Equalizing Mom/Dad’s Estate Distribuitions When Assets Pass Via Joint Accounts

Tax ID Numbers - A Primer

Adopting The Dead

Bo Schembechler Trust Battle
Andrew Mayoras posts a good story here about Bo Schembechler’s son suing his step-mom over his dad’s trust. Andrew writes: From an estate planning perspective, Bo did everything right to avoid a family fight after he passed.  He created a living trust, which was quite detailed an

Ohio Fells Another Trust Mill – UPDATE
My last post pointed to a Columbus Bar Association press release about Columbus Bar Assn. v. Am. Family Prepaid Legal Corp., Slip Opinion No. 2009-Ohio-5336, (available here as a PDF).  In that case the Ohio Supreme Court found that “American Family Prepaid Legal Corporation (“American Family”) and its various allied entities and associates – after being pursued by the Columbus Bar since

Ohio Fells Another Trust Mill
From a Columbus Bar Association press release last Wednesday: The Columbus Bar Association announced today that the Supreme Court of Ohio, in a unanimous decision in Columbus Bar Assn. v. Am. Family Prepaid Legal Corp., Slip Opinion No. 2009-Ohio-5336, (available here as a PDF) took a momentous step to protect Ohio’s citizens from illegal trust mills that prey upon seniors and oth

Income From Restricted Endowment Can Be Used For Construction Project at Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Endowment fund may use the income from four “art-purchase funds” to contribute to the cost of renovating the museum even though such use is against the original intent of such funds, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported this morning.  Yesterday’s ruling was handed down by Judge Anthony J. Russoof the Cuyahoga County Probate Court thus helping “the museum move its $350 million construction project to completion by 2013. The proje

The Case That Will Never End – Anna Nicole Smith Investigated in Murder Plot
I thought all elements of this case had been covered…  Oh how naive I can be. This article muses about Mrs. Smith’s possible involvement in a plot to kill her late husband’s son while they were battling over her husband’s estate.  And, while hundreds of millions of dollars is a pretty solid motive, the investigation doesn’t appear to have gotten anywhere beyond motive. Smith’s FBI records, obtained exclusively by The Associated Press, say the agency investigated Smith in 2000 and 2001 in a murder-for-hire plot targeting E. Pierce Marshall