Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul, Dies Intestate. Now it turns out that the “intestate” part may not be true. Three handwritten wills were found in Franklin’s suburban Detroit home recently. This development may well complicate matters, not clarify them. Multiple…
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It’s been as much a Shakespearean tragedy as a legal battle over an elderly billionaire’s assets. The story features power grabs, on-again, off-again lovers, betrayal, and money… lots and lots of money. In my post of 2016 I described the…
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If you or a loved one is receiving long-term care nursing home benefits, you may receive a notice from the Agency for Health Care Administration asking you to select a different Medicaid managed care plan. This is because the agency has renegotiated contracts…
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I was contacted some months ago by “Patricia.” She had read my Palm Beach Post article about 401K beneficiaries and it immediately reminded her of a situation that had occurred in her own family. She suggested my readers would benefit…
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Spider Man. Ant Man. The Fantastic Four. The Hulk. These comic book superheroes sprang from Stan Lee’s imagination and made their creator a wealthy man. But at 95, the Marvel mogul’s own powers appear diminished, potentially putting him and his…
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Do you have a beneficiary with a drug problem? You are not alone. The Federal Reserve’s Report on the Well-Being of American Households in 2017 reveals that one in five Americans knows someone who is addicted to opioids or prescription painkillers….
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Many music critics put the late rock icon Prince in a class all his own: unimaginably talented and prolific, churning out hit after hit such as “Purple Rain”and “When Doves Cry.” But in one respect the Grammy Award-winning musician was…
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If you are someone who values privacy – in life and in death – take a page from Harper Lee’s estate plan. The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Lee was a ferociously private individual. And…
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There was talk last year in Congress about doing away with the step-up in basis for inherited assets. The Karp Law Firm has recently received several inquiries regarding whether the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the step-up. Happily, it…
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Playboy founder Hugh Hefner died in September at age 91. As he wished, he was laid to rest at Los Angeles’ Westwood Memorial Park in a mausoleum adjacent to Marilyn Monroe, who appeared on the very first cover of the…
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