The Law Offices of Everett G. Sussman

06/04/2026

If you have elderly people in your family, your office, in your interactions, remember: treat them with dignity. Listen. They deserve nothing less.

Who knows, you may just find that their knowledge, and their perspective, helps you with your "young people problems."

06/01/2026

Why Ask for Trouble?

Everybody has projects they have been meaning to get to: read the book; fix the faucet; w**d the garden. When it comes to your estate plan, don't flirt with death - reach out to my office, and get the process started.

05/28/2026

Words matter - AI edition

Everyone knows that lawyers are careful with words, because the details of a word's meaning can change a contract, a will, or even a lawsuit (look up the Maine case that changed a contract's meaning because of a single comma). Every jot and tittle will be examined, to ensure that the document says exactly what it should say, and no more.

Now, bring in AI. People are using ChatGPT, Claude, or other programs to write their own wills. Unfortunately, AI does not do the details well, and the "client" does not know enough to catch the mistakes.

If you know someone who is using AI to create their estate plan, send them my way. A quick review may be enough to save them, and their family, a great deal of trouble, down the road.

05/26/2026

Succession Planning is Estate Planning

Business owners: what happens to your business if you die suddenly (due to velociraptor or other cause), or choose to retire? If you aren't immediately certain of the answer, you need to talk to an estate planning attorney. The company you have worked so hard to build could be destroyed by having assets frozen in probate, contested by wanna-be CEOs, or picked apart by corporate vultures.

Make an appointment. Discuss your situation, and what you want to accomplish. Get it in writing. Protect your business, your family, and your retirement. Do it, today.

05/21/2026

05/18/2026

Listen to Your Lawyer.

People have come to me, wanting to overturn somebody's will or trust. They feel aggrieved. They aren't getting the property they expected, and it must be someone else's fault. They are ready to take their complaint to the Supreme Court.

While there are reasons to overturn an estate planning document (incompetency and undue influence being the most common), it is up to the person complaining to provide proof - and the burden is a high one. Perhaps three percent of will contests are successful.

So, if your attorney tells you that you don't have much of a case, the right thing to do may be to listen to him, and just walk away.

05/14/2026

AI.

AI is a hot, trending subject, no more so than in the legal world. People have used it to draft their job applications, and attorneys have been fined for using it improperly.

So, is AI good, or bad? The answer, most accurately, is: No.

AI is a tool. No more, no less. It can be compared to a chainsaw. When used properly, safely, by people who know how, and for the right task, a chainsaw is a very useful tool - but not for making cookies. AI is the same - it is a tool to help perform certain tasks. But, to use AI safely and properly, the user must know what they are doing, and must check that the finished product is accurate.

If you want to use an AI search to get some ideas regarding your estate planning, that's fine. Just remember that AI is the start of your journey, not the end. Have an experienced attorney do the work of preparing your plan. Otherwise, you are using a chainsaw to make cookies... and that is only going to cause problems.

05/11/2026

Ok, some of this is simple. Some of it is not.

The simple stuff includes: what do you own, and who do you want to protect.

The complicated stuff includes: at what age(s) should children receive their inheritance (and under what circumstances), and how to protect assets from being wasted by the untrustworthy stepdaughter.

You may know the simple stuff - you trust your attorney with the complicated stuff. Either way, ask questions. Sometimes, the simple stuff is not so simple, and the complicated stuff makes sense - when it is explained properly.

A good estate planning attorney handles the complicated stuff - call one, today.

05/07/2026

Think about it. About what have you been procrastinating? If it involves updating your estate plan, this is your wake-up call. Make an appointment, today.

05/04/2026

If you sometimes don't know, or can't remember, the proper technical term for something you are trying to describe to your estate planning attorney, take heart - you are not alone: