Legal trusts have become one of the most common ways to protect an estate. It can shield and distribute assets according the wishes of the settlor (creator of the trust) and ensure the longevity of a business. In a previous article, we mentioned 3 common types of legal trusts. They included the qualified personal residence trust (QPRT), credit shelter trust (also known as a family trust) and the dynasty trust. Given the settlor's objectives, each of these could be used for varying purposes. Below, we'll describe 3 more common types of legal trusts that you should consider.

#1 - Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust

Increasingly common amongst those who own businesses or other highly-valued assets that can't be liquidated quickly, the irrevocable life insurance trust uses your life insurance policy to pay for your estate costs. Business owners typically don't want their heirs to have to sell the business in order to pay the estate costs. Liquidating under those circumstances can have a significant impact on the value of the business. Instead, the settlor's life insurance policy is used to pay for estate costs that are associated with the business.

#2 - Special Needs Trust

When a person receives financial support from the government, those benefits can be disqualified if that person inherits a large sum or receives a sizable gift. To ensure those benefits aren't jeopardized, a special needs trust can be established. Any gift or inheritance can be placed within the trust. An experienced attorney will often include a special provision within this type of trust. The provision can cause the trust to expire if the beneficiary's governmental benefits are ever subject to disqualification.

#3 - Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust

Your family may include people who are members by virtue of divorces and remarriages. In some cases, you may want to ensure that the bulk of your estate is received by certain relatives. Many people use a qualified terminable interest property trust when they have children and marry someone who has their own children. This type of trust can be established to make certain their assets are given to their biological children when their spouse dies. In doing so, they can remove the possibility of someone else's children receiving a share of their estate.

Why You Should Hire A Lawyer

If your estate is worth a sizable amount, you should hire an attorney who is qualified to offer estate planning advice. A good lawyer can help you create the right kind of trust for your unique circumstances. He can review your objectives with you and create the type of trust that will best protect your estate. He can offer legal advice that will help you establish provisions and conditions that address how the trust distributes your assets after you die. Creating a trust for your estate deserves the attention of a trained legal professional.

By: Eric Gehler
Consider these Virginia Lawyers and Virginia Attorneys when in need of legal services.

Despite being a nuisance, not all telemarketing calls are illegal. In fact, most of the telemarketing calls you receive are probably perfectly legal and are not something you can legitimately complain about. Thus, just as it is important to know your rights as a telephone consumer, it is also your responsibility to know when a telemarketing company is within their rights to call you.

When are telemarketing calls legal? Telemarketing calls are legal if they follow the rules stipulated by the Telephone Consumer Protection Agency (TCPA). The following are some examples of when a telemarketer is permitted to phone you:

Between the hours of 8 and 9 - A telemarketer can call anytime between 8 am and 9 pm, unless you have requested to be placed on the telemarketing firms internal do not call list, or it has been 31 days after you registered your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry.

Companies with whom you have an established business relationship (EBR) - Any company you have purchased a product or service from is an EBR company and is permitted to call you until you request to be placed on their do-not-call-list.

The affiliates of EBR companies- The affiliates of the business you have a relationship with are allowed to contact you as long as they are selling a product or service that is associated with that which you purchased from the company. Affiliates can legally call you until you ask them specifically not to.

Any company you have given permission to contact you - If you give any company permission to contact you with phone or fax solicitations, or automated phone calls, they can legally contact you via these methods of communication. This also includes any third party telemarketer who has bought your contact information from a company to whom you authorized to sell it. Therefore, be careful about signing any forms before reading the fine print first.

The company calling is exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry - non profit organizations (I.E. charities), government organizations, and survey groups are permitted to call, even if you have made the request for them to stop. The reason is because though we tend to think of these organizations as a form of telemarketing, the nature of these call isn't to make a sale, it is usually to ask for your opinion or your charity.

By: Dwayne Eisen
Thus, most telemarketing calls are legal until you take action to stop telemarketers and annoying calls by making the necessary requests to be removed from call lists.

Dwayne is an old consumer advocate who has way too much time on his hands (the wife says) so he rants.

When you go to open a bank account or take title to real estate, people often suggest joint tenancy as a simple solution which avoids probate.

What is joint tenancy?

Joint tenancy is the co-ownership of property during the lives of two or more joint tenants. Upon the death of one of the joint tenants, the remaining joint tenant(s) immediately succeed to the ownership of the property. If there is only one surviving joint tenant, he or she becomes the sole owner, thus avoiding the probate process.

What is tenancy-in-common?

Tenancy-in-common is also the co-ownership of property. However, unlike joint tenancy, upon the death of a one of the tenants in common, the other tenants in common do not succeed to the deceased tenant's interest.

What are the risks of joint tenancy?

Simply adding someone to title as a joint tenant in realty is a gift that could trigger a gift tax. More importantly, the creditors of the joint tenants can go after the property. Let's look at an example for illustration:


Mom adds son as a joint tenant on their vacation home. She trusts her son completely. However, her son has an accident which causes injuries. The injured party is able to collect against the son's half of the home. Mom who was home watching TV when the accident occurred has lost half her home's value.

The addition of a joint tenant may have other unintended consequences. When Mom added son to the title, she made a gift which may make her ineligible for Medicaid to pay for her nursing home care for a substantial period of time.

