I’ve written in the past regarding the unique public-relations issues faced by…

Continue Reading The Salvation Army has gone to court in Seattle to challenge a trust dividing more than $260 million among eight charities, including Greenpeace

The departure of a number of prominent trust-and-estates partners from Sonnenschein Nath …
Continue Reading Big Firms and Estate Planning

Although civil-rights icon Rosa Parks passed away leaving behind a modest estate,…
Continue Reading Rosa Parks’ Estate Scheduled For Jury Trial

An AP article entitled Family Feuds Follow Famous People After Death has…
Continue Reading Celebrity Probate Litigation

Last year’s estate tax debate was compelling on many levels.  One interesting aspect of the debate was that it forced those on both sides of the issue to consider — and articulate — their fundamental philosophical beliefs with respect to property rights, inheritance rights, and the role of taxation in our society.

Which is why I found an excellent research paper published by the IRS entitled "Federal Taxation of Inheritance and Wealth Transfers" especially thought provoking.  It contains the best summary I’ve read to date of the historical bases for the divergent philosophical world-views playing themselves out in the current estate-tax repeal debate.  The following is an extended excerpt that is well-worth reading for anyone remotely interested in the issue:Continue Reading Philosophical arguments for and against estate taxes

I recently wrote here about a land-trust case roiling Florida’s real property…
Continue Reading The ABA Promotes Land Trusts

I previously wrote here about virtual adoptions, and how under this doctrine…

Continue Reading Soul legend James Brown instructed lawyers before he died to carry out DNA tests to show if he was the father of his wife’s son