Before the use and official recognition by Congress of Special Needs Trusts (SNTs), “disinheritance” was commonly used by families. Disinheritance is accomplished by leaving the disabled loved one out of the last will or trust. Leaving nothing to the disabled loved ones left them without assets. That, in turn, would qualify them for government benefits. […]
Spousal maintenance (the artist formerly known as alimony), like most other aspects of a divorce case, is governed by a multi-factor list of things the judge can consider when deciding if and how much to award. Because the court has so much discretion, it tends to be a difficult thing to predict and can lead reasonable […]
Some of our litigation clients worry when our firm of two attorneys goes up against a bigger firm in a lawsuit. I tell them I’m not because in my experience, it doesn’t matter much. From the excellent Minnesota Litigator blog comes a post that backs up my bravado. Josh Williams, a solo litigator in Minneapolis, took […]
The legal system is a difficult thing to understand. This is a bad thing for society because it requires most people to hire a lawyer to guide them through the process, but it’s a good thing for me because it means that I have a job (my professional basketball career never quite took off like my 12-year-old […]
At my former blog (you can find my posts here), I often wrote about legal issues surrounding major sporting events like the Super Bowl and the NCAA tournament. This year, the state of Indiana put it on a tee for me by passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act shortly before the Final Four was set to […]
There are certainly forms out there on the internet or on a book store shelf that just might work for you. However, there is a chance that they will not work for you. Your heirs can really get burned when these do-it-yourself wills fail to work as intended. Some time ago, two wonderful new clients […]
A transfer-on-death deed, or TOD deed has proven to be a simple, inexpensive, and effective tool to transfer a real property interest at the death of the owner, and has become very popular with attorneys, property owners, and beneficiaries alike. The reason TOD deeds have become so popular is that the transfer of the land […]
The family cottage is a location where good memories are made. People who experience life at a family cottage reflect on the peace and quiet that can only happen when life’s intrusions are so effortlessly left at home. This makes it even more tragic when the time comes to change ownership–for example, when a grandparent […]
The NCAA tournament field is set and this year the selection committee is being criticized for picking historically good programs (UCLA and Texas) over up-and-comers that probably have better teams this season (Temple and Colorado State). The possible reasons range from nefarious (bigger schools equal bigger money for the NCAA) to the not-that-nefarious (committee members let their historical […]
I believe it was Socrates who once said that even the greatest media empires often start with a single blog post. And that’s the plan for the Grove Report. Based in bustling Evansville, Wisconsin, we’ll be writing about the law, the area, and whatever else we’re thinking about.