Welcome to Vegas Law Talk

And in today's show, we are going to be discussing the legislative changes in Nevada that take effect January one of this year, we are going to be talking about the current events in the news and how they relate to the law. And we are also going to be discussing what you need to know if somebody close to you passes away, not just what you need to know as far as how to cope with the loss of a loved one, but the legal aspects

that apply when a person dies. So on January 1 of this year, there are a number of changes that Nevada has voted in to be coming into effect, and one of them will be the permanent mail voting. Now what that does is it requires all county and city clerks to send every active registered voter and mail ballot before each primary general election. You know, that's really interesting. One of the arguments that you see across the country is whether or not there should be mail in

voting. This certainly helps people have the opportunity to vote if they're not able to get down to their voting or place of voting. I agree with you. One of the major legislations for women my age is that doctor visits are no longer required to receive certain types of birth control. Now, this is going to be key because what happens is, many of the male listeners might not know but my mom is in the women's healthcare industry. When you run out of your birth control, you are required

typically to have a doctor's appointment to refill those. And in this particular legislation, it's going to allow individuals to get those refilled without the doctor visits, hopefully making it more convenient and cutting down on unwanted pregnancies. Worse, I understand there's also been a change in Medicaid for incarcerated people. What did the state legislature do with that? Sure. So beginning on the first of this month, there's now a more seamless transition for Medicaid eligibility for

incarcerated people. Previously, when an individual was receiving Medicaid and became incarcerated, their coverage would be terminated. That caused a lot of problems when they were out of incarceration and had to reapply for Medicaid. Now, when a person is incarcerated, their Medicaid eligibility is only

suspended rather than terminated. The bill specifies that individuals who were not previously on Medicaid should be allowed to apply for enrollment in the program up to six months before their scheduled release date. Well, Laura, I understand there's another Medicare, excuse me Medicaid service change that's coming up. Would you like to explain

that one? Sure. There have been changes to Nevada's state Medicaid program including coverages for doula services, coverage for community health workers, and presumptive eligibility for pregnant women. That statue also makes changes to Medicaid coverage for doula services and takes effect today.

Yeah, this new law implements the state Supreme Court order establishing a statutory right to a jury trial for a person charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, that would lead to the defendant losing his firearm ownership rights. This was huge, because previously in domestic violence

cases, there were not jury trials. And there were a lot of individuals who felt that losing their right to be able to carry a firearm, which is a consequence of being convicted of a domestic violence charge would necessitate the need for a jury trial. Well, that's right. And people, not only the right carrier, firearm, but also

employment. People in the military people in law enforcement would lose their jobs if they were convicted of a domestic violence charge, and now they have the opportunity go before a jury and have a jury make that decision. So what this law really has done, it has created a framework to hold jury trials in municipal court which was not previously available

That's correct. You know, the one change that I see in the political system has to do with the end of the presidential caucuses, and Nevada had a rather unique way of determining who would be a presidential candidate through the caucus system. This year, the legislature has adopted the primary system, which means every voter gets to go out and vote for the person they think should be the party's candidate for the general election. And that is really a significant change.

Well, one of my favorite changes to legislation this year is that savings accounts for low income Nevadans have been established. This new law kicked in January 1, and it will allow some low income people to create a savings account and receive matching funds from a bank to multiply their deposits up to fivefold. The new program called the Individual Development Account Program will be available to people living in low income housing projects who have enrolled in Medicaid, or

who are in the foster care system. The law calls for the State Treasurer to accept grants and donations, and use them to match deposited funds by account holders with up to $3,000 per beneficiary per year. The state is also required to provide financial literacy training to account holders, which I think is awesome. I also think that financial literacy training should be a requirement in Nevada public schools.

Before we leave legislative changes, I do want to point out that the state legislature has changed the carseat requirements for children who used to be children had to be in a car seat if there are six, under six years of age and weighed 60 pounds or less. The weight requirement has been eliminated now is children under the age of 60, who are less than 57 inches

tall. So folks if you have children, or grandchildren or grandchildren, keep that in mind when you are making a decision about a car seat. Great. So now that we have the legal changes in Nevada covered, I want to talk about current legal news. Now something that I found shocking and interesting was that 2021 was the deadliest year for homicides in many US cities. Philly, Portland, Louisville, and Albuquerque had their deadliest year on record.

It's inexplicable the amount of violence that has occurred over this last year. Not only do you have these record numbers of homicides, but there's also a record number of children who

have been killed by gun violence. It's reported that 1500 children and these are children and teenagers under the age of eight teen have been killed by gun violence this last year that exceeds the year before 1300 80 in 2021 of the things that I see are parents who are negligent in leaving firearms available to children and teens.

