Posts Tagged ‘book’

The Brooke Astor trial was a fascinating portrayal of greed and exploitation involving New York’s upper, upper crust society.  You can read The Probate Lawyer Blog’s coverage of the Brooke Astor case here .  Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, and one of her attorneys, Francis X. Morrissey, Jr., were convicted of fraud, larceny, conspiracy and a host of related charges related to management of her financial affairs and changes to her will that occurred after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Because of this, Anthony Marshall, who is 85 years old, faces up to 25 years in jail.  But whether he actually sees any jail time is a big question.  He will certainly appeal the verdict and his lawyers will pull out every trick in the book to try to keep the millionaire from seeing the inside of a jail cell

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Will Brooke Astor’s son ever see jail time? Should he?

My co-author, Danielle Mayoras, and I have been blown away by the early book reviews we’ve gotten so far.  Here are a couple highlights: [Trial & Heirs] ignited a lively discussion with family and friends during a holiday gathering.  Everybody who has read or discussed it has pledged to get their financial affairs in order.  You can’t take it with you, so you want to organize your affairs so that they won’t cause a hassle among your loved ones when you go.   ~Avis Thomas-Lester The Washington Post (Read the full article .) [The celebrities featured in the book] all flubbed their estate planning, costing intended heirs money and/or grief, according to a readable (really) estate planning how-to book, Trial & Heirs. The new book uses these celebrity cliffhanger cases to dish out real-life advice.

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Early Book Reviews of Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!

Across the country in December, families will be coming together for the holidays.  Sometimes the holidays are one of the few times of year that family members see each other.

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Five tips for holiday conversations

The 15% pre-sale discount will end on December 1st at midnight (eastern). Visit this page to get your discount code

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Shipping December 1st!

The new book “Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!” is now shipping! Loading Quotes…

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Now Available!

As I described in this article from February 2009 , the trustees of the Leona Helmsley charitable trust asked the probate court in New York for permission to donate primarily to charities that helped people rather than dogs, despite some language in the trust that suggested she wanted her billions to benefits animal charities.  Specifically, the trust had a Mission Statement that included, as its first purpose “the provision of the care for dogs”.  But it also gave the trustees discretion to benefit charities as they saw fit.  This is a very important decisions for many charities (not to mention the people or animals they help) because we’re talking about several billion dollars.  This August, several different animal charities, including the Humane Society and American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, launched a legal challenge to the judge’s ruling to force the trustees to support animal charities.  Reportedly, the trustees so far have donated very little to help dogs. There was a big question whether these charities even had proper “standing” to bring this action (meaning whether or not they had the legal ability to challenge the judge’s ruling even though they were not named beneficiaries).  So far, their challenge has been allowed to proceed.

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Leona Helmsley charity battle rages on

Probate disputes over whether a will or trust was valid, or instead was signed at at time when the person was mentally incompetent or subject to undue influence, are common.  They’re also very emotional and difficult for everyone involved.  The Anna Nicole Smith case – the Granddaddy of all probate disputes — illustrates this more than any other. I discussed the case in this article , including how the estate executor/lawyer/former boyfriend, Howard K

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FBI investigated Anna Nicole Smith for murder of “step-son”

The Michael Jackson probate dispute between his mother and his two executors has been active since it started this summer.  But it looks like it’s about to really get heated up. For starters, Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mother and a primary beneficiary (along with his children and unnamed charities), has been challenging decisions made by co-executors John Branca and John McClain on a regular basis.  She had asked for, and received, permission from the judge to allow her to challenge them based on conflict of interest and undue influence without jeopardizing her rights as a beneficiary under the “no contest clause” of Jackson’s will and trust

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New evidence coming in the Michael Jackson Estate case