Legal Articles and Practical Notes
These articles and practice notes are written for trustees, personal representatives, beneficiaries, families, property owners, homeowners’ associations, referral sources, and others who want a practical overview of common legal issues.
These materials are for general information only. They are not legal advice and do not create an attorney-client relationship. Every matter depends on its specific facts, documents, deadlines, parties, and applicable law. Before relying on any legal conclusion, you should speak directly with an attorney about your particular situation.
New matters are reviewed for conflicts, deadlines, availability, and fit before a consultation is scheduled. Please do not send confidential or highly sensitive information until I confirm that I am able to review your matter.
Recent Practice Notes
Updated July 2026. This section is intended to be easy to refresh. A few short notes can be added or replaced from time to time without rewriting the entire page.
Trustees and personal representatives should confirm authority before acting.
A person named in a will, trust, power of attorney, or court filing should not assume that the document gives unlimited authority. The first step is usually to identify the controlling document, determine who currently has authority, and understand the limits of that authority before selling property, distributing assets, paying claims, withholding information, or making decisions that affect beneficiaries or heirs.
Inherited real estate and deeds are not routine paperwork.
A short deed can have long-term consequences. Real estate transfers involving trusts, probate, inherited property, family arrangements, or old title issues should be reviewed carefully before documents are signed or recorded. Small mistakes in names, legal descriptions, authority, or timing can create problems that are difficult to fix later.
HOA disputes usually start with the documents.
Homeowners’ association disputes often feel personal because they involve homes, neighbors, money, and community relationships. But the first legal questions are usually document questions: what do the declaration, covenants, bylaws, rules, meeting records, notices, and correspondence actually say? A practical strategy should account for both the legal merits and the cost of the dispute.
Topics
Trust Administration and Fiduciary Duties
Trust administration often begins after a death, incapacity, resignation, or change in who has authority to act. A successor trustee may suddenly need to read and apply the trust document, identify trust property, communicate with beneficiaries, protect assets, keep records, coordinate with tax or financial professionals, and decide what steps are required.
Common early trust administration questions include:
- Who is the current trustee?
- What does the trust document require?
- Who are the beneficiaries?
- What property is actually owned by the trust?
- Are there real estate, title, deed, mortgage, or tax issues?
- Are notices, inventories, accountings, or court filings required?
- Are beneficiaries asking reasonable questions?
- Is there a disagreement about trustee authority or fiduciary duties?
A trustee should not treat trust administration as informal family business. A trustee has legal duties and should understand the source and limits of the trustee’s authority before distributing property, selling assets, withholding information, paying claims, or making decisions that affect beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries may also need advice. Sometimes a beneficiary simply needs help understanding the trust. Other times there may be legitimate concerns about delay, lack of information, conflicts of interest, accounting issues, misuse of authority, or proposed distributions.
Early legal review can often help determine whether the issue is a document problem, an administration problem, a fiduciary-duty problem, or a family disagreement that may require a different approach.
Probate and Estate Administration
Probate is the legal process used to administer a person’s estate after death. In many cases, probate is straightforward. In other cases, it becomes complicated by family conflict, unclear documents, creditor issues, real estate, missing information, or disagreements over who should serve as personal representative.
Common early probate questions include:
- Is there a valid will?
- Who has authority to act for the estate?
- What assets are part of the estate?
- Are there debts or creditor claims?
- Is real estate involved?
- Who are the heirs or beneficiaries?
- Are there disputes among family members?
- Are there deadlines that must be addressed?
Probate is not just a form-filing exercise. The person administering the estate has duties and should understand the limits of their authority before distributing property, selling assets, paying claims, or making decisions for the estate.
Early legal advice can often prevent mistakes that are difficult to fix later.
Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, and Health Care Directives
Estate planning is not only about what happens after death. A complete plan should also address who can act during life if illness, injury, age, travel, or incapacity prevents a person from handling important decisions.
A basic estate plan may include:
- a will;
- a trust, when appropriate;
- a durable power of attorney;
- a health care power of attorney;
- a health care directive or living will;
- beneficiary designations;
- real estate transfer planning; and
- instructions for fiduciaries and family members.
The best estate plan is one that people can actually understand and use. Documents should be clear, current, and consistent with the client’s family situation, property, and wishes.
Estate plans should also be reviewed after major life events, including marriage, divorce, death of a spouse or beneficiary, purchase or sale of real estate, birth of children or grandchildren, significant financial changes, or a move to another state.
Trust Amendments and Powers of Appointment
Trusts can be useful, but they can also create confusion when the trust language is unclear or when family members do not understand what powers the trust gives them.
