Fleming & Curti, PLC

At Fleming & Curti, P.L.C., our practice is limited to Elder Law. We concentrate on Guardianship and Conservatorship, Long-Term Care (Medicaid) Planning, Estate Planning and Probate. We are located in Tucson, Arizona.

The firm began in 1984, when Tom Curti and Robert Fleming became partners. The two had, however, been partners before — from their common law school graduation (in 1976) until 1979. They had also shared office space for two years before formalizing the “new” partnership.

Website: https://elder-law.com/
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Fleming & Curti, PLC Blogs

Elder Law Issues

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Robert Fleming
Jacquelyne Mingle

Latest from Fleming & Curti, PLC

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Can you write your own Will? Sure, Arizona law (like laws in many other states) allows you to write your wishes in your own handwriting and sign it. Such a DIY estate plan could be perfectly valid. You also can find all kinds of forms online not only for estate plans but for other legal proceedings. We were recently fed an ad for “Ez-Probate,” a website that purports to prepare probate documents for…
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Medicare is a great health-care program for its participants. Most Medicare beneficiaries prefer its coverage to what they might get under Medicaid. But what about people who can’t afford the premiums for Medicare Part B (and Part D), the co-payments and the deductibles. For them, QMB and SLMB and QI might offer help. But what are those programs, and how do they actually work? We’ve written about the Medicaid-based programs to subsidize Medicare costs in…
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Like many states, Arizona has included a statutory health care power of attorney in its law. That means the legislature has written a power of attorney form for you. You can fill it out, sign it and have it witnessed, and you have a completely valid document. The Arizona Attorney General’s office has even made the Arizona form fillable, included instructions and put the whole package online. You won’t pay a penny for legal…
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October is just around the corner, which means it’s time for our end-of-the-month collection of elder law news items. Some of the September roundup items challenge conventional assumptions about watchdogs, death at home, wealth taxes, and obituaries: Do Watchdog Agencies Protect Us? Many believe that if you lodge a complaint with a state agency about a safety issue, something will be done. A report out this month indicates that’s not the case with many nursing…
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From the client’s perspective, the initial estate planning interview might seem unsettling, confusing — even a little bit frightening. How often, after all, do you settle in for a long discussion about mortality, disability and family dynamics? Our job (well, one of our jobs) is to make the interview helpful, productive and even relaxing. When clients say (as they often do) “that wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected” we feel gratified. We really do…
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What is the difference between a third-party special needs trust and a self-settled trust? The distinction can be way more confusing than it ought to be. The trusts are similar in a number of ways, but there are important differences. A few months ago, we explained self-settled special needs trusts in this space. Those are the kind of trust one might set up for a beneficiary who just settled a lawsuit, or received an (unrestricted)…
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The initial client interview with your new lawyer can be a daunting experience. We are not actually very intimidating, but clients often feel a little overwhelmed by that first interview. We’d like to put you at ease. Want to know what we’re looking for in the interview? We want to get to know you a little bit, find out what concerns motivate you, what you hope to accomplish. We’d like to understand your family dynamics,…
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Let’s say you’ve discovered that a recently deceased loved one named you successor trustee. We have a message for you: You are not a dictator, you are not royalty, you do not have a license to torment the relatives who are beneficiaries, and you don’t have to accept. You will be governed by some trustee’s rules, and they are important to understand and follow. This comes to mind because we recently have sued trustees who…
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Good for you! You signed your will and powers of attorney! Maybe you even finalized your living trust, and transferred all (or most) of your assets into the trust’s name. You’re done, right? You never have to update your estate plan again, right? Wrong. Of course. But how soon do we want to see you back in our office? Every year? Once every two or three years? On a five-year cycle? Join us for our…
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Hopeful planning: when your estate plan is based around your hope that everything will turn out fine. We see it a lot. Often it works. Too often it does not. Two cases we read last week illustrate how hopeful planning can go wrong when facts change after the planner’s death. Both happened to be California Court of Appeals cases, and both happened to arise from Los Angeles County. They could have been from anywhere, as…