Cumberland Legacy Law* provides the highest quality Estate Planning for clients in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Tennessee. Whether you need a sophisticated strategy for minimizing or avoiding estate taxes and providing maximum possible asset protection, or just a simple will or trust to ensure your assets are distributed in accordance with your wishes, or anything in between, we are here to help you and your loved ones.
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Nina Whitehurst, the owner of Cumberland Legacy Law, is a member of Wealth Counsel, Elder Counsel and the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, all national estate planning attorney organizations. She is continually upgrading and updating her knowledge of estate planning law through seminars and being an active member of several estate planning attorney email list serves. Her husband, Brian Whitehurst, is the firm's marketing coordinator. Nina Lamothe is the firm's documentation paralegal.
*Cumberland Legacy Law is not a public legal aid society.
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- Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
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- 3 Common Probate Questions: Estate Planning Basics
- Cumberland Legacy Law Blog
- 6 Facets of Estate Planning That LGBTQ+ Couples Should Know
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- 8 Frequently Asked Questions on Last Wills and Testaments
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- Affordable Housing Options for Low-Income Older Adults
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- Wills, Trusts and Nursing Home Asset Protection, Various
- Q. I am an heir to property in Knoxville,Tennessee, along with 5 other heirs. How do we get our names on the property/deed?
- A: The title can be updated using a simple affidavit that is recorded in the land records, but the title will not be marketable until at least one year has elapsed since date of death or the other assets of the decedent
have been probated and the estate was solvent.
If one of the heirs does not want his or her share, he or she can deed it to the other heirs after his or her share has been claimed on the record.
For your condemnation issue, you should hire an eminent domain attorney. You might also need to hire an appraiser.
- Q. My sister is my mom's POA but refuses to help me care for my mom.
- A: This is a terrible situation, and it saddens me whenever I hear of circumstances like this. You can and should report your sister's behavior to Adult Protective Services. You might also think about filing a police report for theft with respect to any funds or things your sister has stolen from your mom.
Ultimately, however, the best solution, though it is expensive, is for you to hire an attorney to help you petition the local probate court to have you appointed as your mom's conservator and guardian. That will void your sister's power of attorney and install you as the conservator of your mom's funds so you can spend the money for her care rather than your sister ... Read More
- Q. My sister and I are co-trustees inheriting our mother’s home 50/50. My sister moved into the home without permission.
- A: Your question cannot be answered in full for lack of complete information. My guess is that you might still be in the administrative stage of post-death trust administration. As co-trustees, each of you owes a duty to estate, creditors and beneficiaries to manage the trust assets for their benefit, not for your personal benefit. Until the home is actually distributed to the ultimate beneficiaries, neither one of you has the right to occupy it rent free. So, your sister does seem to be abusing her fiduciary authority.
To answer your other question about whether you can enter the home to take inventory and such, yes, you absolutely have that authority as a co-trustee of a trust of which the ... Read More