A service to transfer estate documents
Since 1994, the State Bar has offered a Transfer of Estate Documents (TED)
service to members, which allows the transfer of original estate planning documents
under certain circumstances. If an attorney is deceased, lacks legal capacity
or is no longer an active member of the State Bar, original estate planning
documents in his or her custody may be transferred to another attorney or to
the Superior Court clerk of the county of the client’s last residence.
The information that such a transfer has occurred may be listed with the bar’s
membership records department.
For purposes of this service, estate planning documents are defined as:
- a signed original will, declaration of trust, trust amendment or other
document modifying a will or trust;
- a signed original power of attorney;
- a signed original nomination of conservator; and
- any other signed original instrument that the attorney and depositor agree
in writing to make subject to the transfer service.
A TED form can be found on the bar’s Web site, calbar.ca.gov > Member
Services > Bar Member Billing & Records > Estate
Planning Transfer. The form and a list of depositors should be mailed to
The State Bar of California, Membership Records, 180 Howard St., San Francisco,
CA 94105. No original documents or copies should be filed with the bar.
Nominations sought for Aranda Award
Nominations are open for the Benjamin Aranda III Access to Justice Award.
The award is given annually to a California judge or appellate court justice
who has demonstrated a long-term commitment to equal access to the courts and
who has done significant work in improving court access for low- and moderate-income
Californians.
Sponsored by the California Commission on Access to Justice, the award will
be made jointly by the Judicial Council, the State Bar and the California Judges
Association. It will be presented in the fall.
Nominating
forms are available at calbar.ca.gov under access to justice. Hard copies
of the form are available from Chris Zupanovich at 415-538-2534 or chris.zupanovich@calbar
ca.gov. The deadline for nominations is June 30.
Sign up for e-briefs
The State Bar offers “e-briefs,” a short
summary of recent news developments or announcements of interest to lawyers.
The electronic mailings are provided on a timely basis, usually twice a month.
To subscribe, go to “e-briefs” listed under “News” on
the home page of the State Bar’s Web site, calbar.ca.gov.
Please, if you move, notify the State Bar
Nearly a quarter of the State Bar’s membership — some 45,000 lawyers — changes
their address every year. And although the Business & Professions Code
requires attorneys to notify the bar about that address change, it often doesn’t
happen. As a result, lawyers don’t receive important mailings, such as
the annual fee statement, MCLE notifications, bar cards, sections publications
and the California Bar Journal. While they don’t receive those mailings,
often their former law firms or businesses at an old address do.
Under B&P §6002.1,
active and inactive members have 30 days to notify the State Bar about a change
of address. Some law firms now ask departing employees to fill out the State
Bar’s change of address form.
Complete information about changing an address can be found on the bar’s
Web site, calbar.ca.gov; click on Attorney
Address Change in the right-hand menu. The change can be made online, by
mail or by fax, and if done by mail or fax, must include a photocopy of one
piece of identification, such as a driver’s license, State Bar membership
card, passport, California identification card, military identification card
or birth certificate.
A particularly difficult problem is keeping track of members who have died.
In the last few months, the bar received several hundred return mailings, after
its fee statement was mailed, due to members’ deaths. There is no requirement
that a family or business notify the State Bar of an attorney’s death,
but the Member Services Center asks that the bar be notified if you are aware
that a lawyer has died.
The Member
Services Center can be contacted at 1-888-800-3400.
Five seats open on State Bar, CYLA boards
Attorneys eligible to vote in the election of five new members of the State
Bar Board of Governors must cast their ballots by June 30. Eleven candidates
are seeking one of the five open seats and ballots were mailed May 1.
The districts with an opening are: District 1, Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn,
Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra,
Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity and Yuba counties; District 3, Alameda, Contra
Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties; District 5, Fresno, Inyo, Kern,
Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, Santa
Cruz, Stanislaus and Tulare counties; District 7, Los Angeles County; and District
9, Imperial and San Diego counties.
Five
seats in the same districts also are open for the California Young Lawyers
Association Board of Directors.
The candidates’ campaign
statements are on the bar’s Web site, calbar.ca.gov; click on Board
of Governors in the left-hand menu. Summaries of their statements appeared
in the May California Bar Journal.
New board members will take their seats in October.
Questions about the State Bar election may be addressed to Billie Sivanov
at billie.sivanov@calbar.ca.gov or
by calling 415-538-2274.
Questions about the CYLA election may be addressed to Leanna Dickstein at CYLA@calbar.ca.gov or
by calling 213-765-1337.
Judicial Council advisory committee positions open
The Administrative Office of the Courts is seeking nominations to fill openings
on nine advisory committees to the Judicial Council. Terms of service, generally
three years, begin Nov. 1, and the deadline for nominations is June 30.
Vacancies are on the following committees: appellate, civil jury instructions,
civil and small claims, collaborative justice courts, criminal jury instructions,
criminal law, family and juvenile law, legal services trust fund and probate
and mental health.
Nominations may be sent by mail or fax to: Administrative Office of the Courts,
Office of the Secretariat, attention Roma K. Cheadle, 455 Golden Gate Ave.,
San Francisco, CA 94102-3688; fax 415-865-4332.
An online
nomination form is available at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/jc/nomform.htm.
Questions may be directed to Cheadle at 415-865-7640.
Bar publishes three new consumer pamphlets
The State Bar has published three new pamphlets that address elder abuse,
alternative dispute resolution and becoming a lawyer. They are part of the
bar’s “Get the Legal Facts of Life” consumer education program
and join a list of 20 other pamphlets,
some in Spanish, English or Vietnamese.
The new pamphlets are: How
Can I Resolve My Dispute Without a Trial?; What
Should I Know About Elder Abuse?; and How
Do I Become a Lawyer? The elder abuse pamphlet will be translated into
Spanish.
All bar pamphlets are available online at calbar.ca.gov by clicking on Consumer
Pamphlets in the right-hand menu. There is an online
order form or ordering information is available by calling 888-875-LAWS.
Got questions? Call the Member Services Center
The State Bar operates a Member
Services Center with a toll-free number, 1-888-800-3400, for active and
inactive lawyers seeking information about member benefits, services and
regulatory compliance.
Visit legal London and earn MCLE credits
The State Bar Litigation
Section will sponsor “A Week in Legal London” July 9-14,
offering an opportunity to experience the inner workings of the English legal
system, expand litigation skills and meet with members of the London legal
community.
The registration fee is $2,295 per person, and includes daily luncheons, two
receptions, a formal closing dinner at historic Trinity House, and the education
programs and materials. Accommodations are available for an additional fee.
The Litigation Section also will offer an “Oxford University Summer
Program” from July 16-20. The registration fee of $1,295 per person includes
four nights lodging at Magdalen College in Oxford, all meals, education programs
and materials.
Attendance at both programs will fulfill all 25 required MCLE hours. Participants
may attend either or both programs.
More information is available at calbar.ca.gov/litigation or by calling 415-538-2546.
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