This information was recently shared by Jeffrey Dible of Frost Brown Todd LLC to the IndyBar Estate Planning & Administration Section listserv.

If your client has had an investigation (including an heir search) and is satisfied that the deceased resident had NO heirs (not even distant biological relatives such as second cousins), then I suggest that you contact the Unclaimed Property Division of the Indiana Attorney General’s office.  

The recent news of court filings related to pop icon Britney Spears’s revocable trust highlights the potential loss of privacy that exists when a conservatorship or guardianship is established. It would appear from the outside that the wrangling of family members regarding various aspects of Spears’s revocable trust (an otherwise private instrument during an individual’s lifetime and continued capacity) likely would not be in the court system or the public domain, but for her existing conservatorship.

As recently reported by multiple news outlets, the divorce proceeding of Andre (Dr. Dre) Young and Nicole Young has recently gotten more contentious as she now seeks to invalidate their prenuptial agreement on multiple grounds. Whether Nicole Young’s claims are meritorious or not, this article highlights some of the claims that a spouse might make in an attempt to invalidate a prenuptial agreement and serves as a reminder to practitioners of the importance of executing the agreement well in advance of the wedding ceremony.

As you begin to return to the office and reopen your practice, you may be feeling a little anxious about the unknown. The landscape has changed and we need to make sure we are all doing our part to keep ourselves, our families, our co-workers and our clients safe. There are a few things you can do to prepare to re-open your practice.

The nomination period has begun for the 2021 Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Bar Association, and Kelley Johnson of the Law Office of Kelley J. Johnson LLP  has been appointed to chair the effort. Johnson, who is a past president of the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, will lead a committee of members in selecting a slate of officers for the coming year.

The coronavirus pandemic has drawn new business to start-ups that provide end-of-life services, from estate planning to a final tweet.

Named after the Internal Revenue Code section that governs them, Section 529 College Savings Plans (529 Plans) are higher-education savings plan trusts established under section 529(b) of the Internal Revenue Code as “qualified tuition programs.” 529 Plans offer tremendous benefits when planning for educational expenses. Unlike irrevocable trusts set up to fund a beneficiary's education that may be taxed at higher trust income tax rates, assets held in a 529 Plan grow income tax free and all distributions are also tax free so as long as they are used for qualified education expenses. CollegeChoice 529 is a 529 Plan offered by the Indiana Education Savings Authority.

Many schools throughout the Indianapolis area have chosen to push back their start dates or have an all virtual start, and it's possible that local or state officials will eventually mandate that all schools follow suit. This fall will bring even more uncertainty into our lives as we send our children back to school. So, what is a working parent to do?

The brand new IndyBarHQ facility, opened in 2020, boasts meeting spaces now available for reservation! Our flexible meeting rooms feature state-of-the art technology, reliable wi-fi connectivity and easy access via private street-level entrances.

When you think about seeing your estate planning clients face-to-face in the coming months, what might that look like under the "new normal?"