Articles and Publications about Estate Planning, Military Law, Probate, Constitutional Law and General Interest by Attorney Chester H. (Skip) Morgan

Topics Listed:

• Estate Planning
• Military Law
• Probate, Guardianship and Conservatorship
• Constitutional Law
• General Interest

The attached articles and narrative
are for information only, represent
personal thoughts and opinions at
the time of the writing, and are not
intended to be nor should they
substitute for legal advice.

Estate Planning
	"I Must Have Lost My Mind!" POA Redux - September 2008 One of our worst nightmares is to lose our personal autonomy...
	Taking Care of the Disabled Adult Child - June 2008 We who have served in the military know something about courage and perseverance. Or at least some of you do...
	Joint Tenancy With Right of Survivorship - November 2007 "I'd thought to subtitle this "Little Things Mean a Lot," but the truth is that how you own your property is not always a little thing...
	Good News from Congress! IRA Transfer - October 2006 If ever there's a headline bound to grab your attention more than "Free All-You-Can Eat- Lobster Night at the Club" this has got to be it...
	Pleasing the Guy Across the Counter - September 2006 As I've discussed before, there is nothing that requires anybody--hospital, real estate title company, mortgage broker, or nursing home facility--to accept a power of attorney...
	Reviewing your Estate Plans - August 2006 "How often should I review my estate plan?"
	Legacy of Healing and Reconciliation - June 2006 Many of you have worked hard all your lives, been frugal, prudent, and steady...
	Crummy Trusts - March 2006 One of the first things to remember about gifts to trust is that to be effective they must be irrevocable.
	529 Plans - February 2006 "I've been talking about various vehicles for gifting to your family. Last month we looked at the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA). This month, a little bit about the Qualified Tuition Program, also called the Section 529 Plan...
	Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) - January 2006 Since 'tis the season for giving (although you won't be reading this until 'tis the season-for-paying-the-bills-after-the-season-of-giving) I thought I'd go over vehicles for gifting to grandchildren...
	Living Trust for Wealth Management - November 2005 You know that I'm not a big fan of having a living trust or any other kind of a trust for that matter unless there's a darn good reason for doing so. Let me propose one darn good reason—wealth management...
	Future of Death and Taxes - August 2005 Uncharacteristically for an odd-numbered year there is a strong movement afoot in Congress to permanently abolish the federal estate tax after 2010. Before you break out the champagne, a few sobering thoughts are in order...
	On Living Wills, Medical Powers of Attorney - May 2005 As this is written, Terry Schiavo has died, and the Pope followed shortly behind...
	Incentive Trusts - April 2005 I've written recently about what you do for or to the adult child who despite your best efforts and love just doesn't seem to be able to get in the groove...
	Hospice Care - March 2005 Most of what I try to do in my practice is to ease the legal burden associated with a family death so that grieving can run its course and healing begin. Critical to accomplishing my goal is legal planning...
	The Personal Property Memorandum - November 2004 Sometimes, even when Mom and Dad have wills specifying the children are to divide the estate "in equal shares," bad things can still happen to good families...
	Benefits of the Beneficiary Deed - October 2004 It's kind of like a Transfer on Death bank account, only it applies to real property...
	"Where there's a will..." September 2004 I ran across a disturbing article out of the Associated Press the other day which declared that in 2004 only 42 percent of adults have a will, a statistically significant drop of 5 percentage points from 2000...
	"If I Can Catch Him Once Upon the HIPAA" - August 2004 There are two or three laws that you don't have to go to law school to learn: Gravity; Murphy's; and The Law of Unintended Consequences. Two of the three are implicated today in a short discussion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)...
	Joint Tenancy With Right of Survivorship - July 2004 JTWRS is a common ownership provision, most often associated with a married couple's ownership of the marital home...
	Asset Protection Trust Scam - June 2004 As some of you may know, I recently volunteered for the annual Senior Law Day event at the Colorado Springs Senior Center on Hancock Street...
	Living Trusts - Do's & Don'ts - February 2004 I recently saw a lady whose husband is grievously ill. Understandably, she and her husband wanted to (a) simplify their estate planning process, (b) avoid death taxes and of course, (c) avoid probate. After listening to a free seminar on estate planning that pushed living trusts as the final solution, they bought one...
	Long Term Care Insurance - January 2004 We were talking long term care (LTC) insurance. Here are some of the things to think about...
	Providing Long Term Care - December 2003 Iconoclast that I am, I look forward to my golden years, fully intending to spend them being as much of a burden as possible to my children...
	529 Plans - October 2003 Those of us who are putting one or more of our children through college these days know a painful fact of life—colleges and universities appear to have escaped the dangerous deflationary pressures which threaten our economy...
	Living Will - July 2003 The young construction worker was on top of the world, literally and figuratively. Just two years ago he'd married his high school sweetheart, who last month had presented him with a gorgeous baby daughter. Now he was the newly promoted assistant foreman of a construction crew working on a new downtown high-rise. He'd worked hard, and put a little money aside for a down payment on their first house. Then it happened. While working on the 9th floor he fell off the scaffolding, plunging to a pile of scrap concrete studded with jutting, rusty reinforcing steel bars...
	POA & Incapacity - June 2003 For many of us, one of our worst nightmares is to lose our personal autonomy. The thought of becoming completely dependent on somebody else to manage our personal affairs is chilling...