That's a terrible problem. I don't know what what parents are thinking or caretakers are thinking about leaving a firearm, a pistol or even long gun available to children. Children are inquisitive, they dig around, they play around in the house, they pick up something like a gun.

And what parents need to know is they can be held criminally liable for leaving guns available for children and teens to be able to take and either injure themselves or injure or kill others, not only can they be held criminally liable, there's also civil penalties, which is monitoring or by Child Protective Services. And it's

not to mention lawsuits. Well, not to mention lawsuits because if you have a visitor coming into a home, and their child is injured as a result of a gun, the parents are going to be held liable when we saw in the most recent shooting by that young man, where both of the parents have been charged up in Wisconsin, I think for giving him the gun when he knew he was unstable. Well, that's right. And one of the other things that's been noted is that many teenagers are obtaining what are are

untraceable ghost guns. And these are guns that are made from kits or they're parts of guns that are put together to form of functioning gun. In fact, here in Nevada, the Nevada legislature just passed a legislation and it goes into effect this month that outlaws ghost guns here in Nevada. That's interesting. Center talking about guns. I want to

talk about the Alec Baldwin shooting case. And there are many articles still coming out about the investigation in to the unfortunate and terrible accidental shooting death of an individual who was on set. Do you have any comment or any type of analysis of that case? Well, recently, it was reported that Alec Baldwin owns the production company that employed the individual that gave Alec Baldwin the gun that was loaded.

But it was not supposed to be loaded. All the bullets were supposed to be blanks, and it's unknown how live bullets got into the mix of blanks? Well, I have to tell you, I, I don't understand how anybody that has a firearm, or a pistol in their hand that would pointed at somebody without first themselves looking at it and making sure that that did not have live and ammunition in it in the first place. They had somebody that they hired to do that.

I'm just telling you, I wouldn't trust somebody to hand me as a firearm if I was going to be pointing it at somebody. That's how accidents occurred. In my opinion, he should have been looking in the first place. Now, you know, the real question is whether or not I think a lot of people are wondering this is this if he's going to be charged criminally? He certainly has civil liability, not only because he owns a production company, but because he did not look at that gun himself. And

with regards to crime, I don't know. He may have some criminal liability because of the circumstances under which this killing occurred. Well, the investigation is still open. So we shall see what will result from this unfortunate accident and my heart goes out to the victim, not only the one who passed away, but there was another individual who was injured as well. That's right. Hey, did you hear about the phony bourbon that's being sold? No, but I'm sure you drink it.

No, I didn't. That's funny. No, I'm just kidding. I know you like the good stuff. I've seen your receipts when you visit the liquor store. Well, what's happening apparently, is these high price collector liquors. I didn't even know there was such a thing. People have been buying the empty bottles and then refilling them with cheap liquor and then selling them over the internet for 1000s of dollars. Not surprised, and it's all happening over the internet. So hey, Larissa. Did you see where

the German government is looking at? legalizing recreational marijuana? nationally? Yeah, though entire country they're gonna legalize marijuana use and they think that the EU, the European Union is going to follow that means all the other countries in Europe will move to legal legalize marijuana. They must need money. Tax money. Well, you know, here in Nevada, the legalization of recreational

marijuana has really paid off. This last year, it's been reported that the state sold over a well over a billion dollars of product was sold in the state and the state has received $159 million in tax revenue from the sale of marijuana. Now, I was under the impression that money was supposed to be given to the Clark County School District and educational funding has that happened?

Well, it appears to the reporting is that the this tax revenue money from the sale of marijuana is being distributed through the through the school systems, not just to Clark County, but it goes to all of them. It's interesting, I don't know how many how they calculated it. But they said that that really works out to be about three $350 per student in additional funding to the educational system, which is

good. Every Every dollar helps, because our school system in particular needs needs a lot of help, because we're not very highly rated. Yeah, unfortunately, you know, well, one other article that I found interesting, since we're talking about controlled substances, was the interview of

Travis Scott, regarding the Astro world tragedy. If some of the listeners are unfamiliar with this case, there have been more than a billion dollars worth of lawsuits filed against Travis Scott Drake, and the production company that put on a concert a few months ago, that left many injured or dead. It is reported that Travis Scott was performing at his concert. And there were crowds rushing the stage and as a result, many

people were injured. It is unknown whether or not Travis Scott knew of this tragedy, but at the time it was occurring and for a long time thereafter. He kept performing and the individuals who were injured or passed away were unable to get help. It's a it's a tragedy. Eight people were killed 300 People people were injured during the concert. And there were apparently 50,000 people within the area that were searching the

stage. And unfortunately, this is something that has happened repeatedly at the Travis Scott concerts, there were concerts in 2017 and 2016, where they had problems with crowds surging, also with people jumping over barriers. And Travis Scott himself describes his concerts as these high energy concerts where people are encouraged to do how they feel, I suppose is the best way to put it.

