Katya Sverdlov Blog

In Carpenter v. United States, the Court had to grapple with modern technology and expectations of privacy in a world of shared data. Some called this decision “the most consequential privacy decision of the digital age”.

Trump v. Hawaii was one of the most divisive decisions of the Supreme Court during the 2017 term. President Trump’s Proclamation No. 9645 called for temporary travel restrictions to the United States for aliens from eight countries (Chad, Iran, Lybia, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen). The media called it the “Muslim ban”. But was it? And  did it fall within presidential authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and did it violate the Establishment Clause?

One of the most interesting cases decided this year by the US Supreme Court was Gill v. Whitford. The case concerned redistricting and gerrymandering. It was a unanimous decision by the court (9 to 0).  In the opinion of most analysts, the Supreme Court wasted a historic opportunity to correct a wrong that cannot otherwise be solved by a political process.

Medical marijuana may help with a variety of age-related illnesses, including  arthritis, insomnia, and pain.

Is this something that you would want? I will be the first person to sign it - because I see the pain and suffering that people go through during the years of dementia.

Preparing Your Home and Your Life for Children as a Disabled Parent

Preparing your home for parenthood is something every new parent needs to do, but for parents with disabilities, this sometimes takes a bit more planning. For example, just holding your child might be a special challenge for you depending on your disability, so it’s important to make sure your plans accommodate special circumstances. Perhaps you need to hire someone to modify baby furniture or buy special items that make carrying your baby easier.

Safeguarding Your Home

Childproofing is not a new concept, and it is mostly the same process for you.
Read more . . .

The idea of doctor-assisted suicide has been growing in popularity in recent years. Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland have legalized voluntary euthanasia.  Australia, France, South Africa and United Kingdom are considering similar measures. In the United States, five states have legalized physician assisted suicide via legislation (California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and Washington) and one state has legal physician assisted suicide via court ruling (Montana).

According to several recent studies, the reason patients gave for ending their live had to do more with psychological suffering and not physical ones.
Read more . . .

Being an Executor of an Estate or a Trustee of a Trust comes with having fiduciary responsibility to the ultimate beneficiaries. One such responsibility is to provide an accounting: a report of all the revenue and expenses.

There are several instances where an accounting might be done:

1. Usually, the Executor or a Trustee will provide an informal accounting prior to making the final distribution from the Estate or the Trust. As part of this process, the Executor or Trustee will ask the beneficiary to sign a Release and Waiver Agreement, designed to protect the Executor or Trustee from liability.

2. Sometimes, the beneficiaries may request an accounting.
   Read more . . .
   
   

Issue of undue influence comes up often in the context of contested probate proceedings. A relative dies, and when the heirs start going through the estate of the dearly beloved, it turns out that there is not much left. Apparently 3 months before her death the aunt transferred her $2MM Manhattan apartment to a next door neighbor. And she named that same neighbor as a beneficiary on her $1MM IRA account and on her $500K life insurance policy. The question then arises – were these transfers made out of free will or were these the result of undue influence?

Undue influence requires a finding that a person was restrained from acting independently, or was constrained to do that which was against her free will and desire.
Read more . . .

Driving is one of the most sensitive topics for caregivers of elderly. Driving is all about independence and it is one of the most emotional things for a senior to give up. Furthermore, it is hard to get around most of US without a car. So giving up your driving will almost always mean a need for relocation to a different type of living environment, which means leaving your home.

There are different signs and warnings that alert you that an elderly driver is having difficulty.
Read more . . .

In New York, every Will must be witnessed by at least two witnesses. When the Will gets probated in Surrogate Court, the names of the Witnesses must be listed on the Probate Petition. Therefore, the Executor of the Will has a real problem when the signatures of the Witnesses are illegible and no other information about them is available.

When the Witnesses were the Testator’s friends, it may be possible to figure out their names based on familiarity with the Testator. Even then, there are usually other problems that arise when the Testator executed his Will without a lawyer.
Read more . . .