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This article in the New York Times addresses the requirement that a spouse be informed of a change in beneficiary and consent to that change: “WHY does a married person who has certain kinds of retirement accounts have to get his or her spouse�… Read More

Estate planning basically amounts to a way to give gifts at the time of your death. When you hear about the possibility of estate tax, you may wonder if it is possible to give the gifts while you are still alive and avoid estate taxes. This strategy… Read More

When people think about estate planning, people immediately think of what will happen to their property after they die. But estate planning covers much more than that. A competent estate planner will also counsel clients to plan for incapacity. Incap… Read More

When people think about estate planning, people immediately think of what will happen to their property after they die. But estate planning covers much more than that. A competent estate planner will also counsel clients to plan for incapacity. Incap… Read More

Check out this Real Simple magazine article, “Essential Questions You Have to Ask Your Aging Parents.”  It’s a great resource for what questions to ask your parents about will, health care directives, and long-term health care plan… Read More

As an estate administration attorney, I often get asked, “When are we going to read the will?”  In Minnesota, our probate code does not have any chapter or rule about will readings. Will readings make for good drama in TV, movies, or an Agatha C… Read More

Celebrity wills show common estate planning problems on a large screen.  Let’s look at some famous will controversies and see what lessons we can take away… When Michael Jackson died suddenly at the age of 50 in 2009, it unleashed a torrent of p… Read More

Kate argued at the Minnesota Supreme Court today in Jacky Larson v. Northwestern Mutual and CM Information Systems. Here we are in the state capital after the argument. We’ll post an update with the result, and here is the oral argument if yo… Read More