What's your opinion on whether or not he should be held responsible, whether criminally or financially for the deaths or injuries of those individuals who attended that concert? Well, you know, he may be exposed to criminal liability because of the way he's conducted himself in prior

concerts. And the same problem occurring on? Well, this looks like about three times certainly has civil liability, not only him, but anyone who was involved in the production of that and staging that concert, I also think you may be looking at the local government being responsible, because it seems to me that you would have to know that with this particular entertainer and the number of people that are going to be present that you'd have to take extraordinary steps or

management to keep this from occurring. Again, I don't think it was a surprise, or anybody that is going to take a look at what happened, I would say this, this doesn't surprise them that it occurred. Well, my heart goes out to all the families of the injured and deceased individuals. And that leads me into my next conversation with you, which is what to do when somebody close to you passes away.

You know, this is really an important matter, an important issue in today's environment, you know, we've lived through two years now, of pandemic, and it's shocking the number of people that have died or have have been seriously injured because of the COVID virus. And look at us now, here we are 2022. And we're facing another variant of a virus. And that

leads to disabilities and death. And I think you're probably in a good position to talk about this, really think about how they're going to take care of their families in the event of their death or disability. And I know that's an area that you do a lot of well, almost exclusively working. Right. As you know, I do a lot of probate and estate planning

work. And one of the, I would say good things that came out of COVID in my eyes as an attorney is that it required a lot of people to face their own mortality, and start thinking more about planning for death or disability regardless of age. I know that my estate planning practice where I drafted Wills and Trusts for people exploded last year, more young people are thinking about getting wills in place and trusts. My friends that our life insurance agents told me that they were extremely

busy selling life insurance policies, because of COVID. And unfortunately, my business did pick up in the area of probate where individuals passed away and their loved ones were were left to handle the legal affairs of the decedent. And in my opinion, there's not enough information out there about what somebody needs to do when their spouse or loved one or mother or father passes away. It's almost as if you have to get an attorney to know what to do when somebody dies.

You know, that's been my experience also is that people really don't know don't understand what their legal position is, when a loved one passes away, and they have no idea what probate really does. Yeah, a lot of people don't know what to do with probate, how to transfer the assets, they don't even know that you are supposed to report the death of a loved one to their credit card companies. to Social Security, you need to cancel their credit

cards you need to cancel their passport. There's a whole long list of items that people need to do when somebody passes away to protect the legal rights of the deceased and the beneficiaries and any creditors. And I've actually made this list available on our website. So if the listeners have questions on what to do when somebody passes away, they can visit our website at less stovall.com Um, Le s s t o v a l l.com. I have several

blogs on the website and probate articles. But in my experience, a lot of people don't do the proper planning, before they pass away to save their loved ones, the time, money and anguish of having to deal with probate court and the conflicts. That's been my experience also. And I suppose there's really two different ways that individuals can do their estate planning one, they can prepare a will, or they can do a trust if they have assets that would benefit from being in a in a trust,

right. But sometimes people don't need either as long as those assets are beneficiary designations. Meaning on a bank account, you could designate a beneficiary, you could designate a beneficiary on investment accounts, IRAs, 401, K's on life insurance, or if the property has a joint owner, those assets

will avoid probate court. But a lot of people don't have the proper planning in the first place to know how to structure assets, any event of death or incapacity of a loved one spouse, or co owner. Well, what do you do, or offer to help people review their situation and decide what they should do for in the event of their death. So in my estate planning practice, I start all my

sessions with a family wealth planning session. And normally, these sessions are $750, because they're two hour working meeting, where I analyze all the assets of the individuals, I analyze the family dynamics, and I go over the goals. And we talk about what would happen with their current plan, which is usually no plan. And we talk about the plan that would best

fit their family situation, budget and dynamics. And those sessions are now complimentary due to a promotion that I have this quarter, where the complimentary family wealth planning session is now free. And there's no obligation to sign up with me. But it is a really good eye opening meeting to have with individuals because we go through each asset that they own, we see how that asset is owned, whether a joint owner

or if it's owned solely. And we talk about what's going to happen to your property and your money if you become incapacitated or die. Now, there are different courses of action if a person becomes incapacitated, versus whether they pass away. Now if you get a comprehensive estate plan that will cover incapacity and death, and it will leave your family and loved ones free of court and conflict. But as I've seen, in most cases, people do not properly plan for death or

