Publications
July 1, 2019
by Nathan Hannah
When the Arizona Legislature completes its session, there’s naturally a lot of interest in what new laws have been adopted. Sometimes there’s less to those changes than meets the eye. The news reports on the just-concluded legislative session gave considerable attention to a change in the laws governing residential landlords and tenants, but on closer […]
»
Read more
May 18, 2019
by Nathan Hannah
When I first saw the recent story headlined “An Uprooted Oak Tree Cost California Couple $600k” (that’s from the New York Post), I intended to ignore it. The stories with headlines like that never turn out to illustrate the point that the headline makes them appear to illustrate. Isn’t that just the way things are […]
»
Read more
May 2, 2019
by Nathan Hannah
A tax newsletter that I read reported on a court decision that I think is worth passing along to you, my loyal readers. It’s a decision from the United States Court of Federal Claims that addresses this timely question: if I file a tax return late (without requesting an extension), what excuses might be good […]
»
Read more
April 1, 2019
by Nathan Hannah
I suspect that in my grandparents’ day, no homeowner would have thought that he or she could control what color the neighbors could or couldn’t paint their houses. Boy, have things changed. Now, it’s news when someone paints their house an obnoxious color and dares the neighbors to do something about it. Three news items […]
»
Read more
March 1, 2019
by Nathan Hannah
What is a living will? It’s a question I get asked more often than you might think. First, a living will is not a will. It also is not a trust (as in a living trust). I think it is unfortunate that the name living will was chosen for this important document, because that name […]
»
Read more
January 26, 2019
by Nathan Hannah
The IRS has announced, in its first news release of the year (January 7, 2019, IR-2019-1), that it will begin accepting 2018 individual income tax returns on January 28, 2019. I had heard that the due date for individual returns would be delayed this year because April 15 is a legal holiday in some places, […]
»
Read more
December 17, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
Here’s a question I am frequently asked: how do I take care of distributing my ____________ (fill in the blank: jewelry, or Hummel collection, or gun collection, or other collection of tangible items) among my relatives? The answer I give is this: make a tangible personal property list. A tangible personal property list is a […]
»
Read more
November 16, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
An article that appeared recently in the Arizona Republic newspaper reminded me that it is time for an update on a subject that I wrote about a few months ago. The newspaper article was about a residential real estate brokerage operating on what has been loosely described as a “peer-to-peer” platform. If you don’t know […]
»
Read more
October 30, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
Most homeowners have probably at least heard of the homestead exemption. Many probably don’t fully understand how it works, however. The homestead exemption protects up to $150,000 of equity in your home from the claims of creditors (with some important exceptions that I will discuss in a moment). What do I mean when I say […]
»
Read more
October 1, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
The main purpose of a revocable living trust is to hold your assets in an entity that is separate from you personally, so that if you die or become incapacitated, the assets can be controlled and managed by someone else (your successor trustee) without the need for a legal proceeding to appoint either a personal […]
»
Read more
August 23, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
I have written at various times in the past about re-titling your assets after you have established a trust, and emphasized the importance of this process. Nevertheless, I still get more questions about it than just about any other topic. So, at the risk of redundancy, I decided that it’s time for a quick review. […]
»
Read more
July 23, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
I’m reluctant to pick anything out of the news to write about these days because I find so much of what’s in the news to be neither entertaining nor enlightening. Maybe I’m just starting to get tired of summer already. Real estate prices seem to be on the rise again. I’m hopeful that the problems […]
»
Read more
June 25, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
I have previously presented the following question to you, my loyal readers: should the income earned on savings be exempt from income tax regardless of the purpose of the savings? I think so, and I’m not alone, but the idea doesn’t seem to have gained much traction, yet. Under the federal tax code, there are […]
»
Read more
June 18, 2018
by Veronica Reese
DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, PLC is pleased to announce the publication of Shareholder James M. Susa’s article entitled “Taxation On The Reservation – Post Script.” The article, co-authored by Tucson Attorney, Elise S. Pecchenino, provides an overview of the taxation of Native American tribes on reservation land. The article is featured in the […]
»
Read more
May 21, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
Arizona law requires that a will be in writing, signed by the testator and by two witnesses. A will that does not comply with those requirements can nevertheless be valid if the signature and the material provisions are in the handwriting of the person making the will (that’s the “testator”). A will that is handwritten […]
»
Read more
April 28, 2018
by Nathan Hannah
Reading a blog post about pet rescuers, I came across a link to an adoption contract. It’s a contract that is intended for use between a pet rescue organization and individuals adopting pets from the organization. The contract includes this provision (the typos are in the original as I found it): It is agreed that […]
»
Read more
