Legislators do have a sense of humor, really!
We have a new legal research guide on Estate Planning available on the law library’s website. You can find previously posted information on estate planning through the “estate planning” tag at the bottom of this post or through this link. Along those same lines, The Oregonian published an interesting article last Sunday, March 27, on estate sale fraud:
“Complaints to the DOJ concerning estate sellers, secondhand stores and auction houses have doubled since 2008. Among those lodging complaints are an elderly widower, a woman with breast cancer trying to fund her care and adult children selling the family home. All told the state they were never paid for heirlooms, which were either sold at garage sale prices or simply vanished. But when things go wrong, many people don’t know where to turn — and don’t want to shell out as much for legal fees as they’re looking to recoup.”
Consumers with complaints about Oregon businesses, including estate sellers and auction houses, can contact the Financial Fraud/Consumer Protection section of the Oregon Department of Justice’s Civil Enforcement Division. The Attorney General’s Consumer Hotline (1-877-877-9392) is available between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. Consumers can also search the DOJ’s consumer complaints database for complaints filed after January 1, 2008.
We frequently have patrons requesting small-estate affidavit forms (it was also a very popular request when I worked in Texas). Here are a few places you can find small-estate affidavit forms and information:
1) Check with the applicable circuit court’s website for the form and/or information on filing a small-estate affidavit. Our circuit court does not offer a small estate form, but they do provide information on filing an Affidavit of Claiming Successor, including the related statutes. Marion county’s circuit court does provide a small estate affidavit form, as do Deschutes and Clackamas (be sure to check your county’s circuit court website as I did not check every county).
2) A common referral for frequently-used forms is the Stevens-Ness Law Publishing Company. They sell Oregon-specific small-estate affidavit forms for both testate and intestate estates (in paper and electronic formats).
These particular volumes are also known as the “Gutbusters,” because the pages are filed in 7-10” gut-busting (to lift) loose-leaf binders.
Read the project description and view a sample 1955 Chapter:
A free legal search engine: The Indian Kanoon search engine (about).
Furthering the Free Access to Law Movement (about which you can read much more at the Cornell LII blog post Accessible Law):
… the Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) brings us a fascinating blog post: Indian Kanoon: The Genesis and the Legal Thirst:
Legal Research for Parents of Adult Children with Disabilities
Questions from parents about adult children with disabilities can cover a very wide range of legal issues. The following resources (and our new Disability Law Legal Research Guide) cover a few popular topics.
Special Needs Trusts:
1) The Arc of Oregon has a website on the Oregon Special Needs Trust. The Oregon Special Needs Trust is a “pooled trust” fund that provides supplemental needs to disabled individuals.
2) The National Special Needs Network offers answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Supplemental Needs Trusts.
State and county resources:
1) The Oregon Department of Human Services has a list of County Developmental Disabilities Programs and a Support Services Brokerages List by county/region.
2) The Washington County Developmental Disability Program offers a number of useful agency links on their website.
3) Lifespan Respite, from the Oregon DHS, provides information for families and providers about caring for a child or adult with special needs.
Oregon Legal Research Blog