incapacity. And they hire me to handle their guardianship cases and their probates. Well, how does how to do families avoid the long drawn out process of probate? In these kinds of situations, what can you offer them? Well, what I always recommend to my clients is getting a revocable living trust. And in a nutshell, that's where assets are transferred out of a person's name into a legal entity that they manage, and own and that they benefit from

during their lifetime. And in the course of that trust planning, we designate a successor trustee to manage assets once a person passes away or becomes incapacitated, you know, either due to an injury or old age or anything of that nature. And then you designate beneficiaries to inherit your

property when you pass away. And I generally recommend trusts to individuals whose family dynamics require that meaning they have minor children are multiple beneficiaries, and they want to stagger payments and ages and stages, meaning they don't want a loved one to necessarily get a large lump sum of money all at once. Only a tres can accomplish staggering the inheritance. If they have to go through probate. The individual who inherits the property will get all that money

once the probate is over and in a situation of minors. Leaving property to minors is not a good idea because if they are entitled to that property upon your death, and they're under the age of 18, that money will end up in guardianship court and locked up until those minors reach the age of 18. And then at 18, they will receive an inheritance with no oversight or direction and that's usually the last thing that a person wants to do is leave an 18 year old with a large amount of money

with no direction or oversight. But just to talk about Roby in a nutshell, that is the court process of proving the validity of a will if there is one marshaling assets inventorying assets of a deceased person notifying and paying creditors and handling any claims that may be as a result of any type of lawsuit, I know, in your practice, you do file lawsuits on behalf of deceased people. And that always goes through probate court.

Well, that's true, you have to petition to the probate court to appoint a personal representative to represent the decedent. So basically, if somebody dies, and there is money owed to them, they need a living person to handle the estate. Well, that's absolutely right. When a person dies, there is no one who can handle or transfer or collect assets on behalf of that dead person.

Many people think just because they are married to somebody, they automatically get the money, or they can automatically do things just because they are married, and they forget that No, it has to go through court first. You have to be appointed. That's a process, it takes time, it costs money, and there's delays built in along the way. Well, and that's one of the advantages of a trust is you

don't have to wait for the court to appoint you. An individual would be the administrator or personal representative of the estate, you don't have to ask the court to issue orders for payments of certain debts are things like that the trust is able to manage those things immediately upon death, and start distributing assets or paying off debts that are due.

Right. And I think it's very important for listeners to know that once a person passes away, unless there's a beneficiary designated, or there's a co owner, all those assets are frozen. So if your husband or wife has $10 million in their bank account, and only their name is on it, and there's no beneficiary, you cannot get that money right away, it's going to have to go through probate court. And that's the importance

of planning. Because if you know that your family will need money upon your passing, you will benefit from having a planning session with me to know how to set your family up to have that money if they need it for funeral expenses, bills, things like that. You know, another benefit of trust is that it's more private, when you are in probate, you have to file public accountings of assets in an estate in a trust. That does not occur.

Yeah, and one of the things I think is particularly embarrassing is that the death certificate is made public, the only thing that's required to be redacted is the social security number. But many people don't understand your death certificate will be public, if it goes through probate, meaning your cause of death, whether you are married or widowed who

you're informing was where you lived. And that's something I wouldn't want to happen if I was deceased, or what I died from, I just wouldn't want my death certificate to be public. Well, they do list out the causes of death. And that can be very personal. One of the other things that I think is beneficial interest is for parents, they're able to designate guardians for children. Is that true?

Right? Well, it's very important for parents of minor children, because if like I said they leave money to minors, they're not able to actually obtain that money until they're 18 years old. And the guardianship process is a whole other animal. In addition, having to go through probate, there are a lot of resources available for people who want to know more about the probate process and guardianship. One of those is the website for the Legal Aid self help center of Southern

Nevada. There's also our website where I have created a lot of blog articles and informational postings regarding the probate process guardianship estate planning, and anything that would be of benefit for people to know what to do when a loved one passes away. So the website that people can check out for more information is Les stovall.com. Or you can reach me by phone at 702-258-3034. I love to be a resource. Well, Larissa, how have you felt about our show today? This is

the first one we've done together. Seems like I've enjoyed it. How about yourself? I've enjoyed it. I hope the listeners have enjoyed it. Well, we're gonna come back in a couple of weeks with another program and we plan on staying on the air for a while. Don't you agree? I agree. And if the listeners have anything they'd like us to talk about, they can visit the website and put in requests for information on what our show should be about. You bet.

Look forward to hearing from folks I'd be very nice to give us some feedback on the show and what we can do to Answer questions for listeners. So listeners if you enjoyed the show or if you didn't enjoy the show and you want to tell us or if there are any topics that you would like us to discuss on our next shows, please visit the website www dot less stovall.com le SS to be a ll.com and send us a contact us form with your questions, comments and concerns.