From the category archives:

Probate Court

Who Will Make Your Decisions?

by Jerrold Bartholomew July 5, 2008

Perhaps the most important lesson an estate planning attorney can convey to a client is that your end-of-life decisions will be made for you-and possibly expose your estate to significant and unnecessary expense-unless you create legally enforceable estate plan documents. Without a clear expression of your wishes, some of your most important decisions may [...]

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What is a Will?

by Jerrold Bartholomew March 26, 2008

The simple will is an important estate planning document to understand. One easy way to understand how a will works is to think of it as a set of instructions to a probate judge for distribution of a deceased person’s property. These instructions replace the default rules established by state law. Without a will, a [...]

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Free Durable Power of Attorney: Further Thoughts

by Jerrold Bartholomew March 10, 2008

Mr. David Goldman has raised some interesting points regarding the free durable power of attorney posted here and free durable power of attorneys generally. There are many problems with such documents and I have mentioned them in the previous post. Above all, you should certainly understand that any decision you make to use such documents [...]

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Free Durable Power of Attorney

by Jerrold Bartholomew March 5, 2008

The durable power of attorney is an extremely valuable estate plan document. It allows one person to designate an agent to conduct all financial affairs. These documents are typically durable meaning that the power continues through the disability of the principal (the person naming an agent). Alternatively, there can be springing powers of attorney, which [...]

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