Forms (Discussion Drafts)

Excepting perhaps the Durable Power for Health Care Decisions, which is intended for use by lay persons, these forms should not be used without our input. They have one purpose and that is reduce a client’s legal expense by facilitating the information gathering process. Much of the time involved in, say, preparing a will, is involved in simply gathering information…..name of spouse, kids, dates of birth, etc. If the client has looked at a form and gathered the information necessary to complete it before meeting with counsel, the meeting will likely be much more efficient. For these reasons, no effort has been made to keep these forms up-to-date or insure their accuracy. To use these forms “as-is” is fraught with unnecessary danger and risk. You do so at your own risk.

1.  Business and Ranch Bankruptcy Forms

2.  Preparing for Death or Disability Forms

Cautionary Note.  A Nevada probate court will often review transfers at less than market value to beneficiaries via a living trust, will, deed upon death and the like to make sure the transfer was not the product of some kind of funny business, such as fraud, undue influence or the like.  If the transfer, other than to a spouse, is to a caregiver, or to a person who drafted or assisted in the drafting of the transfer document, or a relative of such person, there is a presumption that the transfer is void.  Sometimes, having the transfer document reviewed by an independent attorney will save it. See the forms under Health, below.

2.1 Wills

2.2 Living Trusts

2.3 Health

The first form is a standard Nevada statutory form. It can be and often is modified to deal with the principal’s special health situations. The second form is needed if you sign one of the two DNR paragraphs in the first form.

2.4 Death Deed

The problem with these deeds is a political one. For most folks, their home was the only reason their estate would need to be probated, So they did a living trust to avoid probate. The death deed eliminated the main necessity for a living trust. So Nevada’s legislature came to the rescue of the Trust bar and provided, essentially, that the grantee of a death deed had to wait a year and a half before selling it. The justification given was that the death deed was being used to cheat creditors of the decedent. Unless your heirs plan to live in the home, or can afford to pay the mortgages, taxes and upkeep for 18 months, a death deed might not be your cup of tea.

3 Real Estate

3.1 Homestead

3.2 Conveyancing

There are lots and lots of forms of deeds, notes and other conveyancing-related documents. The following will give you some idea.

Numerous other important forms can be found on the Nevada Real Estate Division website.

4 Business Forms.

4.1 Business entity forms

Check out the Nevada Secretary of State’s Business Forms website. Secretary Cegavske has numerous forms, including corporate (articles of incorporation, initial list of officers, annual list of officers, etc), and similar forms for limited-liability companies, limited-liability partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited-liability limited partnerships, most of which can be downloaded.

4.2 Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). Check out Secretary Cegavske’s Nevada UCC forms.

4.3 Trademarks. Here again Secretary Cegavske has posted some forms designed to help you register your trademark in Nevada.

5. Miscellaneous Forms

6. Disfavored Forms.

Pre-nups can serve a good purpose if they are limited in scope…if, after some time (say 5 years), the parties begin to build their own nest (acquire community property), but otherwise, they seem to us to be contrary to sound public policy. No wonder American women aren’t having kids any more.

We also aren’t much of a fan of financial powers of attorneys. They often cause more trouble (and legal fees) than they are worth. Most of the time a guardianship of the estate is a better alternative. At least then the party alleged to be incompetent is guaranteed the right to appear before a judge before being stripped of his or her property.

Of course, there are lots of good attorneys who would disagree with us both as the Pre-nups and Financial powers of attorney.