Elder Law Issues

Here at Fleming & Curti, PLC, we’re very big on having you give someone the power to tell you when to stop driving. We usually include that in our health care power of attorney form.

A recent article in the Washington Post addressed the issue. It suggested that everyone over age 65 should consider signing an advance directive for driving authority. Our response: poppycock! Everyone, of every age, should make a decision now about who they trust to tell them that when to stop driving. We have. Will you?

How often should you review your estate plan? Well, we generally suggest that you might want to look at things every five years or so. But there’s no good reason not to get started on a review now.

Not so long ago, family burial plots were commonplace. Cremation rates have increased dramatically. Over half of all funeral arrangements nationwide include cremation. In Arizona that frequency is over two-thirds.

Meanwhile, we’re all more mobile. Families commonly live far from their grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ burial plots.

But family burial plots still linger. Who will use those last two plots in the family section in Ohio? Will you be buried with your first spouse, with whom you had two children? Or with your second spouse, who helped raise the children and with whom you had another child?

Today we discuss the misunderstandings we often hear about family burial plots and how to deal with them.

Meet Law Clerk Jordan Young. Jordan is a 3L at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and will join Fleming & Curti, PLC, as an attorney after she passes the bar this summer. She’s already making a positive difference for clients and our office. Even early in her law school career, she was a standout — and her experience in the Trusts and Estates Law class was life changing for her and for us.

A safe deposit box can offer security for valuables, but they can be a real headache for whoever is administering your estate. Safe deposit boxes can be difficult for a personal representatives or trustees to get into and the naming on the account could confuse how you meant to convey the property. Robert Fleming and Elizabeth Rollings Friman discuss the common complications that arise out of safe deposit boxes.

Are you considering creating a trust? A trust may be a good fit for you if you are trying to avoid probate or minimize taxes. It may also be a good fit if you would like to protect against your own incapacity or restrict a beneficiary’s access to funds. On this week’s episode of the elder law podcast attorneys Robert Fleming and Matthew Mansour discuss why clients create trusts.

Can you include an arbitration provision in your will or trust? Yes, you can — at least in Arizona. Alternative dispute resolution arrangements might help keep your heirs and beneficiaries from enriching lawyers with their disputes. It’s worth considering and discussing with us when we help you plan your estate.

Meet Matt Mansour, our “new” associate attorney. Well, not all that new. He’s been working here for an eventful eight months as an attorney, and several months before that as a law clerk. Here’s a chance to learn a little bit more about him, and what kinds of work he’s doing at Fleming & Curti, PLC.

The terms of a will or trust are absolute, right? No one can modify them. Right?

Well, no. At least if all the heirs or beneficiaries agree, the terms of a will or trust can be varied. It’s a complicated set of considerations, but people should realize that there are possibilities for altering the terms. Or at least some of the time there are.

Caution: we’re talking about Arizona law (as we always do). We don’t know what possibilities exist in other states, so the answer might be very different in even slightly different circumstances. But still, there are possibilities to consider.

We often hear from heirs and beneficiaries a version of “everyone knows what dad wanted.” Yeah, maybe everyone knows. But he didn’t write it down. You may not be able to get things done the way you’re sure he wanted.