Dear Attorney, My late mother’s original will divided assets more or less evenly between my brother and me. Prior to her passing, she changed her will significantly and executed a new estate plan. The new will essentially gave control of the estate to my brother. My mother suffered from dementia and I have concerns that […]
“Dear Attorney, I have been a resident of Matthews for the last 20 years living in the same house. I have not made any changes to my property other than to keep it up and looking good. A few years ago a greenway was built alongside a creek that runs adjacent to my backyard. Over […]
“Dear Attorney, I bought a car six months ago from a “reputable” used car dealer. I paid $5054.00 for the car and signed a contract stating the car was sold “as-is”. I also paid the dealer $695.00 extra for a service contract to cover repairs for 2 years or 24,000 miles. After buying the car, […]
“Dear Attorney: My husband’s brother wants to go “Clark Griswold” and hang a ridiculous amount of Christmas lights at our house this year. I am concerned about the safety issues as I have seen the movie 10+ times and I know just how clumsy he can be. If something goes wrong, who is responsible for […]
Abandoned and unclaimed property is subject to the laws of “escheat” which is pronounced “es-cheet.” According to a family tale, several generations ago, my Drake ancestors filed a claim in England to recapture the Sir Francis Drake fortune. Although my ancestors were able to prove that they were descendants of Sir Francis’ brother, the English […]
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said; “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” Our weekly article usually answers a legal question from one of our readers; however, this week’s article answers a question […]
One big concern that clients have when preparing their wills is the possibility of state and federal gift and death taxes. People see ads by attorneys, financial planners and others promising to save death taxes through planning. Thus, many of us assume that we have an estate tax problem. So, let’s talk about the issue […]
“Dear Attorney, A friend of mine told me that they overheard a neighbor saying untrue and hurtful things about my son at a neighborhood cookout recently. Apparently, the neighbor said that my son had stolen items from our neighborhood pool’s snack station and went on to say that she wasn’t surprised because he “seemed like […]
“Dear Attorney, I hired a company to lay sod at my house last month. They were unprepared and didn’t finish all of the work on time. Worst of all, they put down the fungicide too late and now all of the new grass has died. They recently sent us a final bill, but we haven’t […]
“Dear Attorney, My husband and I usually keep our dog in our fenced yard. She is very sweet, but recently, with all of the neighborhood kids going back to school, some of them have been walking by and trying to play with her through the fence. What is our liability if she were to accidentally hurt […]