July 2013
The Mortmain
Official Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association
Estate Planning & Probate Section
Save the Date!
Mark your calendars for the following Estate Planning & Probate Section Breakfast Meetings
at the Buckhead Club.
 

Details are subject to change.  Check your emails and the Atlanta Bar Association website for updates.

 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

 

"Private Foundation Tips, Tricks, and Traps"

 

Speakers: Cassady V. ("Cass") Brewer
Assistant Professor, GSU College of Law

Nicole Motter
Morris, Manning and Martin, LLP
 

Register online and view more information  
 
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014

 

Case Summaries
by Francis M. Bird, Jr., Attorney at Law

Patterson-Fowlkes v. Chancey, 291 Ga. 601, ___ S.E.2d ___ (2012)


Testamentary Capacity.  In affirming a Superior Court judgment based on the jury's verdict rendered on appeal from an order of the Probate Court upholding the validity of a will, the Supreme Court applied and enunciated established principles. 

The testatrix was 90 years old when she executed the will at issue in the case.  She apparently had showed some signs of dementia, but was able to identify by name her children and grandchildren, although she was wrong respecting some of their ages.  She stated that she owned  "quite a bit" of property, and apparently erroneously stated that she had purchased some acreage for the caveator and for her brother. 

View the entire article
Exit Strategy Planning: Achieving Optimum Value for Your Business 
By Gwen Holland, Holland Roddenberry LLC

Denis M. Brown with Abraxas Business Services gave an outstanding presentation at the Estate Planning and Probate Section breakfast on January 9, 2013, titled "Exit Strategy Planning: Achieving Optimum Value for Your Business."

Mr. Brown explained that exit strategy planning coordinates and integrates business planning and estate planning based on the business owner's objectives.  He noted that 67% of business owners of firms with revenues from $5 million to $150 million plan to leave their business within the next 10 years but that more than 75% of them have not done much planning for what will be the most significant financial event of their lives.

View the entire article
Stephanie B. Casteel Speaks to Section About Premarital Agreements
by Loraine M. DiSalvo, Morgan & DiSalvo, P.C.

For our October 2012 breakfast, the Section welcomed Stephanie B. ("Stevie") Casteel, of Wallace, Morrison & Casteel, LLP. Ms. Casteel discussed premarital agreements (often called prenuptial agreements or "prenups"): what they are, why your clients should consider using them, and issues which you should consider in advising clients about and drafting these agreements.  She also briefly discussed post-nuptial agreements and cohabitation or domestic partnership agreements, which are similar, but not identical, to prenuptial agreements in the issues which must be addressed, but which can be subject to different standards of enforceability.

View entire article
Protecting a Medically Fragile Client's Right to Self-Determination
by Millie Baumbusch, Gaslowitz Frankel, LLC
   
We invited Vergena Montgomery Clark, the owner and Managing Director of IKOR of
Central Atlanta, to speak at our Section breakfast on September 12, 2012. 
Ms. Clark's presentation, "Strategies for Protecting Medically Fragile Client's Rights to Self-Determination," was very informative. 

Ms. Clark began by comparing the medical and legal contexts for determining capacity.  Medically, a judgment about capacity is made
by a physician, and it generally relates to a specific medical decision at hand, rather than a determination about the person's ability to
make decisions about healthcare matters or
other matters. 

View the entire article
Professor Pennell Gives Section Recent Wealth Transfer Developments
by Loraine M. DiSalvo, Morgan & DiSalvo, P.C.

On August 16, 2012, our Section had a special luncheon meeting, at which Professor Jeffrey N. Pennell of the Emory University School of Law gave us an update on recent developments in the wealth transfer arena.  At that time, the future of the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax laws was highly uncertain, with the "sunset" provisions for the 2001 and 2010 laws still firmly in place and the November elections in which both the White House and many seats in the federal House and Senate were up for possible changes of hand. 

View the entire article
In This Issue
2013-2014 Section Board of Directors

Chair
Robert Turner

Vice Chair/Chair-Elect
Roger A. Kirschenbaum

Secretary
Katrenia R. Collins

Treasurer
Shelly Nixon Donaldson

Immediate Past Chair
Loraine M. DiSalvo

Members at Large
Albert Caproni III
Craig M. Frankel
J. Caroline Freeman
Gwenn D. Holland
Katherine F. McMaster
Jacquelyn H. Saylor

Editorial Board

Issue Editor
Jeffrey M. Mangieri

Contributing Editors
Millie Baumbusch
Loraine M. DiSalvo
Gwenn D. Holland
Jacquelyn H. Saylor

Editor in Chief Emeritus
Francis M. Bird, Jr.
The Section Thanks its Annual Sponsors



  


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