It’s the last Sunday of April. That means it’s time to look back at all of the elder law related news that happened this month. The big happenings this month were an update on the Wendy Williams Guardianship battle, estate planning new for high value collections and an update to the small estate rules in Arizona.

Guardianship and Conservatorship News

Wendy William’s Guardianship continues to be in the news. Following the release of the TV show “Where is Wendy Williams?” which documented her guardianship, protesters rallied on April 1 to have her guardianship terminated. It has sense come out that she was originally in support of the guardianship, but did not realize the extent that the guardian would have over her finances and life.

In April 2024, Jay Leno was granted conservatorship over his wife, Mavis Leno, after announcing her dementia diagnosis. He spoke to People Magazine on their new normal after being married for 45 years.

Estate Planning

MarketWatch put out an article on the top three reasons why people don’t do an estate plan and why they are wrong. Here’s a quick summary of the reasons people don’t estate plan and why I think they’re wrong:

  1. People don’t estate plan because they don’t think they have enough assets. They’re wrong because estate planning is about more than distributing assets on death. It’s about planning for incapacity, addressing final disposition arrangements and more. Plus, even if the estate is small, there are estate planning tools that can be used to make the administration smoother and more organized for the person administering the estate.
  2. People don’t estate plan because they procrastinate Procrastination can be hard to get over, especially in times where there are potential changes in the estate tax exemption amounts looming in the distance. But, we never know when our estate plan will become handy and if you wait too long, it might not get done before it’s too late.
  3. People don’t estate plan because they don’t know where to start. Start by calling an estate planning attorney. Let a professionals figure out the best estate plan for you. Utilize their expertise.

Are you a collector? Transferring high value collections from one generation to the next can be more complicated than people think- especially when there is an emotional attachment. This article tackles the dos and donts of passing on high value collections. It also covers what happens when heirs don’t actually want them?

Other Stuff