A parent will often add one of his or her children as joint tenant to a bank accounts in order to give the child access to the account in the event of the parent's disability. By adding the child as joint tenant there is danger that a child will make unauthorized withdrawals from the account. Furthermore, title to the bank account will vest with the joint tenant child after the death of the parent, which may be contrary to how the parent wishes his or her estate to be divided at death.

Rather than face these and other unintended consequences, it is often best to avoid joint tenancy and form a revocable trust to avoid probate. A revocable trust is a simple vehicle which holds title to assets for you. A revocable trust designates how the assets are to be distributed at death and provides emergency access to funds in the event of disability, but it protects the assets from the creditors of beneficiaries and prevents unauthorized withdrawals during lifetime. At your death, the revocable trust continues on. Thus, there is no need for a probate court to be involved to re-title the assets which are owned by the revocable trust.

A revocable trust is a simple, straight-forward method of avoiding probate and the risks of joint ownership. Before titling anything in joint tenancy, consult a qualified estate planning attorney who knows the risks of joint tenancy and the advantages of revocable trusts.

By: Joel Loquvam
Mr. Loquvam is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys and has been engaged in the practice of law for the last 22 years. For more information or to attend an upcoming seminar, call (310) 724-7377. You can also visit his website at http://www.LegacyWealthPlan.com for up to date Estate Planning information, FREE Reports and test your knowledge of Estate Planning by taking the online quiz.

Legal malpractice is probably less well-known by most people than is another type of malpractice issue: medical malpractice. However, legal malpractice cases can be just as serious as are their medical counterparts. They have potentially far-reaching impact upon the lives of people who have been involved in a legal battle that ended unfavorably due to incompetency or intentional misrepresentation on behalf of the attorney(s) who represented them.

What constitutes legal malpractice and how do you determine whether you may have cause for a legitimate case?

Here are 7 guidelines for discerning whether you may have grounds for a case. Note, however, that it is essential that you consult with a licensed attorney to help you determine if there are grounds for a legitimate case in your particular situation:

Guideline 1: A legal malpractice cases is really a case within a case: Such cases must by definition come about after the close of another case whereby the would-be plaintiff has experienced an unfavorable decision - either a loss or an inadequate settlement. In this sense, a legal malpractice case is really a case within a case. If all of the qualifying conditions for are met, such a case may be brought against the attorney representing the client in the underlying (i.e., original) case. If the first attorney is found to have been negligent or misleading, he or she may be liable for damages to the original plaintiff.

Guideline 2: The concept rests upon the assumption that attorneys are obligated to act competently: Legal malpractice cases are built upon the premise that attorneys, when representing clients in legal cases, are expected to conduct themselves in a professional and competent manner. Like other professionals, attorneys are implicitly trusted by their clients to do everything reasonable within their power to act on behalf of their clients. The failure to do so, especially if a particular legal case ends in an unfavorable decision for the client, may represent grounds for a legitimate case.

Guideline 3: Legal malpractice proceedings may be called for when any of at least three types of conditions are met: There are three primary situations whereby a client may have grounds for a case: if the attorney in the case missed an important court-related deadline (e.g., a filing deadline), if the attorney intentionally misrepresented material facts to the client, or if the settlement resulting from a case was inadequate. Meeting one or more of these conditions does not automatically qualify as grounds for a legitimate case, but they are necessary for the case to move forward at all.

Guideline 4: The plaintiff must prove that the underlying case had merit: Before bringing a case against the attorney in the initial case, the would-be plaintiff of the new case must first prove that the underlying (i.e., original) case had merit. If it cannot be shown that the underlying case had sufficient merit such that it could have otherwise potentially won in court, then any statements made about the incompetency or misrepresentation by the attorney in that case become moot.

Guideline 5: The second attorney must thoroughly investigate the underlying case: If one approaches a second attorney about the possibility of representing them in a legal malpractice case, this second attorney is obligated to thoroughly investigate the underlying case to verify whether it indeed had merit. In fact, if the second attorney fails to do so before initiating a case, they themselves could potentially in turn be held liable.

Guideline 6: The second attorney must make sure there are no other legal options available: Another prerequisite for the secondary attorney taking on a malpractice case is that they make sure that their client has exhausted all other legal options for the underlying case. In other words, it must be shown that the case would be the only justifiable way for the client in the original case to have the chance of receiving justice.

Guideline 7: To be successful, the initial attorney must be proven to have acted incompetently: Acting incompetently and being proven to have acted incompetently are of course two different things. Even if the second attorney is convinced that the original case acted incompetently, the second attorney must still be prepared to prove that this was indeed true. Ultimately, to win a case, there needs to be substantial evidence that the first attorney did indeed act in a manner that is not commensurate with the duties and obligations of a professional, practicing attorney.

Initiating a legal malpractice suit may be the best path to justice for those who have met with unfavorable outcomes in past legal cases whereby there is strong reason to believe that their representing counsel was acting incompetently or that they intentionally misrepresented the potential success of the case. The guidelines shared above can help you preliminarily determine whether you might have grounds for a case. Please consult with a seasoned attorney to confirm whether you may have a case.

By: Daniel B. Ross
You can contact Daniel B. Ross through his Web site: http://www.myrosslaw.com. Mr. Ross is licensed as an attorney by the Supreme Court of the State of Texas and has years of experience fighting for the rights of clients.