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Small Business Reorganization Act and Subchapter V
Robert W. Dremluk
The general purpose of Subchapter V was to streamline the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process for small businesses and individuals engaged in business to administer their bankruptcy estate in an efficient and less costly manner.
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Lawyers Win Contingency Fee Fight Against Estate of Blues Icon’s Son
Stan Soocher
There have been disputes over rights to the two existing photographs of blues icon Robert Johnson as well as over who was his rightful heir. The latest court decision involves a contingency fee agreement originally entered into by a law firm hired by Johnson’s son, who died in 2015. The case offers an example of what rights counsel may gain from such an arrangement following the death of the signatory client.
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Trustee Litigation Trend: Tuition Clawback
Theresa A. Driscoll
With increasing frequency, Chapter 7 trustees are looking to insolvent parents as well as colleges and universities to avoid and recover for estate creditors payments made by insolvent debtors for the benefit of the debtors’ dependents. These cases are premised on the theory that the tuition payments being made by insolvent parents for the benefit of their children are avoidable as constructively fraudulent transfers because the parents do not receive reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the payment of such tuition. Courts are divided as to whether the payment of a child’s tuition provides reasonably equivalent value to the insolvent parents.
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Counsel Concerns: Bid to Remove Daughters’ Lawyer from Petty Estate Litigation
Jenna Greene
Remember the nasty fight between Tom Petty’s widow and daughters over control of his estate? Now the mud is splattering the lawyers, too.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Estate Planning In the Age of Cryptocurrency
Jonathan Bick
Cryptocurrency’s Technological Character Allows Estate Planning to Protect the Intent of Its Holders, But the Lack of Statutory Structure Necessitates Proactive Steps
Cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, has value and therefore is increasingly likely to become an estate asset. Due to the nature of cryptocurrency, typical wills and revocable living trusts may not be well suited to efficiently transfer this new type of asset. Consequently, new estate planning questions and clauses are needed.
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Ferri v. Powell-Ferri: A Critical Planning Case for Practitioners
Martin M. Shenkman and Rebecca Provder
The Trust Ferri Could Be Better Than the Tooth Fairy
Practitioners should encourage all clients with existing irrevocable trusts to meet to review those trusts. Modifying old irrevocable trusts through decanting (or other means) might make improvements, or as in the Ferri v. Powell-Ferri case, save the trust assets.
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All Digital Assets Are Not Legally Equal
Jonathan Bick
The Internet has generated a new set of assets known as "digital assets." Broadly defined, a digital asset is an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. This definition erroneously implies that digital assets should be treated as a legally equivalent set of assets when, in fact, failure to differentiate digital assets into one of three distinct classes will result in legal difficulties.
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Estate Planning for the Digital Afterlife
Patrice P. Jean and Vanessa Ann Woods
As more Americans establish personal email accounts, social media accounts, and other electronic accounts, these “digital assets” are becoming an increasingly vital estate-planning consideration. The failure to consider how to dispose of digital assets in an individual’s estate plan could result in later complexities following the individual’s death.
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