Military Law

	Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act (USERRA) - August 2008 USERRA of 1994 is perhaps the single most potent civil rights legislation since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It grants broad, sweeping rights for a group of people historically discriminated against in this country since 1777. I'm talking about our guard and reserve friends...
	Guy's Story - June 2007 With the almost surreal political battle being waged over the supplemental appropriation for our troops and the declaration of surrender from the Senate majority leader, we have now confirmed that George Santayana was right when he wrote "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Probate, Guardianship and Conservatorship

	Emergency Guardianship - October 2008 Let's talk about a different kind of 0300 telephone call, one that has nothing to do with the Commander in Chief or this election season. It's the kind that I dread, but occasionally get...
	Dog Fights, Will Contests and Other Ugliness - October 2007 In the news these days are the unfortunate details of the Michael Vick dog-fighting allegations. The specifics of this "sport" are repulsive, disgusting, and repellant. I can think of almost nothing I'd rather not see...
	Protective Orders - March 2007 I'd like to talk about physical abuse and what can be done about it...
	Testamentary Capacity - January 2007 I came home from an El Paso County Probate Section Bar meeting depressed at what I thought I'd just learned. We had a noted local neuro-psychiatrist tell us about the aging process of the brain. Something I'd long suspected was confirmed...
	"IfI Can Catch Him Once Upon the HIPAA" - September 2004 There are two or three laws that you don't have to go to law school to learn: Gravity; Murphy's; and The Law of Unintended Consequences. Two of the three are implicated today in a short discussion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)...

Constitutional Law

	Fairness Doctrine - December 2008 At this writing we now have a new president-elect, and both houses of Congress now dominated by the Democratic Party. It is not my place to offer comment on this, but I did want to examine briefly one of its possible consequences...
	Separation of Church and State Pt. 1- The Establishment Clause May 2008 The death of William F. Buckley Jr. brings to mind his first and seminal book God and Man at Yale. Even in the fifties, the question of the role of religion in our national polity, our educational system, and public discourse was a hot button issue...
	Separation of Church and State Pt. 2- The Free Exercise Clause May 2008 Little did I realize last month when I started this two-part series on the First Amendment's religious clause that the religion issue, already prominent in the primary season, would erupt to sidetrack what had seemed a juggernaut presidential nomination campaign...

