Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Keryn Redstone Agrees to Settle

Even after an agreement was reached between Sumner Redstone and Viacom’s CEO over control of the Redstone trust, Redstone’s granddaughter remained as a last hurdle to pass for control of the trust to go to Redstone’s daughter. Now, the granddaughter has also agreed to settle the dispute.

Recently, media mogul Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari Redstone reached an agreement with Philippe Dauman to put an end to Dauman’s claim that Sumner Redstone was not competent to change the terms of his trust and that he had been unduly influenced by his formerly estranged daughter Shari to do so in her favor.

While that agreement ended most of the uncertainty concerning Redstone’s media empire, it did not end it all. Redstone’s granddaughter, Keryn Redstone, was still pursuing the matter.

Now, she too has reached an agreement, according to the Wall Street Journal in “Possible Accord Reached in Family Battle Over Sumner Redstone Trust.”

The settlement agreement is not yet finalized but in it the two sides have agreed to rewrite some terms of the trust to ensure Keryn Redstone that she will be treated fairly and equally along with Redstone’s other grandchildren. Keryn will also be allowed to meet with her grandfather for the first time since February 2016.

As long as talks between the two sides do not break down in the near future, this agreement should put an end to the challenges to Redstone’s competency that have plagued him this year for now and the foreseeable future. That should have investors breathing a sigh of relief.

Reference: Wall Street Journal (Aug. 26, 2016) “Possible Accord Reached in Family Battle Over Sumner Redstone Trust.”


If you have questions like “how does a trust work?” please call one of our estate planning attorney in California at 800-220-4205, or visit our website at www.OCElderLaw.com for more information. We have offices with Estate Planning Attorneys in Orange County and Corona

KFC Recipe Possibly Revealed by Will

The original recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken’s famous 11 herbs and spices is one of the most valuable trade secrets in the U.S. It might have been accidentally revealed by showing an old will to a reporter.

No matter how new and innovative they might be, recipes cannot be copyrighted or trademarked. If you were to create a new steak sauce, for example, it does not matter how many bottles you sell. Anyone else could use the exact same ingredients in the exact same proportions and bottle the sauce for themselves.

In order to protect valuable recipes, they must be kept secret and anyone with knowledge of the recipes must be legally obliged to keep the secret. If that is not done, then the ability of the recipe’s creator to pass it on to his or her heirs in a way that retains its value is greatly diminished.

One of the most valuable such secret recipes is the 11 herbs and spices that Colonel Sanders used to create his original recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The recipe, which has been kept secret for decades, has now been possibly revealed as NBC News reports in “The Colonel's Secret Recipe Revealed? Not So Fast, Says KFC.”

While interviewing a nephew of Sanders, a reporter was shown a scrapbook that contained the will of Sanders’ second wife. On the back of the will was printed a recipe for 11 herbs and spices the nephew claimed was the original recipe.

KFC’s current owner denies that it is the correct formula.

If this does turn out to be the original recipe that needed to be kept secret by Sanders’ estate, it would be ironic that it was printed on the back of a will of all places.

If you have questions about your will or trust, please contact one of our estate planning attorneys in Orange County at 714-525-4600, or one of our estate planning attorneys in Corona at 951-264-5732. 
Please visit our website at www.OCElderLaw.com for more information on wills and trusts in California.


Reference: NBC News (Aug. 26, 2016) “The Colonel's Secret Recipe Revealed? Not So Fast, Says KFC.”

Friday, September 9, 2016

Divorce and Social Security

Not knowing about or not fully understanding Social Security benefits for divorced people could potentially cost some people a valuable source of income.

Divorce can be extremely expensive. It has been known to cause many people to lose their retirement savings or to make early withdrawals from retirement accounts. As a result, many of these divorced people are more reliant on Social Security benefits when they want to retire. Unfortunately, even then many find it difficult to get by.

If a divorced person did not work very much during the marriage and instead relied on the other spouse to be the primary breadwinner, then that divorced person might not be eligible for enough of a Social Security benefit to live on.

