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TOD = Transfer of Death POD = Payable on Death Last week, I posted on the use of trusts to avoid U.S. probate. I received the following question on Facebook from Na Hauser: Do you need to go to probate and a will if you sign a TOD with the investment company? Great Question! Here are some reasons why a Trust works better than a TOD: 1) TODs Do Not Handle Incapacity A TOD only transfers property after death. If the owner becomes incapacitated, a TOD does nothing. The account

What happens if I don’t make a US Estate Tax plan? Good Question!  Let me tell you about a file that I am working on. An Israeli man, we’ll call him Boaz, died with $285,000 of real estate in Georgia. He lived in Israel and died about 5 years ago. His estate was probated in the Israeli courts. The lawyer for his heirs called me and asked me to work out freeing up the real estate assets for sale. No problem- first step is to get the US Estate tax return filed. The return is re

A health care proxy is a legal document that appoints an agent to make health care decisions in the event that the subject/signer of the document is incapable, physically or mentally, of making decisions. Another term, which means more or less the same thing, is a "springing" healthcare power of attorney. As long as the subject can make health care decisions, the document is of no legal importance. If the subject or patient can't make a decision, the agent appointed in the he

I’m not sure who originated this idea, but it goes something like this: Find something you love, get good at it, and you’ll find yourself a successful career that meets all your expectations. That’s great advice, but does it really work? Sure, I can see it working for musicians and athletes, but what about the other 99.9% of us - the lawyers, accountants, and sanitation engineers of the world? A better formulation would be to find something you like and try to make a go of it

With every positive invention, scams invented by unscrupulous operators follow. Here is a story about how one scam came across my desk for two different clients in the same week The first case:  A new client was referred to me. The task was to assist with a transaction in which a Kuwaiti company would purchase 10% of the client’s equity for $5.5 million. The investor had located them through an Angel website (an Angel is a high-net-worth individual who is interested in invest

Here’s something that probably happens all the time. A longtime client called me the other day with this story: He found a used car that he really loved: a 2005 PT Cruiser Convertible in perfect condition with 17,000 miles on it. He agreed to buy the car on Thursday. The dealer signed the purchase agreement, but refused to take a deposit even though my client offered twice. On Monday, the dealer told him that they had sold the car to someone else. My client called me to explo

As a US lawyer who lives outside the US, I am often asked to notarize documents for US citizens. This should be pretty simple. After all, I am a New Jersey Notary by virtue of the fact that I am admitted to practice law in New Jersey. Since I can practice law while I am outside New Jersey, I should be able to notarize when I am outside New Jersey. Pretty simple- but not so fast. There are those who say that a notary can only notarize when he or she is physically located in hi

Recently, a well-publicized case was dismissed because the Statute of Limitations (SOLs) had run. I’m referring to the case where Yeshiva University and three individual defendants were accused of sexual abuse against students at Yeshiva University High School. This case had special meaning to me because I attended High School during the time when the alleged abuse occurred, and I attended Yeshiva College. In addition, I know two of the individual defendants relatively well.

Since 2008, my wife and I have been pursued by a stalker. He’s called our employers, colleagues, schools, and anyone else he could talk to and spread slander about us. These calls caused our family direct harm in a few ways. We only discovered this in 2012 after several years of “mystery callers” to our contacts. It’s a long story, but it’s not for this blog. (If anyone is interested, the court filings are a matter of public record.) What I want to write about is how hard it

I had a famous relative who used to say: “Never hire a lawyer not on a contingency”. Is that true? Let’s consider the positives and negatives of a contingency arrangement. To those who aren’t familiar, a contingency agreement with a lawyer is an arrangement in which the lawyer earns a percentage of a client’s recovery, rather than charging an hourly rate. This arrangement is ubiquitous in some areas of law, e.g., personal injury, but doesn’t lend itself to others, e.g., crimi

Did you ever have an experience and thought that the way you were treated should be against the law? I’m not referring to real crime, but a relatively common commercial activity where you felt you were taken advantage of. For example, two months ago, I decided I was paying too much for the water that is delivered to my office. I called the company and asked to cancel the delivery service. They offered me a 5% discount. I declined. They called me a few days later and offered m

Last week, I wrote about mistakes that Startups make when raising capital. Now, I want to shift the focus to what Startups should do, not what they should avoid. These tips differ from most of the advice that I give in that they aren’t strictly legal advice.  But 25 years of being around Startups has taught me a thing or two. Raise Money Before You Need It This may seem wrong at first blush.  Raising Money takes a lot of energy and effort, and when you have Money, you tend to

I represent a lot of startups. Over the last few months, I’ve seen three types of mistakes that they make in early funding rounds that they could easily avoid. Representing startups is a lot of fun. Entrepreneurs have a great energy about them- they want to get things done, and they are often blazing new trails. Their enthusiasm is contagious, but sometimes in their haste, they do things that a mature company would avoid. I’ve seen these mistakes when helping these companies

Many of my clients are sophisticated business people and professionals. Despite having many medical doctors and PhDs on my client roster, I still hear some legal theories that are flat-out wrong. I’ll examine some common ones that apply to contracts: A contract needs to be in writing. For most contracts, this is just plain wrong. There are limited exceptions- contracts governed by the Statute of Frauds- the most common example being the sale of real estate. Here is what we le

In advising start-up companies, the question of where to incorporate arises from time to time. Here are a few things to consider when making that decision: Note:  When I say incorporate, I mean form a corporation or an LLC. Some lawyers would say that forming an LLC is not technically incorporating, but I'll leave that metaphysical distinction on the side, as it is immaterial to this (and maybe every other) discussion. Where you are located? This is the choice that will be th

A will is a curious thing. It’s practically meaningless for legal purposes while you are alive; when you die, it’s really the only thing that has any legal validity. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” When you discuss Wills, you have to discuss dying. Not a cheery subject, but a necessary one. So, dear reader, let’s be frank, you are going to die; Hopefully, not for many years, but nonetheless, at some time.