earlier this year. Rhodeback, 73, died in her Johnstown home April 7.

But about 10 days before that, while she was in the hospital, Rhodeback called McHugh-Clark and asked her to bring the will to the hospital.

Obeying her instructions, McHugh-Clark went to the house, thinking her mother was talking about a dry erase board. She couldn't find what she was looking for and had to call her mother.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think that an actual piece of wood was what she was talking about," McHugh-Clark said.

When she took it to the hospital -- Mount Carmel St. Ann's in Westerville -- it was a first for them, too, and they had to take a picture.

"It was a first for all of us," Shafer said. "But it was an original, in her handwriting, and the court considers it a legal document."

All last wills and testaments must be kept on file in the courthouse, Chief Deputy Clerk Bill Fisher said. But because the wooden document won't physically fit into the drawers, a copy was taken to be put into the file.

"We will keep (the original) in the vault," Fisher said.

Rhodeback also has two other children

via www.newarkadvocate.com

Really? a slab of wood was the closest thing she had?

Copper heiress has signed a will, attorney says

NEW YORK — One of the unanswered questions in the saga of Huguette Clark, the reclusive 104-year-old heiress, has been this: Has she signed a will directing who should inherit her wealth, a Montana copper fortune estimated at $500 million?

Yes, she has a last will and testament, a spokesman for Clark's attorney said Wednesday.

The will "has been in existence for some time," said Michael McKeon, spokesman for Wallace "Wally" Bock, Clark's attorney for more than a decade.

via www.msnbc.msn.com

In a continuation of the story I wrote about earlier, it appears that a will is in place for the "lost" heiress despite her reclusiveness.

Connecticut Law Tribune: Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way – To Object

“I’d definitely say I’ve had more will contests in the last six months than I had in the first three years [as probate judge],” said Newington Probate Judge Robert A. Randich. “No doubt the economy has something to do with it.”

Randich has had four cases involving contested wills in the last few months after handling only a couple in the last three years. Economic pressures play a part and there’s usually a communication breakdown in a family that strains relations further, Randich said.

“People are watching each dollar with greater scrutiny,” he added, and they’re more likely to challenge wills in court.

East Hartford Probate Judge Allan T. Driscoll has four ongoing contested will cases where in the past he wouldn’t see more than one at a time. “I’m attributing it to the economy,” Driscoll said.

via www.ctlawtribune.com

While I think the economy has much to do with the uptick in will contests, I'd propose another reason:  the modern American family.

Families are more separated like no other previous generation.    We text and email and Facebook, but very few families live in the same town anymore and have sunday night dinners together or frequent each other's homes.

Siblings are often separated by states rather than a few miles. And when that happens, often communcations break down and misunderstandings arise.

The parents end up unknowingly being the foundation of the family:  the peacekeepers and moderators.  Unfortunately, in my experience, when the parents pass on, with that lack of moderation , all of that built up lack of communication is exposed raw to the world and disagreements over the silliest and smallest things can arise.

I'm not sure society can change in this respect, but perhaps our means of communication and community can.

Retroactive estate tax for 2010 unlikely, economist Young says - Investment News

The longer that Congress drags out setting an estate tax rate and exemption level, the less likely it is to impose a retroactive tax for 2010, according to an economist with a leading agricultural organization.

The estate tax expired this year but will snap back to 55% with a $1 million exemption in January unless Congress sets different parameters. The estate tax and several tax cuts implemented during the Bush administration have languished this year, with Congress expected to take them up next month, after its summer recess.

Many investment advisers will be watching Capitol Hill warily this fall, worried not only about where the estate tax will be set but also what might be done about the lack of an estate tax in 2010.

Because Congress hasn't acted so far, it is unlikely that it will implement a retroactive tax for 2010, said Robert Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation.

“The longer it goes on, the tougher it will be for them to come back and extract those taxes,” he said at a meeting last Monday with media at the American Petroleum Institute in Washington. “I'm not hearing a big political push to do it.”

via www.investmentnews.com

file under: you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Online database reveals estates of Marx, Darwin - CNN.com

London, England (CNN) -- A collection of wills reveals Karl Marx died a poor man and Charles Darwin left behind a large estate, an ancestry website said Wednesday.

The England and Wales National Probate Calendar, 1861-1941, reveals the value of more than 6 million estates, including some left by famous people.

It was published online Wednesday for the first time by Ancestry.co.uk.

The records show the anti-capitalist Marx died in 1883 leaving 250 pounds (23,000 pounds today) -- $395 ($36,000 today) -- to his youngest daughter, Eleanor.

The famous Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton left even less on his death in 1922 -- just 556 pounds (20,000 pounds today) -- $878 ($31,600 today). The website said he lost his fortune in failed money-making schemes while allegedly trying to recapture the adventure of his youth.

Darwin, by contrast, left a personal estate worth 146,911 pounds (around 13 million pounds today) -- $232,000 ($20.5 million today) -- when he died in 1882, the website said.

via www.cnn.com

Simply awesome stuff.

I wonder though what kind of probate records existed  as I don't think the actual wills would show the size of their estates.  Seems like a good reason to join that website.

CT Primary Day

I do't make endorsements (and who would read them anyway), but get out and vote today.   In addition to all of the gubernatorial and congressional nominees, there's lots of probate judges up for nomination.

Tax Man Loses on Timing of Steinbrenner's Death - WSJ.com

The timing of George Steinbrenner's death may have saved his heirs from a hefty tax bill.

The Yankees owner accumulated a net worth of about $1.15 billion, according to Forbes magazine—much of that stemming from the YES television network. Mr. Steinbrenner acquired the Yankees in 1973 for $10 million.

Because Mr. Steinbrenner died in a year when there is no federal estate tax, he potentially saved his heirs a 55% levy on his assets—amounting to a tax bill of about $600 million.

The 55% tax takes effect on Jan. 1, 2011.

via online.wsj.com

Of course, the IRS stands to get some pretty hefty tax revenues on the capital gains on The Boss' assets. While there is no estate tax in 2010, there is also no step up in basis at death either. That means, the heirs would receive the cost basis in the inherited assets at the time the asset was purchased. In the Yankees case, Mr. Steinbrenner was part of a group that purchased the team in 1973 for $10M. Seeing as how the team and its TV networks are likely in the billions of dollars; the IRS won't shed too many tears on this one.