Nevertheless, as Money points out in “Will My Divorce Affect My Social Security Benefits?” an option is available.

A married person can forgo his or her own Social Security benefit and instead receive Social Security benefits equal to half of the spouse’s. Divorced people have the same option in many cases.

If you were married for at least 10 years, have been divorced for at least two years, and both you and your ex-spouse are at least 62 years old, you can choose to receive a Social Security benefit equal to half of your ex-spouse’s monthly benefit.

You can do so regardless of whether your ex-spouse has started receiving benefits. If you have been married more than once, you can choose which ex-spouse’s benefits to use as long as the above requirements are all met.

If you have questions about divorce and Social Security benefits or any other benefit questions, visit our website at www.OCElderLaw.com, or call 800-220-4205 to speak with an Elder Law Attorney in Corona or Orange County.


Reference: Money (Aug. 23, 2016) “Will My Divorce Affect My Social Security Benefits?

An Odd Silence in the Presidential Campaign

The Presidential candidates talk nonstop about some issues. However, they have both been relatively silent on many elder law issues and what they might do so that more Americans can have financial security in their retirement years.

Millions of Americans are rightfully worried that they will not have enough money to live on when they retire and that they will ever be able to retire at all. It is a well-known fact that too many Americans have not saved enough for retirement.

Polling suggests that Americans would like to know where the Presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, stand on issues that would potentially affect retiring Americans.

Interesting, as Next Avenue points out in “Where Clinton and Trump Stand on Retirement Security,” both candidates have been mostly silent on elder law and retirement issues.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have both said they do not want to cut Social Security benefits or raise the retirement age. They both do have plans they believe will lower Medicare costs as well.

That noted, on other issues of importance to seniors, such as access to retirement accounts, long-term health care costs, employment for seniors and more, the campaigns have been mostly silent. Figuring out where the candidates might stand on the issues requires trying to interpret vague party platforms or general statements from the candidates themselves.

Of course, candidates are not bound by their party platforms.

It is a shame neither candidate has said much on these important elder law issues.

As more and more Americans enter or near their retirement years, these issues will continue to become increasingly important in Americans’ lives. If you have questions about Social Security or Medicare, and how it will affect your retirement, please schedule a private consultation with one of our Elder Law Attorneys in Corona or Orange County. They can be reached at 800-220-4205, or you can visit our website at www.OCElderLaw.com for more information.


Reference: Next Avenue (Aug. 19, 2016) “Where Clinton and Trump Stand on Retirement Security

Friday, September 2, 2016

Holding a Trustee Liable

One of the reasons that trusts are an effective estate planning tool is that the trustee is legally required to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries. However, it is increasingly difficult to hold trustees liable when they do not do so.

Trustees have tremendous power. Depending on the specific language of the trust documents, trustees can have wide latitude in deciding how trust assets will be invested and distributed. Giving trustees this power is important to make sure that the trust is operated in such a way as to maximize their value for beneficiaries.

With that power can also be the temptation for the trustee to act in his or her own interests instead of the beneficiaries. If that happens, then the trustee can be held liable.
That is the way everything is supposed to work, but as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog explains in “The Many Ways Trustees Escape Liability” it can often be difficult to actually hold trustees to account.

Many people often waive their rights to hold a trustee liable either by consenting to a transaction before it is made or by signing a release from liability form. In both cases beneficiaries are supposed to be given full disclosure before waiving any rights. However, opinions about what constitutes full disclosure can vary.

Some trust documents themselves also limit the ability to hold trustees liable and courts always have the right to excuse a breach of duty by a trustee if the court finds it equitable to do so.
If you have a conflict with a trustee, make sure you receive expert legal advice about how to proceed. 
For more information, please visit our website at www.OCElderLaw.com, or call 951-264-5732 to speak with a trust attorney in Corona, or 800-220-4205 to speak with a trust attorney in Orange County.


Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Aug. 11, 2016) “The Many Ways Trustees Escape Liability