General Interest

	Pacta Sunt Servanda - November 2008 In my legal eaglet days, I recall seeing young airmen at Bergstrom Air Force Base for legal assistance. At the newcomers' briefing, they had been encouraged to have their apartment leases reviewed by judge advocates. They would often bring their leases in and ask, "What do you think, captain?" My reply, too often, was, "I think you've already signed the lease."
	Whither the Federal Estate Tax - March 2008 It's only March. Super Tuesday has come and gone. The talking heads are abuzz with what's going to happen this November. I confess to being very weary of the whole thing already. Still, one thing that I can predict with some certainty—Congress is going to do something about the federal estate tax...
	Alternative Dispute Resolution - February 2008 Know what? There are too doggone many lawyers in this country. Too many lawsuits. Outrageous jury verdicts, judicial intervention into what we teach our children in school, when and where we can pray, who can say what at graduation ceremonies, who we can tell and what we can say about the frothing-at-the-mouth airline passenger in 15C...
	New Credit Card Scam - Beware - January 2008 I got the following from a friend of a friend over the internet. This one is pretty slick since they provide YOU with all the information, except the one piece they want...
	Disabled Military and Senior Property Tax Exemptions January 2008 Well, golly, 'tis the season to spend money. On taxes, that is. Thought I'd take advantage of the season to bring you folks up to date on property tax exemptions that might apply to you. There are two of interest to us - the Senior Property Tax Exemption and the Disabled Military Property Tax Exemption...
	Celebrity Justice is to Justice . . . - July 2007 At this writing, the American public's eyes are transfixed not on the Iraq War, nuclear proliferation, the parliamentary Kabuki dance over the immigration bill, nor even the impact of televised presidential debates on global warming. Nope. It's all Paris Hilton all of the time...
	The SVAT - Stopping Elder Abuse - February 2007 For many of us, retirement gives us the freedom and the time to do what we like best—golf, fish, cruise the Caribbean, search for the elusive perfect martini—like that. For some, a tradition of service, volunteerism, and personal sacrifice continues into our retirement...
	Lawyers on Air - November 2006 In a now landmark decision in 1977, Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, the Supreme Court stated that state bars' blanket prohibition against advertising by lawyers was a violation of the First Amendment...
	Financially Exploitation of Elders - May 2006 Although by no means at the cutting edge, the Colorado general assembly has recognized the growing problem of elder abuse and exploitation and has taken some preliminary steps to do something about it...
	Nigerian 419 Internet Scam - April 2006 I've just gotten the deal of a lifetime! I wouldn't tell you about it (I've been warned that it's top secret), but I know that this won't be published until a month or so, and by that time I'll be a multi-millionaire living la dolce vita in Martinique...
	Top 10 Senior Scams - December 2005 I'd like you to pay particular attention to some very high risk schemes and be very cautious in your dealings to make sure that you're doing the right thing and dealing with reliable people...
	Credit ID Phone Scam - October 2005 I got this from a client recently. I have omitted the name of the credit card company since I don't know if this particular case is true or not. But I can tell you that I have encountered remarkably similar behavior from some credit card companies with whom I've dealt while handling probate and estate administration...
	Legal Zoom - September 2005 While LegalZoom.com is not a law firm, they disclaimed modestly, their documents were prepared by top attorneys...
	GI Targeted Scams - June 2005 Typically, a service-member might get a loan for, say, $20,000 in exchange for pledging his retired pay for 18 months or so. When you calculate the payoff against the principal, you find a shocking rate of interest, made all the more so because the payoff to the scam artist is virtually risk-free...
	Preventing, Reporting, and Recovering From Identity Theft April 2005 We've talked about identity theft now a few times, but I thought I'd pass on something I got from a friend on the internet, also an attorney. It's a shameless appropriation, I know, but there's no copyright on prudence...
	Tort Reform - February 2005 At this writing, President Bush is stumping the country in an effort to build a consensus on his tort reform package on its way to Congress...
	Federal Judiciary - December 2004 The election is finally over. Win or lose, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that we won't be bombarded by electioneering commercials for well, at least three or four months...
	Grandparental Rights - May 2004 The fluidity and fragility of the family these days is perhaps the greatest cultural departure from where we were just 50 years ago...
	No Law West of the Pico - March 2004 No, it's not a misprint. I'm referring to the new wild wild west—the internet. The speed of transmission of information through that internet is measured today in picoseconds—or trillionths of a second. That's about how long it can take to steal your identity and trash your carefully built financial reputation...
	Small Claims Court - April 2004 I had a couple of clients recently who had been stiffed/ripped off/taken advantage of [choose one]. The amount of money involved in each case was small enough that no attorney could be interested in taking the case, and even if you could find one who would, the legal fees would undoubtedly exceed the recovery...
	Telemarketing Caution - November 2003 The recent telephone "Do Not Call" registry has been all in the news of late...
	Fault-No Fault Insurances - August 2003 There's been much sound and fury about Colorado's decision to revert to a fault-based automobile insurance system on July 1, 2003...
	Is your organization "Tax-Exempt"? How do you know? - July 2003 For an organization to be exempt from federal income tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), they need to apply to obtain an appropriate ruling (or determination letter) from the IRS...