Category Archives: Probate
How to Stop Your Job as Personal Representative of an Estate From Driving You Crazy
For some people, family life is a constant source of stress. For others, family interactions are usually so painless that you wonder why everyone else is in such a foul mood during the holidays, since you enjoy spending the holidays with your relatives, and even with your spouse’s relatives. Some events involve such a… Read More »
A Letter of Wishes Can Say What Legal Boilerplate Cannot
The hardest part of losing a family member is the unanswered questions. If the deceased family member is older than you, then you probably spent most of your life expecting him or her to predecease you, and as your family member grew older and sicker, you made peace with how life would be when… Read More »
An Estate Plan That Does Not Include Your Children as Beneficiaries of Your Will
When you think about parents disinheriting your children, you probably imagine an exhausted grandmother opening her laptop after Christmas dinner and revising her will because her son and daughter-in-law made one rude comment too many, and the testator decided that she had endured enough years of disrespect and ingratitude from this side of the… Read More »
3 Kinds of Testators the Probate Court Cannot Stand
If you are an incorrigible people pleaser, then death at least relieves you of the dread of seeing other people’s reactions to your mistakes and shortcomings. Despite this, even people who ostensibly do not care at all about what other people think about them sometimes put great effort into their estate plans. They do… Read More »
How Acting as the Personal Representative of a Deceased Person’s Estate Is a Lot Like Running a Business
If you believe the myriad YouTube channels devoted to the subject, entrepreneurship resembles a hero’s quest, and the key to success is personal charisma. By contrast, no one would describe acting as the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate that way. In entrepreneurship, the goal is to go big, to sell your company… Read More »
The Many Roles of the Personal Representative of a Deceased Person’s Estate
Being the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate is like being the default parent of a child, except that it takes place at the other end of a person’s life journey. Both roles are an honor, and secretly you would not want to share them with anyone, but they are both exhausting. When… Read More »
Just Say No to Your Inheritance?
In a documentary film about the band Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, one of the band’s founding members, described what a disorienting experience it was to acquire wealth suddenly. Disorienting experiences and Pink Floyd are not always a bad combination, as anyone who has ever smoked weed before attending a Pink Floyd planetarium show can… Read More »
When to Seek Legal Help as the Personal Representative
Serving as a personal representative in probate can feel intimidating. Many people agree to serve only to help their family or out of a sense of duty to a beloved relative. They quickly find themselves overwhelmed with questions and cannot find solid answers online. Even worse, other family members are badgering them about why… Read More »