THE EDUCATED CLIENT

By Tim Barkley. December 2020. The lawyer nodded. “I think I understand your situation,” he said. “Here’s what I advise …” Some time later, the client still looked uncertain. “Could you go over that again? I feel silly not getting it the first time through, but...

THANK YOU, MOUNT AIRY!

By Tim Barkley. November 2020. In July of 1995, a young lawyer looking for office space found a small office for rent in what is now the Long & Foster building on Ridgeville Boulevard, sharing a conference room with a guy named Mike Zimmer in what had been the...

MYTHS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS

By Tim Barkley.  September 2020. “If I don’t have a will, the State will get everything when I die!” “I don’t need a will, because everything is going to my spouse!” “If I have a will, my estate doesn’t go through probate!” “I need a living trust, so I can avoid...

GIVING THE BUSINESS

By Tim Barkley. June 2020. “My husband just died, and I’m trying to figure out what to do with his business. I don’t even have the code to the security system. His business records are all online or in his computer, and I don’t have the password. Can you help?” Of...

THE DANCE

By Tim Barkley. April 2020. It was a little like a scene from a sci-fi movie when representatives of alien cultures meet to sign intergalactic treaties. But these were just garden-variety wills – yet signed under very unique circumstances. They came in wearing gloves...