720-730-7274
I was invited to referee a basketball game on Championship Saturday for the Colorado High School basketball playoffs this year. It was my first year working the final day / weekend of the season. I have been assigned plenty of playoff games in previous years, but I have never been given the opportunity to referee a championship game until this season. I was assigned to the 3A Girls Consolation game, so the teams were playing for third place in the State of Colorado. As referees, we have pre-game meetings where we plan for refereeing the games and discuss how we will work together to … [Read more...]
Basketball and Estate Planning – Why Perspective Matters
I keep writing about basketball lately. Perhaps I do so because it is high school basketball playoff time, and I am refereeing the playoffs at this time. Or, perhaps it is because the Denver Nuggets are playing at a high level and I enjoy watching the Denver Nuggets play. I can appreciate how the Denver Nuggets are playing basketball as a fan, but also as an official and a coach. Not everyone watches, or approaches basketball the same way, and the perspectives of a fan, an official, a coach, or even a player are different. Fans tend to watch the ball, as do coaches, while officials may … [Read more...]
You Need a Good Coach to Succeed in Basketball – and Estate Planning
As I have previously mentioned, I referee high school basketball. As a referee, I see many different types of coaches. Some coaches are constantly yelling at their players, or at the officials. Others call out plays and let the players play the game. Some are quiet the whole time and make me wonder why they are even there. And some like to tell me how to officiate the game, as if I play for them! Some coaches even seem to want to enter the game and take part as a player, since the coach is fully confident they could do better than the players. I recently saw a news article where a coach … [Read more...]
What Do Basketball and Estate Planning Have To Do With Each Other?
I have liked basketball for as long as I can remember. I always liked to play the game, and looked forward to the winter, because that is when basketball was played. I was probably not the best player when I started playing in elementary school, but I did develop my basketball playing skills and abilities, and improved enough that I captained my team while in high school. I even have articles from the newspaper that profile me as a player and leader of my high school basketball team. I don’t mean to dwell on high school accomplishments, and I was not a good enough player to continue my … [Read more...]
Lessons From a Coffee Mug: You Can’t Fix Stupid in Estate Planning
My website designer / web marketing guru / all things concerning my internet presence person has a coffee mug that says “I’m a Lawyer. I can’t fix stupid, but I can fix what stupid does.” I do think the coffee mug may be a bit overzealous and overly optimistic in that saying. I understand that there are many areas of law where this saying might apply, but I don’t think it applies to estate planning quite as much. In areas of law like business law, or contract law, I can see how a good attorney can correct mistakes businesses have made, or mistakes or misunderstandings arising from … [Read more...]
Coloradans: You Deserve To Have Your Estate Planning Questions Answered
In November of 2022, we spent Thanksgiving in Kansas City with friends. We drove out the Saturday prior to the week of Thanksgiving and planned to spend the entire week with our friends. Neither I, nor my wife, planned to work during the week of Thanksgiving. However, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, my wife’s second level supervisor called her at 8 pm to let her know they were going to have a company wide meeting on Monday, and that the company she worked for was likely to shut down. That was quite an unexpected phone call for my wife. She attended the virtual company wide meeting on … [Read more...]
The Year Is Ending, Not You – Get Your Estate Plan Started Now!
Christmas is upon us…in just two days! Christmas carols and songs (like I wrote about in my last blog post) are still playing, but they are soon to end, and we will then all move on to the New Year’s celebration after Christrmas. Sometimes the holidays seem so fleeting and come and go so quickly. I hope everyone has their shopping done, or you have all planned for how to get your shopping done. I hear stories about certain in-laws of mine that like to get their shopping done on Christmas Eve, which sounds exciting and fun to me, but also sounds dicey! Sometimes when shopping at the last … [Read more...]
Santa Claus is Coming To Town and Other Cautionary Tales for Estate Planning from Christmas Songs
Growing up, we sang a lot of Christmas Carols and a lot of Christmas songs in my family, and in other settings. I liked some of them, and others were not my favorites. For instance, the song “Santa Claus is Comin to Town” contains the following lyrics: “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping. He Knows When You’re Awake. He Knows If You’ve Been Bad Or Good, So Be Good For Goodness’ Sake” I am fairly certain that the song is just trying to get kids to behave during the Christmas season, so that they will be able to get presents from Santa Claus, but as an adult, I am not sure I really want to … [Read more...]
Supporting Worthy Causes in Your Will or Trust…on Colorado Gives Day
For the past few years, my church has set up “Giving Machines” along the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The “Giving Machines” are like vending machines that allow people to purchase items or services for those in need. A person can purchase food for a poor family, or socks, shoes, or other items to be donated…I have even seen where a person can purchase a chicken or a goat and have that donated to a less fortunate family. These temporary “Giving Machines” are not always well understood, or well publicized. As such, we members of the church will go … [Read more...]
Why Your Estate Plan Will Work (in Colorado) Even If Someone Doesn’t Like It
My wife likes to talk about love languages, and how everybody’s love language can be different. Some people want physical affection, while others prefer gifts, and still others want you to spend time with them. I am not nearly as into the differences in love languages as she is, or as some people are, but I did get an interesting, almost Halloween-y lesson in love languages just a week ago. I had come home from work and went to change out of work clothes. I gathered my other clothes, and went to sit down on the bed to remove my shoes, when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 14
- Next Page »
