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The lack of proper building permits is a serious concern. It is only with properly issued and closed-out permits that you can be confident that the work done in the house is compliant with building codes.

Misfortune can happen at any time, and it's much better to have your wishes stated in an actionable legal form than not to.

I'm accustomed to the challenges of being an estate lawyer. But I'm not accustomed to the challenges of being a client! Rewriting my own will after a long time, I was surprised at some of the issues I encountered.

A ground lease is an arrangement where the coop owns the building, but someone else owns the land under it. Sounds strange, but it's an ancient kind of property arrangement, and it allows the owner to reap rental income in ways that are sometime desirable.

Part of the job of estate planning is thinking through the different ways the future might work out - who will survive whom, whether a beneficiary will be a minor or an adult at the time she receives the bequest. It’s important to take a range of possibilities into account.

Many websites advising on what to think about when divorcing say you should be sure to change your will once it's all over. That's good advice, but it doesn't go far enough.

When a close relative dies, and someone other than you has been named in the will as the executor of the estate (or applies to the court to administer the estate, if there was no will), you will receive a Waiver and Consent document and you’ll be asked to sign and return it.

What could be better than inheriting an estate with real estate holdings? Look around any area of this city - that's how many of the most prominent real estate empires were built. But it’s not all wealth and power for the heirs. There can be a lot of issues to deal with.

A very troubling case was referred to me recently by a close colleague who is a matrimonial attorney. His client died while in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.

It’s no joy to think about your will and what will happen after your death, but if there's one subject that's even harder, it’s how you would deal with medical issues in a condition of incapacity - and then it’s even harder to think about the situation of an incapacity due to dementia.