Topics: Estate Planning - 27 results

The widow of Rocky Aoki, founder of the Benihana restaurant chain, will remain the beneficiary of his estate as a contentious court battle with four of Aoki’s children rages on. The children accused Keiko Aoki, Rocky’s third wife, of unduly influencing Rocky to turn against his children while he was allegedly in a vulnerable mental state due to illness and medication side effects. A New York appeals court ruled unanimously in Keiko’s favor, finding no direct evidence that Keiko coerced …

Same-sex couples who live in states that don’t recognize gay marriage or civil unions are out of luck when it comes to estate taxes, facing much higher rates when one partner passes away than do their peers who are legally married. The discriminatory nature of tax laws was illustrated by a recent case in Pennsylvania, where Marie Himmelberger’s longtime partner Sharon Warnock passed away in 2010. Himmelberger and Warnock were in fact legally joined in New Jersey after a 2007 …

A new law review article tackles the hairy but pressing issue of whether the government should be collecting estate and income taxes from zombies. Yes, zombies. And vampires, ghosts, and, to a lesser extent, spirits. The reason for the scholarly article is the author’s not entirely unwarranted concern that we are on the brink of imminent financial disaster. In the form of a zombie apocalypse. “A zombie apocalypse will create an urgent need for significant government revenues to protect the …

  The Defense of Marriage Act has been ruled unconstitutional by two federal courts, but LGBT marriages have yet to receive federal recognition and the rights and protections that come with it. One area in which this impacts same-sex couples is estate planning and inheritance.         Mobile users click here to view the video.         Lawyers.com Supervising Producer John McCarthy interviews attorney Joan Burda, an estate planning expert who focuses on LGBT issues. Burda …

Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have become part of the fabric of daily life, but what happens to your passwords, posts and updates after you die? You may have your financial affairs in order, but you better make provisions for your digital demise. Unlike monetary assets, your executor may not have the authority to manage your online presence unless you’ve left specific instructions in your will. If you don’t want your every tweet preserved for posterity you’ll need to make a …