Two recurring questions are whether a trust can be amended and whether someone has a power of appointment. These questions cannot be answered safely in the abstract. The actual trust document controls, and small differences in wording can matter.
A revocable trust may allow changes during the settlor’s lifetime. An irrevocable trust may be much harder, or sometimes impossible, to change without court involvement or the agreement of interested parties. A power of appointment may allow a person to redirect property under certain circumstances, but only within the limits created by the trust.
Before attempting to amend a trust, exercise a power of appointment, distribute trust property, or challenge a trustee’s decision, it is important to read the document carefully and understand who has authority to do what.
Trust disputes can become expensive quickly. Careful review at the beginning can help determine whether the problem is a drafting issue, an administration issue, a fiduciary-duty issue, or a family disagreement that may require a different approach.
Real Estate, Easements, and Boundary Disputes
Real estate disputes often begin with a simple question: what does each person actually own, control, or have the legal right to use? The answer is usually found in the documents.
In easement and boundary matters, important records may include deeds, plats, surveys, title reports, easement agreements, county records, photographs, correspondence, and the history of how the property has been used over time.
Before taking a hard position, it is usually important to determine:
- where the legal boundary appears to be;
- whether an easement exists;
- whether the easement is written, implied, prescriptive, or disputed;
- what the recorded documents actually say;
- whether a survey is needed;
- whether there are urgent deadlines or pending litigation; and
- what practical outcome the client is trying to achieve.
Some real estate disputes can be resolved through careful document review and negotiation. Others require a more formal legal response. The first step is usually to gather the records and understand the property history before deciding what action makes sense.
Deeds, Transfers, and Real Property Documents
A deed is a powerful legal document. It can transfer ownership, create future problems, correct old problems, affect inheritance rights, change how property is held, or unintentionally create confusion.
Before signing or recording a deed, it is important to understand exactly what the document does. A deed may affect ownership rights, inheritance, tax issues, title insurance, financing, creditor claims, family expectations, or future sale of the property.
Common deed-related issues include:
- adding or removing someone from title;
- transferring property into or out of a trust;
- correcting names or legal descriptions;
- preparing or reviewing conveyance documents after death;
- resolving questions created by old deeds;
- reviewing title exceptions; and
- understanding how a proposed transfer may affect future rights.
Real property documents should not be treated as routine paperwork. A short document can have long-term consequences.
Homeowners’ Association Disputes
Homeowners’ association disputes can be stressful because they often involve a person’s home, neighbors, money, and community relationships.
HOA matters usually require careful review of the governing documents. These may include the declaration, covenants, conditions and restrictions, bylaws, rules, board resolutions, meeting minutes, architectural guidelines, notices, violation letters, and correspondence.
In many HOA disputes, the important questions are practical as well as legal:
- What do the governing documents actually allow?
- Did the board act within its authority?
- Were proper procedures followed?
- Has the rule been enforced consistently?
- Is the dispute worth litigation?
- Is there a businesslike way to resolve the issue before positions harden?
A good HOA strategy should account for both the legal merits and the practical cost of the dispute. Not every disagreement should become a lawsuit. But when the documents, facts, and law support action, a clear legal response may be necessary.
Civil Disputes and Litigation
Not every dispute should become a lawsuit. Litigation can be expensive, stressful, and uncertain. But some disputes cannot be resolved without a firm legal response.
In evaluating a civil dispute, I usually look first at the documents, the timeline, the witnesses, the available remedies, the cost of pursuing the matter, and the practical goal. A case may be legally interesting but still not worth pursuing if the likely cost exceeds the likely benefit.
Good legal advice should help the client understand:
- what claims or defenses may exist;
- what evidence supports the position;
- what documents are missing;
- what deadlines apply;
- what the likely cost may be;
- whether negotiation is realistic; and
- whether litigation is worth the risk.
The goal is not to fight for the sake of fighting. The goal is to choose a path that makes sense under the facts, the law, and the client’s circumstances.
If you would like me to review a potential new matter, please send a brief message first. Do not send confidential or highly sensitive information until I confirm that I am able to review the matter.
For an initial inquiry, it is helpful to include:
- the general type of issue;
- the county and state involved;
- the court or case number, if known;
- any upcoming hearing, response, closing, probate, trustee, or other deadline;
- the names of the main parties involved, so I can check conflicts;
- your role in the matter;
- the property address, if it is a real estate matter; and
- a short, non-confidential description of what you need help with.
If you are a broker, agent, attorney, friend, family member, or other referral source, please have the potential client contact me directly when possible. Legal matters involve confidentiality and conflict considerations, so it is usually best for the person who may need legal advice to communicate with me directly.
To ask about a potential matter, please begin with a short, non-confidential inquiry through the Contact Don page.