Vast numbers of estate planning attorneys and allied professionals are finally taking steps to become educated about (and perhaps proficient in addressing) the myriad issues implicated by the special needs of their clients with disabling conditions.  Each year hundreds of articles, treatises and conferences are made available to help practitioners keep abreast of developments in this ever-changing area of the law.  See, e.g., Katherine N. Barr, Richard E. Davis and Kristen M. Lewis, Top 15 Tips for Estate Planners When Planning for Special Needs, 24 Prob. & Prop. 38 (March/April 2010), available at here (last visited August 13, 2012).  Advising clients… Read more

In June 2011, the MetLife Mature Market Institute, in collaboration with the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (“NCPEA”) and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, released The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation and Predation Against America’s Elders (hereafter referred to as the “2011 MetLife Study”).  The 2011 MetLife Study analyzed data collected during the period from April through June 2010.  It was designed to update a previous study released by MetLife in 2009, Broken Trust: Elders, Family and Finances (hereinafter referred to as the “2009 MetLife Study”),… Read more

Here’s a case for making sure you choose the right spouse and friends in life. A New York State court recently held a widow and her two friends liable in connection with the production of a “sham” Will for the widow’s deceased husband and its admission to probate. The court’s decision illustrates a terrible family tragedy and the grave consequences of failing to follow the law in this area and doing “favors” for friends or family. After the death of the widow’s husband in 2005, the widow convinced her two friends to witness a fake Will for the decedent backdated… Read more