Peter Myers' Blog

Myers Holiday Party Debrief

This is the debrief from the Holiday Party.  There's lots of good news: (1) no telephone calls from revelers in compromising situations two hours after the party was over; (2) no loud arguments between staff and their boyfriends/girlfirends, at least during the party (to my knowledge); (3) lots of old friends showing up prepared to relax and kick it around with us; and (4) we didn't run out of anything except time.

The bad news: (1) we missed some of you old-timers - I know, we picked a tough night; (2) I had to drive home, so I stayed sober (not really bad news there); (3) Eileen had a Judicial Evaluation Committee Meeting, so we all missed her; and (4) I didn't get to talk to everyone who came by.

Grieving Kids

Lately I have been reflecting on grief.  Specifically, I have been reflecting on memories of the grief of loss.  The reason I think this is important and relevant is because the ways that we are treated during our childhood, specifically the ways we are shown to experience grief and loss, have effects on our psychological well-being over our entire lifetime.

So, for my probate and trust administration clients, or for anyone else out there who has recently experienced the sudden loss of a loved one, I am going to share my personal experience of losing my mother when I was a child.  Perhaps there is something in what I say or how I express my feelings that will help some parent or aunt or uncle out there who is in a position to comfort a child who has experienced the sudden loss of a parent or other close family member.

Lions and Tigers

Life insurance professionals working with lawyers.  There is interest in this subject.  I should have written about it earlier.  Here's some more Q&A from the life insurance agent world:

Question:  I am a life insurance marketing manager with an agent who has a business-owner client in the Napa, Ca. area who is seeking an estate planning attorney to draft an ILIT for a life insurance policy. This, of course, could expand to other estate and business planning issues. Having saved the Worth magazine edition listing the top 100 attorneys in America, I found your name and vistied your website and blog. was wondering if you could give him an idea of the cost of drafting a simple ILIT. He says he always has clients who ask but never knows what to tell them.

Q & A: How Do I Know if the Trustee Absconded With Assets?

I recently received this question from a reader of my blog:

I believe that my trustee absconded with trust assets.  I am aware of accounts that were titled in the name of the trust that never appeared in the trustee’s accounting.  It is possible that these accounts were re-titled or closed prior to the grantor’s death, but I suspect that the trustee simply took them for herself.

The only way to prove how these accounts were titled is to demand documentation, but I expect that the trustee will refuse to provide documentation, claiming that these accounts were non-trust assets.  Is there any procedure, short of a probate court petition, whereby beneficiary can demand production of documentation of estate assets that were (supposedly) not trust assets on the date of death?