Recently in Wills Category

An unexpected problem seems to have reared its head among the elder population.

It turns out that nursing home beds for men are really hard to find, reports The New York Times.

The reason, of course, is not difficult to infer. As The Times states: “Nursing homes are heavily female, like the elderly population itself.”

That second part of the sentence is crucial. It suggests that women are living longer than men and so have a greater population in nursing homes.

One of the secondary story-lines in the unfortunate passing of legendary singer, Etta James was the estate battle between her sons and her husband, as the Huffington Post reported.

The matter was of particular delicacy because the singer had dementia. However, there may yet be good news for her fans, who probably don’t want to see a long fight over assets that she accrued through her talents.

It turns out that her sons, Donto and Sametto, who had gone to court many times to challenge the singer’s husband of 42 years, Artis Mills, may have reached a point of comity, reports Contact Music.

Americans are the masters of do-it-yourself. It's why places like Home Depot and IKEA exist. Heck, even the first airplane flight was a DIY project for the Wright brothers.

And in the legal arena, Americans do a lot of things on a DIY basis. This includes real estate, fighting traffic violations, small claims court, sometimes divorces, and even going starting the administrative process of filing employment discrimination complaints. And, of course, people write their own wills all the time.

However, perhaps that DIY attitude should be checked a little when it comes to disposing of your estate.

Ever since the birth of Blue Ivy Carter, the daughter of singer Beyonce and rapper Jay-Z, a lot of people have been speculating about the meaning of Blue Ivy, reports CNN.

And while there are many theories out there -- including occult meanings -- there is one significant thing that people may not be paying attention to.

Namely, that Blue Ivy's birth is the moment that both mom and dad should update their wills. This is exactly what the researchers at FindLaw recommend when you have a child (or as wills and estates lawyers understand children: "New People").

It would seem that space flight for average people (that are very rich) is just around the corner, reports the New York Times.

In fact, there are a number of certified space travel agents around the country that will be booking flights to space on Virgin, wait for it, Galactic.

Virgin Galactic, let that sink in.

There is even an insurance company, Allianz, now insuring you against, no, not space travel going wrong (that’s life insurance), but travel cancellation or delay — so a form of travel insurance. Allianz will also be offering medical insurance for before and after a flight.

The spending habits of Huguette Clark, the reclusive heiress who died at the age of 104, and left behind an estate worth $400 million, which excluded most of her family and friends, are now being revealed, reports MSNBC.

The details are coming out from documents in a Manhattan probate court called the Surrogate's Court. The case was brought after Huguette Clark's relatives challenged her last will and testament which left about $34 million to her nurse and more than $17 million to her attorney Wally Bock and to her accountants.

If you haven't begun estate planning, or haven't reviewed your estate plan in years, thinking about these topics can seem like a daunting task. Taken together, the various considerations in estate planning (e.g.; taxes, heirs, powers of attorney, etc.) can give anyone a headache.

But when considered individually, having realized that you don't have to tackle all the aspects of estate planning at once, estate planning may not be that challenging after all. The following are five estate planning essentials to consider, reported by the AARP:

In May, Huguette Clark died at the age of 104. Clark was one of the last remnants of the gilded age as she was the heir of a copper fortune worth about $400 million, reports the Associated Press.

Clark was also known as a recluse in later years, and when her will revealed that she had cut out her family and friends, and instead left substantial gifts to her lawyer and accountant, the battle for the Huguette Clark estate was on.

When legendary Manhattan radio producer Himan Brown died last year, his children were to inherit a collection of paintings and sculptures worth millions. Instead, the Himan Brown inheritance ended up being a collection of fakes and forgeries.

Brown was 99-years-old when he died last year. Prior to his death, he had amassed a $40 million estate including his collection of artwork that included works by Degas, Manet, Renoir, and others, reports the New York Post.

Just about everyone should have an estate plan. If you have accumulated any possessions, you will want to have a plan in place for how to distribute these assets.

However, estate planning can be complicated -- even you don't have a substantial amount of assets -- and below are what we think are the top five estate planning mistakes to avoid: