I don’t usually post this sort of thing. But this year is different.
“The many restrictions due to COVID-19 have stripped the ‘happy’ from our Memorial Day, perhaps reminding us that without neighborhood barbecues and retail bonanzas, the day is …
The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story
As trusts and estates attorneys, we spend our professional lives planning for and adjudicating property issues. In fact, our probate code explicitly tells us at F.S. 731.105 that probate proceedings “are in rem proceedings.”
But before any of this property …
A Challenging Inheritance: The Fate of Mark Twain’s Will
There have been numerous books and essays written about Mark Twain’s final two unhappy years in Redding, Connecticut, as well as several accounts capturing the lives, also generally tragic, of his surviving daughter and granddaughter.
A fascinating new article …
2016-17 Probate Court Filing Statistics
If you make your living in and around our probate courts you’ll find the FY 2016-17 Probate Court Statistical Reference Guide interesting reading. The chart below provides the “cases filed” data for three of our largest circuits/counties: Miami-Dade (11th Cir), …
The 1846 Last Will of John Sutton—What’s Not So New in Will Drafting and Contests
A defining characteristic of inheritance litigation is that the single most important witness — the testator — is dead. And because the testator’s not around anymore to prove to us that he really was acting of his own free will …
Effective Strategies for Cross-Examining an Expert Witness
If you’re litigating an inheritance case, chances are someone’s going to allege the person whose wealth is being disputed either lacked testamentary capacity and/or was the victim of undue influence. In both instances the issue of cognitive capacity is front …
2015-16 Probate Court Filing Statistics
If you make your living in and around our probate courts you’ll find the FY 2015-16 Probate Court Statistical Reference Guide interesting reading. The chart below provides the “cases filed” data for three of our largest circuits/counties: Miami-Dade (11th Cir), …
STEP’s 2017 Caribbean Conference
I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the 2017 STEP Caribbean Conference. I co-presented with Cayman Islands trust litigator Rachael Reynolds. We had fun going through the practical “what ifs” a Caribbean trustee should consider if faced …
Bias on the bench
If you make your living in and around our courts — no matter what kind of law you practice — you’ll want to read the investigative reporting recently-published by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Their reporters documented clear patterns of racial …
Want to get better at screening estate cases? Read “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll’s Will: A Tale of Testamentary Capacity”
Knowing when to say “no” is one of the most difficult — and valuable — skill sets any of us ever develops as a lawyer.
“Should I take on this very wealthy but extremely difficult client?” (NO) “Should I represent …