By: Joan Reed Wilson, Esq. As a lawyer who is passionate about educating the public, I find that a lot of people are unaware of certain laws that affect them. At the same time, certain laws seem to stick in people’s minds, even decades after the law has changed. How many of you have heard…
By: Joan Reed Wilson, Esq. Spring has sprung in Connecticut and with it, flowers, birds and lots and lots of real estate contracts! In our office we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of contracts this month. The real estate contract is typically called a “Purchase and Sales Agreement”. The transaction is initiated by…
By: Joan Reed Wilson, Esq. The last part of the Connecticut Advance Healthcare Directive form includes a section that begins “I hereby make this anatomical gift…” The section includes several boxes to check to make a choice about which organs the person wants to donate and for what reasons. One of the boxes references another…
By: Joan Reed Wilson, Esq. The first part of the current Connecticut Advance Healthcare Directive form (and for some people the only advance healthcare directive that they have) is known as the Living Will. The Living Will is the statement that if a physician or an APRN (a new addition to Connecticut law as of…
“I Have to Use the Lawyer Who Drafted My Parent’s Will to Probate the Estate.” By: Joan Reed Wilson, Esq. In the past week, we have received calls from two different clients whom we had helped in the past. Each of them called because they were in the process of probating their parents estates and…
It has been well-established in Connecticut law that consumers have the right to choose their own attorney to represent them in their real estate closings. Yet during the mortgage application process when consumers receive their loan estimate, they see the name of a firm or lawyer on the form and many assume that they have…
The Fall of 2017 brought uncertainty to the Medicare Savings Programs (MSP) in Connecticut when they were unexpectedly slashed by the state budget. After several months of negotiations, a bipartisan effort was able to revive the program that affects so many seniors. MSP in Connecticut are benefits whereby the State pays for the Medicare premium…
Most people want to avoid “probate.” Sometimes when a couple hears that if they own all of their assets jointly they will avoid probate, they understand that to mean nothing has to be done when their spouse passes away. This is not true. In Connecticut, when someone passes away, it is necessary to file an…
For many parents, December is the time when their empty nests fill up with college-aged children returning home for their holiday break. It is a time of joy, reconnecting and lots of laundry. Hopefully your student’s time away from home was filled with learning and growing in good health. The last thing parents want to…
By Joan Reed Wilson, Esq. In our estate planning, probate and elder law practice here at RWC, LLC, Attorneys and Counselors at Law, we often see family squabbles that erupt because of unmet expectations. Many of these expectations involve emotionally-valuable personal property. And many of them erupt after the passing of a loved one. In…