Douglas A. Turner, P.C.

Anna Nicole Smith’s will also contains something called a no contest clause. In article VI, Anna Nicole Smith disinherits any heir that disputes the terms of the will in any way, shape or form. It is a very broad clause. It is another “standard” clause found in many wills. It is a clause we do not include without giving it serious thought. The reason why can be seen in the Anna Nicole Smith saga.

For those of you who have been on a desert island for the last few weeks, the lovely Anna Nicole Smith has passed before her time in a Florida hotel room, as a resident of the Bahamas with a will drafted in California and a lawyer as her boyfriend and confidant. The will executed in 2001 specifically provides for her son who committed suicide. The will makes no mention of her daughter who was born after the will was executed. The multimillion-dollar question is whether Anna Nicole Smith intentionally did not provide for that daughter. No law school professor could have conjured up a better essay question for a final exam in estate planning 101.

More and more individuals are avoiding probate by using revocable trusts, payable on death designations and joint tenancy. The end result is that when a person dies, their money quickly disappears leaving the creditors of the deceased with nothing but an account due and owing. However, there are ways to recover from those who received […]

Estate Planning and Probate

Wills
Trusts
Living Trusts and Living Trust Funding
Estate Tax Reduction Planning
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Colorado Probate and Colorado Estate Administration
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Colorado Guardianship Proceedings
Colorado Conservatorship Proceedings

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Avoiding ancillary probate is easy. By putting real estate into something called a nominee trust or living trust, ancillary probate proceedings and the associated expense can be avoided. As an alternative to a living trust, a limited liability company can be created, the real estate transferred to the company and then ownership in the company can be transferred to the heirs through the primary probate proceeding…

With the current federal estate tax exemption at two million dollars, fewer individuals are faced with federal estate taxes. However, for those with more than two million dollars in assets and life insurance, there are some simple and inexpensive techniques to greatly reduce if not eliminate any potential federal estate taxes.

Well, times have changed since I first wrote about the disposition of dead bodies. It used to be that an individual could not control what happened to his or her body after death. Well, that has changed.
Colorado’s Disposition of Last Remains Act
Several years ago, Colorado enacted the Disposition of Last Remains Act. In Colorado, […]

Many tax planning wills and trusts have a little secret hidden deep down inside – the up front expense of long-term estate tax planning. There is a cost to a will or revocable trust that creates irrevocable, tax planning trusts at death. A person should always review that plan and ask himself or […]

Hurray! The federal estate tax exemption is 1.5 million this year. Hurray! A married couple with a tax planning estate plan can shelter up to 3 million from federal estate tax. Hurray! The federal exemption will go even higher in the year 2009. But … what about STATE estate […]

Joint tenancy is a convenient form of ownership. It is a form of ownership that has been encouraged in the marketplace by financial institutions and, to some extent, by professional advisors. Joint tenancy, it is estimated, is utilized in most married couples’ estate plans. Because of the survivorship feature of joint tenancy, it is thought […]