QUALIFYING AS EXECUTOR OR ADMINISTRATOR OF AN ESTATE?
Are you about to qualify as a personal representative (executor or administrator) of an estate for a decedent who died in Virginia? If so, do you know that, under Virginia law, you are considered to...
View ArticleEX POST FACTO LAWS: "RETROACTIVITY" IN A WILL CASE?
New statutes that create different obligations for past acts or affect vested rights are sometimes referred to as ex post facto laws. Most people are familiar with the concept from civics class:...
View ArticleSHORT-CHANGING A SURVIVING SPOUSE? THINK AGAIN….
Many people have heard the phrase “taking against the will” or “electing against the will.” Generally, this refers to protections in the form of an “elective share” of an “augmented estate,” created...
View ArticleLITIGATING POWERS OF ATTORNEY: AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
Individuals looking for assistance with the management of their financial affairs are often advised that they need a “power of attorney.” The notion is not altogether misplaced. Few people want to...
View ArticleJUDICIAL EXPANSION OF A TORT'S ZONE OF DANGER: AN EMPLOYEE DUTY FOR WRONGFUL...
When an employment relationship sours, and a termination results, an employee may harbor the idea that he or she has a wrongful discharge claim. Employees frequently use the label “wrongful discharge”...
View ArticleSTANDING IN FOR A FIDUCIARY: ACTING AS AGENT OF A TRUSTEE OR EXECUTOR
Acting or serving as a fiduciary usually involves the knowing exercise of authority: serving as trustee of a trust or executor of an estate implies the knowing assumption of—and may require the...
View ArticleThe Demurrer: Pleadings or Proof?
A recent appellate decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia may appear to leave employers and their counsel widely relieved. They may rightly ask themselves: are claims to enforce noncompetition and...
View ArticleLITIGATING TRANSFER ON DEATH DEEDS: IS THE DISCOVERY RULE DEAD?
An estate planning tool perhaps as yet unnoticed by estate and trust litigation counsel recently was enacted by the General Assembly. New to Virginia practice is the “transfer on death deed.”...
View ArticleEQUALITY VS. IMPARTIALITY: A ZERO-SUM CHOICE FOR FIDUCIARIES?
A notion frequently presented by beneficiaries of a trust or an estate is that the trustee or executor is doing something unlawful if the beneficiaries are not treated “equally.” Although equality...
View ArticleLITIGATING POWERS OF ATTORNEY: AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
Individuals looking for assistance with the management of their financial affairs are often advised that they need a “power of attorney.” The notion is not altogether misplaced. Few people want to...
View ArticlePROBATING A LOST WILL: NOT AN EXISTENTIAL QUANDARY AFTER ALL
An adult child recently fought against the admission to probate of a copy of his biological father’s missing will. The adult child insisted that, without proof of what happened to the will, its copy...
View ArticleSEVEN DEADLY SINS IN ESTATE PLANNING: A LITIGATION RISK ASSESSMENT
The "Seven Deadly Sins" in estate planning appear in no particular order and are intended to be illustrative only. These sins do not involve drafting or scrivener’s errors. Rather, each shares an...
View ArticleAT-WILL EMPLOYMENT: TAKING THE TIMING OUT OF TERMINATION
Since the early twentieth century, the law in Virginia has been founded upon the general principle that, absent a contractual requirement to the contrary, either the employee or employer may terminate...
View ArticlePOWERS OF ATTORNEY: CHANGING A PRINCIPAL'S ESTATE DOCUMENTS
For most individuals, a durable general power of attorney is a protective device, intended to avoid the need for a guardianship or conservatorship in the event of a disability. Two questions often...
View ArticlePITFALLS IN LETTING “THE STATE” WRITE YOUR WILL: MINDING THE SEPARATE...
A longstanding saying within the estate planning bar proceeds approximately as follows: the prospective client can either engage a competent estate planning attorney to write a proper will or let...
View ArticlePROBATING A LOST WILL: NOT AN EXISTENTIAL QUANDARY AFTER ALL
An adult child recently fought against the admission to probate of a copy of his biological father’s missing will. The adult child insisted that, without proof of what happened to the will, its copy...
View ArticleSEVEN DEADLY SINS IN ESTATE PLANNING: A LITIGATION RISK ASSESSMENT
The "Seven Deadly Sins" in estate planning appear in no particular order and are intended to be illustrative only. These sins do not involve drafting or scrivener’s errors. Rather, each shares an...
View ArticleAT-WILL EMPLOYMENT: TAKING THE TIMING OUT OF TERMINATION
Since the early twentieth century, the law in Virginia has been founded upon the general principle that, absent a contractual requirement to the contrary, either the employee or employer may terminate...
View ArticlePOWERS OF ATTORNEY: CHANGING A PRINCIPAL'S ESTATE DOCUMENTS
For most individuals, a durable general power of attorney is a protective device, intended to avoid the need for a guardianship or conservatorship in the event of a disability. Two questions often...
View ArticlePITFALLS IN LETTING “THE STATE” WRITE YOUR WILL: MINDING THE SEPARATE...
A longstanding saying within the estate planning bar proceeds approximately as follows: the prospective client can either engage a competent estate planning attorney to write a proper will or let...
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